gripittandripitt

Senior Global Sales Manager

Personal Narrative

comp plan advice. Need help determining OTE

hey all,

recently received an offer from a company looking to expand into North America. they're primarily based out of EMEA and if I join them I'd be part of the founding sales team for the americas. they're a profitable company, have a decent product-market fit for the industry they're in. they aren't meeting my salary expectations but mentioned they'll provide a larger upside on year 1 through the variable comp. I'm having a hard time understanding what the total on target earnings is with what they provided, what are some questions I could ask as part of my response and what are your overall thoughts on the breakdown below?

Year 1

Base salary: 80k

150k to 250k: 7.5%

250k and more: 10%

Target: 250k

Year 2 (if previous year target is met)

Base salary: 90k

200k à 400k : 5%

400k et + : 10%

Target: 400k

Year 3 (if previous year target is met)

Base salary: 100k

250k à 500k : 5%

500k et + : 10%

Target: 500k

🍾 Commission

🤝 Interviewing/Offer

8

17 comments

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oldcloser

Arsonist

4

💀

Year 1 at "target" you make $98,750. @sahil made that much this past weekend with a few bets.

You've got to get to $250k (assuming ACV) to make $98,750.
If you do, you get a $10k raise in year 2, but they offset the raise by lowering your commission by 1/3.

Fall short in year 1? years 2 and 3 are in the toilet. Fall short of $150k in year 1, you make $80k.

No idea what the product, vertical, or average deal size is, but this is complete horseshit. No sauce. Don't eat it. The only way this makes sense is if its heavy inbound and you can answer calls while working a real job.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

4

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Thank you for doing the math. I agree the plan sucks - all hinges on year 1, and woe betide you if you don’t hit that year.

oldcloser

Arsonist

3

💀

Like commission roulette. Echhh

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I’m risk-averse when it comes to my pay. I mean, there’s a bit of risk inherent in sales, but that’s way beyond missing a quarter here or there.

oldcloser

Arsonist

3

💀

When the comp plan is fair the bet we make is on ourselves. When it’s like this, there no way to beat the house. Frightening.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It's like a Vegas casino meets RevOps. In all the wrong ways.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

2

Director, Revenue Enablement

I would also bet they don’t retroactively pay you that accelerated rate for breaking through the first barrier. This would even further stack the deck against you.

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

Leave it to Rambo. Yep, spot on. Another fly in this Preparation H Ointment.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

1

Director, Revenue Enablement

It’s the problem with all these ramped plans. Don’t tell me my rate is 10% but not until I hit a certain threshold. Tell me it’s 7.5 and I get a bump when I break through certain marks.

Whoever is designing this has never sold a damn thing. If so they’d understand how you position it completely changes how it’s perceived. 🤬

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

That's what a sales person does...put things into a favorable light. Clearly missing here.

unclespacejam

Politicker

1

ur dad’s brother

Agree with @oldcloser here. This plan east like a big pile of fossilized dogshit. Not worth your time or risk. And certainly not worth the “caché” of being on the “founding NA team”.

They gotta juice these numbers big time for this to be convincing.

DataCorrupter

Politicker

1

Account Executive

"how can we dip our toe into North America with very little risk to us, the company?"

1. Hire a cheaper AE
2. Give them a "founding AE" title
3. Pay them only if they somehow manage to blow out the uninformed revenue number.

This is becoming a playbook for companies, I wouldn't do this unless you want a 1 year stint on your resume. You assume most all of the risk, and the company only pays you 80k for it. Opinion, but it's just not worth it.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

3

☕️

Second post where people cannot finish a simple math problem where all the variables are literally written out for you.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

I dunno dude. I don't think I'd take the job.

jefe

Arsonist

3

🍁

I'm with Fox. Way too much risk for way too little upside.

@oldcloser , @Sunbunny31 & @Revenue_Rambo laid out all the points really well.

FeelItInMyPlums

Valued Contributor

1

Sales Account Executive

This seems like 100% of the risk is put on you. You're better off getting an inside sales role somewhere established for 80k/160OTE

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

The real question is how realistic are those sales targets? Year 1 your sales will be minimal, so there is little risk on their end to heavily incentivize you. And when you don't hit Y1 numbers, the following years are moot. So for them its a win-win but for you, its just so-so.

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