If you work in sales

[Anonymous]

how is your pay/commission structured?

I've never been directly in sales, but certainly sales adjacent for the last 10 years. Right now I have a pretty high base pay and small commission on leads that I bring in. My company is stepping into an adjacent market that I happen to be knowledgable on and my boss asked if I'd be interested in heading sales for that and any input on how/if we should change my pay structure.

[Anonymous]

At my company typical roles pay $150k base plus another $150k payable as you sell to your assigned quota, with accelerator payments if you sell beyond that quota.

[Anonymous]

Same as the above. Commission at 100% of quota is typically equal to your base pay. You want to ask to see the comp plan before accepting the job.

I would want to make sure you’re on a ramp during your first year. That means the quota is lower for a time period to allow you to build your pipeline and learn the role.

I would also look to be paid for every dollar you bring in. Some comp plans don’t begin paying out until you hit 50 or 70% of your quota.

[Anonymous]

Does “heading sales” mean you are responsible for the whole team quota? Also, there will be no 1 year rampup. Six months tops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does “heading sales” mean you are responsible for the whole team quota? Also, there will be no 1 year rampup. Six months tops.

PP here, I missed this. The OP is looking at a head of sales role but isn’t intimately familiar with commission structures? 🚩

[Anonymous]

I get 8-10% of whatever I sell, plus 50% of everything over a certain margin %.

As a sales person I feel the whole commission at or after quota thing is joke. All they have to do is adjust your quota the next year. So unless you have a once in a decade year you are always going to be in roughly the total comp range. Why companies are so stingy with paying commission on anything sold is crazy.

Just don't shoot yourself in the foot by being crafty, most sales managers do this and their team hates them for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get 8-10% of whatever I sell, plus 50% of everything over a certain margin %.

As a sales person I feel the whole commission at or after quota thing is joke. All they have to do is adjust your quota the next year. So unless you have a once in a decade year you are always going to be in roughly the total comp range. Why companies are so stingy with paying commission on anything sold is crazy.

Just don't shoot yourself in the foot by being crafty, most sales managers do this and their team hates them for it.

The whole game is rigged. 20%of the team will carry the rest.

[Anonymous]

I would never ‘lead’ sales without having been in sales personally for at least 5-7 yrs. Regardless of being revenue adjacent, sales productivity and sales people are a completely foreign beast if you have not done it yourself. You are setting yourself up to fail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never ‘lead’ sales without having been in sales personally for at least 5-7 yrs. Regardless of being revenue adjacent, sales productivity and sales people are a completely foreign beast if you have not done it yourself. You are setting yourself up to fail.

Agree. And ideally you've worked with all or most of the different types of accounts the company handles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get 8-10% of whatever I sell, plus 50% of everything over a certain margin %.

As a sales person I feel the whole commission at or after quota thing is joke. All they have to do is adjust your quota the next year. So unless you have a once in a decade year you are always going to be in roughly the total comp range. Why companies are so stingy with paying commission on anything sold is crazy.

Just don't shoot yourself in the foot by being crafty, most sales managers do this and their team hates them for it.

The whole game is rigged. 20%of the team will carry the rest.

PP here. I don't care what others sell or don't sell. Has zero impact on me. I have a defined territory. I haven't talked to another sales person at company in about 2 years.