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Halfshot profile picture

Halfshot

Mid-Market Account Executive

Good Citizen
Contributor

Commission Docked

Hello War Room,

Have a question on how to handle my commission being docked several thousand dollars due to a weird technicality none of the sales team was aware of.

what have others done where the company is claiming they are right because of a weird loophole on reducing the comp on a deal. Did you fight it, threaten to leave, or what other action did you take? 

for reference, I am the top AE year to date for our mid-market band, and have closed more than all of the enterprise team except one rep, so I feel like I have some internal leverage (maybe I'm wrong).

Thanks in advance for the help!
- Halfshot
🧠 Advice
💰 Compensation
☁️ Software Tech
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12 comments

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CuriousFox
WR Officer
8
🦊
Talk to your manager, present your case, and see what they can do for support. 
ego
Politicker
7
Bartender
The thing about revenge is… it’s fun.
TennisandSales
Politicker
4
Head Of Sales
ugh! complicated comp plans like this are seriously the worst. 
I am assuming this is the first time this has happened? if it is, this is what I would do: 

Since your doing well, I would meet with who ever your manager is and respectfully complain. 

if you are in email communication with upper management I would express how frustrating this is and that they should revisit how they structure it in the future. 

IF this keeps coming up, then I would take it up a notch and threaten to leave because not having clarity on your comp plan is a serious hindrance to your performance, 
Sunbunny31
Politicker
3
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Complicated comp plans are the worst.   I'm sorry it happened.   Like others have said, have a discussion with your manager and see if there's anything that can be done, but if not, and you like your job, do what you can to ensure it doesn't happen again.   
braintank
Politicker
2
Enterprise Account Executive
What was the loophole?
Halfshot
Good Citizen
0
Mid-Market Account Executive
Claiming one of the line items should be comped as one time instead of annual. The line item is annual, but we need to work through a third party to provide the service so it caries a higher cost to the org, so they are claiming it should be comped as a one time cost. Comp plan is complicated AF…
braintank
Politicker
4
Enterprise Account Executive
That does sound quite complex. 

If it were me:

Gotta weigh how much $$$ it is vs your overall happiness and potential to earn over the next year. Are we talking $50k at a place you hate. Then yes I'd raise hell (while applying elsewhere). Are we talking $2k at a place you love? Then I'd talk to my manager, express my frustration, and ask what they can do to help. 

If you're top of the heap the management should want you to be happy.
Halfshot
Good Citizen
1
Mid-Market Account Executive
I am happy, have good support, and a strong internal network. I’m not really looking to leave. I would have just structured the deal differently to make the most out of the commission had I know (moved all the cost into other line items to maximize comp). So it just feels a little dirty on the companies side. Ends up being about 5k reduction.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
2
Officer of ♥️
I'd write threat letters to all the higher ups saying how you dgaf about the technicalities you have strippers to pay and you can walk and take the team with you to 2x your pay if they want to be shisty, and you have great copy for glassdoor reviews. or you can take @CuriousFox advice ofc. lol
Justatitle
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
In this case determine if the juice is worth the squeeze, if your comp plan clearly states something should be paid a certain way then you have a strong case and if the juice is worth it the last thing your company wants is legal action over comp...
AnchorPoint
Politicker
1
Business Coach
Every day is a mutual contract... especially right now, keeping your top performers happy and engaged is critical for all employers.
JustGonnaSendIt
Politicker
1
Burn Towns, Get Money
Need more details on why this is.

This recently happened to me ~3 months after the end of FY 2021. Comp team came back and assessed a liability on my 2022 commission becuase they overpaid me in accelerators last year due to some technicality on page 27 of the comp plan addendum.

Ran it up the flag pole to my boss, VP, SVP, and eventually they approved a discretionary bonus to wipe that liability out after failing their appeal to our internal commission review process. They agreed that it's BS to penalize a rep that did 167% of their number due to an oversight by some internal team.

Give us some more info any maybe we can give you better guidance. But generally talking to your manager about it is the first place to go. Understand how these things get reviewed and who has the power to do something about it, so you can assess your chance of success (much like qualifying a deal).

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