Lol… So today, I had a rant bubbling up about how broken most “sales” jobs are these days — especially in industries like MCA and financial services. So I opened ChatGPT and just said what was on my mind. The conversation that followed perfectly captured what I’ve seen for years in this space… and how to fix it.
Posting the full chat below — raw and unfiltered — because it says everything that needs to be said.
Sean: what’s up with these sales jobs that want a sales closer who also prospects, gets leads and then closes them. do they not understand how to differentiate sales from marketing and is this a problem in the specific business owners head in terms of not understanding that?
ChatGPT: You’re 100% right to be skeptical — and you’re not imagining it. When a sales job asks you to generate your own leads AND close them, it’s usually a red flag about how the business is structured (or not structured).
Here’s what’s really going on behind those job posts:
1. The Owner Doesn’t Understand the Difference Between Marketing and Sales
They think “sales” includes everything from cold outreach to closing the deal, because they’ve never run a proper sales/marketing pipeline before.
- Marketing is supposed to generate interest and leads.
- Sales is supposed to qualify, pitch, handle objections, and close.
If they’re lumping everything together? It’s probably because no one has ever explained the distinction to them — or they don’t want to spend the money to do it right.
2. They Want Free Marketing With Zero Risk
Translation:
“We want you to go hustle for your own leads, and if you bring in deals, we’ll cut you a commission. If not, we lose nothing.”
It’s a way for the business owner to outsource risk to the salesperson. That might be okay for a startup if they’re transparent about it and giving a massive upside (equity, big commissions, etc.), but most of the time it’s just cheap labor disguised as opportunity.
3. They Don’t Have a Working Offer or Inbound System
If a company had:
- A proven offer
- Product–market fit
- Traffic or inbound interest
They would never ask closers to also prospect — they’d just pay for a setter or run paid ads.
So what you’re seeing is often a sign that:
❌ The company isn’t ready to scale
❌ The offer doesn’t convert reliably
❌ They’re stuck in “grind” mode with no system in place
4. It’s a Band-Aid for Bad Leadership
Inexperienced founders or agency owners often try to “solve” their lead gen issues by hiring a unicorn — someone who can cold email, cold call, run ads, follow up, close deals, AND manage the CRM.
But:
Good salespeople don’t prospect. Good prospectors don’t close.
The skillsets are different. The personalities are different. The workflows are different.
Trying to combine both usually ends up in burnout and mediocre results on both ends.
5. They Can’t Afford a Full Sales Team
Sometimes it’s a cashflow issue. They want a sales team and a marketing team, but can’t afford either — so they try to combine them into one “commission-only closer” role.
Unless they’re offering equity or huge upside, this is usually not worth your time, especially if:
- They have no inbound leads
- They expect daily cold outreach
- They pay only after deals close (with long sales cycles)
When Is This Setup Acceptable?
Only if:
- They’re upfront about the grind and risk
- You get high commissions (25–40%+)
- You have full control over how you run outreach
- The offer is already proven to convert when you get someone interested
Otherwise, you’re being hired to do the business owner’s job of building a lead gen system — but getting paid like a closer.
Sean: This problem seems to plague industries like MCA and financial services as well as other business models that have certain types of people operating the business. why is that?
ChatGPT: Great insight — and yes, this issue does plague the MCA (Merchant Cash Advance) industry and similar sectors like insurance, solar, real estate, credit repair, high-ticket coaching, etc.
These industries attract a certain type of operator and tend to have low barriers to entry, which creates a perfect storm for this “one-man-army” sales job problem.
Here’s why it’s so common in these spaces:
1. Hustle Culture > Systems Thinking
Industries like MCA glorify the “closer” mindset and reward people for hustling, grinding, dialing 100+ calls a day, and just “figuring it out.”
Many business owners in this space:
- Came up through boiler rooms
- Built their businesses without marketing knowledge
- View sales as a numbers game, not a system to optimize
So to them, asking a closer to hunt and kill their own leads feels normal.
2. Low Startup Costs → High Competition → Risk Aversion
It’s cheap to start an MCA brokerage or coaching biz — you just need a phone, an offer, and some guts.
But that means:
- Tons of low-capital operators flood the space
- Margins get thin
- Owners avoid risk (like paid ads or hiring setters)
So instead, they default to:
“Let’s hire closers who also prospect… on commission only.”
It’s not strategic — it’s reactive.
3. Outsized Dreams, Undersized Infrastructure
The operators often dream big but have:
- No funnel
- No CRM setup
- No nurture sequences
- No sales scripts
- No qualified lead flow
They skip all that and go straight to:
“We just need a killer closer who can go get their own leads.”
4. Lack of Sales Process Knowledge
A lot of these business owners confuse:
- Cold outreach (which is top-of-funnel marketing)
with - Sales closing (which is mid-to-bottom-of-funnel)
They don’t understand:
- The difference between appointment setting, qualifying, and closing
- Why a predictable pipeline is more valuable than “hustling harder”
5. Commission-Only Mentality
MCA, financial services, and biz-opp niches love commission-only setups. It removes all the risk for the business owner.
So they think:
“Why not just hire 10 closers who prospect and close their own leads? We only pay when they win!”
What they don’t realize:
- This churns through reps quickly
- Most reps burn out with no traction
- Good closers won’t tolerate this for long
Final Thought:
The real irony? These are often the businesses that would grow the fastest if they:
- Focused on fixing lead gen
- Built a predictable setter → closer pipeline
- Paid top closers just to close
Until they evolve past hustle-brained tactics, they’ll keep burning through reps and blaming the talent — when the real problem is their broken system.
💡 Tired of hiring closers who churn? We help ISOs and MCA funders build real, automated inbound lead gen systems that actually attract prospects — so your sales team can do what they’re paid for: close.
If this post hit a nerve, share it with someone who’s still trying to build their sales team the hard way. Or just fix the root problem and let us help you build a proper system.
