Commission based sales

Has anyone had any success in finding/using salespeople on a commission-based sales gig where they do it as a side job? We've got sales literature but I'm struggling to understand how the role would work, I imagine there's more to it than giving someone the literature, and an email address and then telling them "let me know when you've got some leads". If anyone can share any thoughts, blogs, or articles to read that'd be ace :)