DungeonsNDemos

Rolling 20's all day

Acclaimed Answer

Commission pulse check. Where's the line?

My team has had some turnover recently and the main complaint is with the fact that we don't get paid out on deals until the company is paid. The reason that this is an issue is because we don't have much visibility into when customers are finishing up implementation and when finance finally invoices and gets paid. We're all SaaS, for context.

It's been this way for years but we acquired another company in early 2023 with a few more products and my commissions are starting to pile up due to our internal processes being messy.

This has led to some deals being closed and 8 months later finally being paid out. We do NOT have a great commission tracker even though our company is fairly strong and sizeable.

I'm sitting on like 60k commish myself and I only have rough guesses as to when I'll get paid out. I anticipate this pile to just keep growing and leadership keeps saying "that's how all companies our size payout, so this is normal".

I guess what I'm getting at is now that we all have golden handcuffs, where should my line in the sand be to start looking elsewhere?

💰 Compensation

🍾 Commission

13

25 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

11

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

You get paid off post-implementation? Let me be the first to say that alone has to go. So many factors can delay launch that it’s crazy to base payment and therefore commission on that.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

7

Rolling 20's all day

Yeahh in the old days implementation was like 2-3 weeks but with the new products it is often months. Not ideal :/

Sunbunny31

Politicker

5

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Why are they waiting until implementation is complete? Do your contracts have an out clause? If so, stop it.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

3

Rolling 20's all day

Nope, no out clause but implementations are time and materials, not a specific amount of time. They can often drag out.
Also even when invoices are properly scheduled, companies we sell to often don’t pay bills on time or they try to push the terms and our finance team caves to their asks.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

So our deals are also SaaS, with implementation, and yes, that can vary. But our customers pay the platform fees net -x after start date, and the implementation fees under whatever schedule determined by the services Statement of Work. This means we get paid regardless of any delays, change orders, etc.

HVACexpert

Politicker

2

sales engineer

This is how you do it, you pay for product first, then bill out for services/labor as it is performed later.

jefe

Arsonist

4

🍁

We’re in the same boat. It’s frustrating but hard to argue with. Giant PITA, especially until you have established a bunch of deals that keep it flowing regularly

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

3

Rolling 20's all day

Hang in there @jefe

ZVRK

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

This 100% has to go. A contract is a contract, if a customer signs on a 3 year term, it doesn't matter when they "go live", I think it`s only fair and the only way really, that this enters your quota the day the contract is signed. I have a client that signed May 2022 and they are only about to go live next month! Completely out of my (or our team`s) control, priorities change and all that, still, It made a large chunk of my quota for 2022, would have suc**d if it hadn`t..

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

2

Rolling 20's all day

It does count for quota the day they sign, but our services teams policy is to structure billing to occur at end of implementation when licensing “starts”.
I would love to say great I’ll have finance invoice you when you sign but it’s been a tough fight across the team to make that happen.

Not completely outside of control but makes it feel like rolling a boulder up a hill.

ZVRK

Politicker

3

Enterprise Account Executive

I see. We start licensing at the “kick off” meeting, which is usually a week or two max after signing. Now the implementation can go on for 2-3 months or a year (even more) too. Some clients will negotiate that we start the license term at end of implementation, but, that only a few. I guess i should count myself lucky we still get our deals recognized on the date of signing.. i hope the situation gets better for you too, you should definitely speak up.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

1

Rolling 20's all day

It’s been a hot topic across the team for a while. Here’s to hoping they make a change. I doubt it will come.

BigShrimpin

Catalyst

6

Account executive

i get paid on payment but we invoice day 1

unclespacejam

Politicker

7

ur dad’s brother

This is the fuckin way. Our devs don’t lift a finger until we have an invoice issued, usually 30-45 day pmt terms.

HVACexpert

Politicker

2

sales engineer

Dido, when product is delivered you invoice.

jefe

Arsonist

2

🍁

I’ve had this. It’s wonderful. And right. But I miss it.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

5

Director, Revenue Enablement

I worked for a company that had this policy, and it just doesn’t work. As an account manager there was no incentive for me to get someone to renew early or do a necessary upgrade with their upcoming renewal.

They cited not wanting to deal with clawbacks but I chalk that up to just being lazy.

oldcloser

Arsonist

5

💀

Our org pays on contract execution. This is barbaric.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

Like yikes 💯

Justatitle

Big Shot

4

Account Executive

Not ideal, your company needs to get Spiff/Captivateiq/Quotapath going ASAP. I don't disagree with not being paid until the company gets paid because of clawback but you should get visibility.

SalesBeast

Politicker

4

Sales Leader

You should get paid the month or quarter after the company pays an invoice. You have no control over implementation. Plus as said in another comment you don’t have an out clause, so who gives a shit, if you have their money in hand, how long the implementation takes.
If they keep this fucked process in place they should have fields in crm showing progress on implementation and when it’s expected to end. If you are not making great money I would bounce this cluster fuck.

snacks

Opinionated

2

AE

You lost me at "I am sitting on $60K unpaid commish"

Do your client contracts not stipulate payment terms?? What happened to the ole Net 30?

If I were you I would quietly consult an employment lawyer and look for a new gig ASAP.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

0

Rolling 20's all day

The issue lies in, if I sell you a 100k contract for licenses on Jan 1, we might not bill you till your “live” and done with implementation in 5 months. And from that day in May, you have net 30 terms.
And if you don’t pay your bill till the 30th day of those terms, and it lands in the 2nd half of June, then I don’t get paid on the ARR till end of July at best.

snacks

Opinionated

0

AE

If you're sitting on a $60K commission alone, how much is the company sitting on waiting for IOU clients to go "live"?!

Jeeze louise this isn't just messy it's silly.. what happens if in your example you sell the 100k contract Jan 1, clients takes 5 months to implement aka 5 months of your company working the account, and then in June client decides the onboarding was shitty or took too long or whatever, and reneges on deal and says they don't want to pay.. what do you do?

RckChlkG33k

Big Shot

1

AE (Account Executive)

I get paid the month after a PO comes in without fail. I'm at a small company. There's no excuse for the situation they've put you in.

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