ABA

Account Executive

Do we need to change our AE compensation structure?

Hi all,

I’m looking for some insights on current AE comp structure in SaaS sales. At the moment, ours is salary and then target is 10x. So double OTE with 10% commission. However, only 2-3 people will hit target this year and the rest are way off.

I’m hearing that the average target is normally 5-8x your base. If those of us who hit target want a pay increase, then the target will be completely unachievable. (ACV = €37k, sales cycle is 3-6 months)

Also, what do people have in terms of accelerators? We currently have 12.5% between 100-130% and then 15% thereafter. I’ve overheard from other companies that they have on-track target vs quarter accelerators and even threshold (like when you hit 50% of target) accelerators.

Curious to see if our target vs base structure needs to change and how the double OTE can be made up.

Thank you!

💰 Compensation

11 comments

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GDO

Politicker

BDM

base is 80% right now. Making the switch to 60/40 tough

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

We are 8x base on average.

Your company’s target may be as high as it is because it’s going to include whatever growth target they have. That $ has to come from somewhere.

ABA

Account Executive

Yeah, there are crazy growth goals of trying to become a unicorn in the next 5-7 years, so the annual targets for the company are mega - so it's understandable. But I'm just thinking of how the base/accelerator vs target can be adjusted and whether that's truly scalable for reps to progress, considering current pipeline, performance and sales cycle.

The 8x is interesting to know, thank you!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Well, target is 8x of base, making it 4x of OTE, w/o accelerators or bonuses.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Yes this sounds correct.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

I have unfortunately never heard of a company lowering their sales target/quotas. And they only increase comp packages when they start losing top talent over it. So is that happening?

ABA

Account Executive

I know - asking for lower targets and higher bases isn't going to go down easy haha

We've had a fair number of leavers, most not performing and realising that the target is unachievable, but that's nothing new in sales, obviously.

They've had this structure from the beginning (with a non-sales background), so before we go through more hiring phases, I'm just curious what other structures are out there and if the base and accelerators can be adjusted in a way so that when you hit and want a base pay bump that tracks market rate, the deficit then isn't too much.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Let me ask -
are you in the position to be able to change it
-or-
are you looking to have it changed and you're just looking for ammo to bring to the fight?

ABA

Account Executive

The latter - I’m looking to have it changed.

After hearing that our main competitor has a vastly (positively) different structure, I’m looking to see what else is out there. They have on-track as well as threshold accelerators, and I know of reps with targets that are less than mine, but have double my base - wasn’t a great moment when I calculated what I could’ve earned haha

So I’m just seeing what I can do to move us a bit towards that :)

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

In the beginning of 2022 the standard you would hear is ~4-5x your annual sales target would be your base+commish(OTE) So if your annual target was 800 OTE would be 200. In the bloodbath of the past year it's not uncommon to hear 7-8x quotas and looking for any reason to cut headcount. cruel world currently in SAAS sales

ABA

Account Executive

Yup, it's definitely got worse. I just haven't heard many situations have targets 10x your base, but I presume it's moving in that direction...

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ABA

Do we need to change our AE compensation structure?

11 comments

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