I'm regularly approached by US and international companies looking to expand into Latin America.
Almost every time, the proposal is the same:
"We offer great commissions."
And that's it.
No base. No structure. No market investment. No research. And my personal favorite: no mapping of potential customers.
Just: "close deals."
Let me tell you what happens next. Nothing. And it's predictable — because this approach selects against exactly the people who could make your expansion work.
The signal you're sending (whether you mean to or not)
There are beast-level operators in Latin America who work on commission-only.
You can be sure of one thing about them: they're already busy making money.
The operator you want — the one with the relationships, the regulatory scars, the stakeholder map, the ability to get your product into rooms you can't find on a map — that person is not sitting around waiting for an unpaid opportunity to build your market for you.
So when a company leads with commission-only, what a serious operator actually hears is:
"We don't understand the work required — and we're winging it."
And serious operators don't argue with that signal. They don't negotiate it.
They walk away.
What's left in the pool after they do? That's who you're betting your market entry on.
What "close deals" actually implies
When you ask someone to close deals in Latin America, here's what you're really asking for:
- Time. LATAM sales cycles in B2B and B2G are measured in months and quarters, not weeks. Relationships compound slowly, then convert suddenly.
- Know-how. Regulatory constraints, documentation requirements, approval processes — and the unwritten layer underneath all of it.
- A whole bucket of actions that make deals possible in the first place. Market mapping. Partner qualification. Positioning. Compliance alignment. Trust-building with people who have been burned by foreign companies before.
None of that appears in a commission-only offer. All of it is the actual work.
Latin America is not a plug-and-play environment. You don't just show up and sell. You need relationships, trust, positioning, warm access, and a real understanding of how decisions actually get made — who influences, who signs, who blocks, and who needs to feel respected before anything moves.
That takes time. It takes strategy. And it takes ownership.
Why the strategy dies in vitro
Here's the pattern I've watched repeat for fifteen years.
A company hires commission-only. The hire — because serious operators walked away — is either inexperienced, overextended, or both. What follows is predictable:
- Scattered conversations with no qualification discipline
- Low-quality deals that stall after the first meeting
- No pipeline in any meaningful sense
- No real market position — just noise, cubed
Eight months later, leadership concludes: "Latin America doesn't work for us."
Latin America worked fine. The strategy never existed.
If your LATAM strategy is commission-only, you're not building a market. You're gambling.
What actually works instead
You don't always need a full-scale war plan. But you do need a structure that lets a real operator build value over time. In practice, that means:
1. Skin in the game — on both sides.
A base plus commission structure. The base doesn't need to make anyone rich; it needs to say we understand this is real work and we're committed to it. Operators read that signal instantly, the same way they read the opposite one.
2. A defined target map before anyone sells anything.
Which countries first, and why. Which segments. Which accounts. Who the decision-makers are and how they buy. If your hire is building this map from zero while also being expected to close, you've bought neither.
3. A scoped pilot with real success criteria.
Ninety days. One market. Defined deliverables: qualified pipeline, partner shortlist, regulatory pathway, first pilot conversations. Market entry de-risks beautifully in stages — but only if someone designs the stages.
4. Operator-level ownership, not task execution.
The person who will open LATAM for you is not a salesperson. They're building your position: aligning product to local requirements, qualifying partners, protecting your reputation in rooms you'll never see. Treat them like a country manager with a P&L future, and they'll build like one.
5. Budget for the market, not just the person.
Travel, legal entity questions, certifications, documentation, local counsel, trade shows, samples. Market entry has real costs. Pretending otherwise just moves the failure date.
The bottom line
Latin America rewards companies that show up seriously. The region is full of opportunity — nearshoring momentum, infrastructure investment, governments actively procuring, buyers who are loyal for years once trust is established.
But the door has a price, and it isn't a commission percentage.
It's commitment — structured, funded, and mutual.
The companies that understand this get the operators who build markets. The ones that don't get to keep their commission offer, indefinitely, while someone else's competitor signs the deals.
Entering LATAM and want the structure right from day one? See how I work on market entry and partnership architecture, or bring the situation and we'll map what your entry actually requires.
FAQ
Is commission-only ever appropriate in LATAM?
Rarely — and only when the product already has proven local demand, an existing pipeline, and the salesperson is purely closing warm opportunities. If someone still has to build the market, commission-only selects for the wrong person.
What budget should a mid-size company expect for LATAM market entry?
It varies by country and sector, but the meaningful line items are consistent: operator compensation (base + variable), legal and compliance setup, certifications or product adaptation, and travel. The cost of a failed entry — burned relationships, a poisoned reputation with key buyers — is always higher.
How long does market entry take before revenue?
Expect 6–12 months to meaningful traction in B2B, longer in regulated or public-sector segments. Any operator who promises faster is either selling you fantasy or skipping the steps that protect you later.
Maria Shrayber is a GTM and market expansion operator with 15+ years across LATAM and China, $39M+ in awarded contracts, and a 15–30% win rate in regulated government procurement. About · Proof