You are in for a real treat with hiring people to work for you, and trying to get people to work straight commission is a tough one indeed.
An idea would be to hire one great salesperson to work commission and feed him leads, to keep him motivated then grow from there. Start small to control the environment (if you have an office). I would hire 3 telemarketers, that you manage, train and whip and set appointments for the salesrep. Give him 15-20% of the sale, only on cash that has been paid to you already. A solid TM should generate 2-3 very qualified appointments in 6-7 hours of calling. You one guy should be running 5 sits a day and close 50-75% if they were set up correctly and he can close. So 2 sales a day...DO this for a quarter, then bump your best TM to sales...build your empire.