bendandsnack

Account Exec

Do you have to go to a small tech company to make $$$?

Hey all,

I've been surviving for 3+ years at a small but fast growing cloud partner services company. I'm a 'roach, made it through PE acquisition, 6-7x RIF survivor(I've lost count at this point), but for multiple reasons am casually shopping around.

I've been taking calls with some name brands, and have been shocked by how shitty the pay is.

I'm sitting at $210k OTE 50/50 split. I spoke with a name brand today offering $150k OTE 50/50 split. What in the actual fuck?

I've only been closing for 2 years, and have had to make a bit of a climb in salary from when I first started, but still.

Do you think you have to work at a small company for a decent paycheck? I thought I wanted the comforting structure of a big company, but not at that level of pay cut.

------------------------

Update: why I'm leaving, adding context for the "you should stay" comments -

SO many of my friends have been fired, it mentally gets to be a bit much after a while
Recently we've hired a lot of big company ppl in leadership & now there's a lot of political scapegoating going on. For ex. one Sales Director who was brand new came after me, like was sh*t talking in front of our CEO/CRO, talked shit to both our VP/Director of Sales Engineering, etc.
Cloud provider we partner with is struggling & is shifting their comp plans to be less partner friendly
Our company is just not doing well right now
I think I could learn more at a bigger company, I've never been taught any kind of sales process etc

💰 Compensation

32

23 comments

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oldcloser

Arsonist

12

💀

Your survival skills speak volumes about your ability to merchandise yourself inside and out. Your tenure and stability will pay you. If not now, later. It you can avoid the inclination to jump, ride it out. Tough time to look at moving out to move up. ✊

oldcloser

Arsonist

6

💀

Update to your update. Imagine hearing a chorus of 5,000 currently employed AEs, in unison: yeah? Me too.

Turbulence. Don’t let it bounce you out of your seat. You earned it.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

9

Sales Rep

2 years with a 210 OTE with a 50/50 split, that’s going to be hard to beat.

Maybe some series a or b will be willing to pay that much but you might run into similar issues with RIFs

jefe

Arsonist

5

🍁

My thoughts exactly. @bendandsnack you've done phenomenally well in a short time. People can absolutely make that at larger orgs but with a lot more experience.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

5

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yep, you work up to it, but it can take years.

wildwhale

Member

6

Enterprise Account Executive

great job on surviving all those RIFs (and will be useful in your story when you do decide to jump ship).
No harm in looking elsewhere but lots of big names don’t pay all that well (not for all mind you) (coming from someone whose been interviewing and figured out comp plans and attainment at most).
If it’s company you think you see growth at and a product you’re hella excited about selling - that’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons.
However, market is f*cked right now & jumping will defs require due diligence even if it is a shiny pay.

However, no you don’t need to work at a small company to make $. I’ve worked at larger ones and made great money but also probably in a better market for the tech i was selling. Smaller companies startups etc typically have more leeway in what they can offer. Also talking to people internally is best to find out - ote is 215 - well could be a goldmine where everyone is crushing and making well above that in commission or complete opposite. Ote just a made up number till you find out from the insiders.

fidelcashflow

Catalyst

6

Account Executive

$210 after 2 years is great. It took me about 3 years to hit $200 and I felt like that was very hard and rare to achieve. You're getting those offers because recruiters see the 2 years and def throw you in the SMB pool. I get hit up by Google and sfdc all the time at around $150k and I laugh at them. Your best case is finding something at around $250k but nothing more unless you hit ENT. Which on paper, you're probably not qualified for. Be patient and something will come around for $250+

CuriousFox

WR Officer

4

🦊

You may wanna stay put bb ❤

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

4

Director, Revenue Enablement

Big question….

You are talking $210 OTE, but are you on track with your plan?

That pay is great for 2 years in, but at the right place you can exceed that on a lower OTE.

Side note: if the brand name is SF don’t do it.

2

Enterprise SDR

If you want a high base go to an Enterprise if you want better commission plus equity to a start-up plus.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

Sales Rep

Based on your edit, I would be extremely patient on the role you take and be very critical. You will need to sell yourself to earn a 200+ OTE given your years of experience.

Use repvue to target a list of companies

Diablo

Politicker

1

Sr. AE

As all said, you are in a good spot when it comes to your OTE. Risk is every where (small/big). Stay and wait for another opportunity if you cannot take that cut

LambyCorn

Arsonist

1

A mfkn E

to be fair, I worked for more money freelancing for startups - now at a 3500 employee company making significantly less - it sounds like your current company will survive so, stick it out!! Stay and make the best of it, would be my 2 cents

1

Retired Sales Professional

In order to make the right decision:

GDO

Politicker

1

BDM

not at all. big ones can pay a lot as well!

Justatitle

Big Shot

1

Account Executive

1 question and 1 Q only. Are you currently getting almost 100% of OTE?

bendandsnack

Politicker

0

Account Exec

Should be closing out around $200k

FoodForSales

Politicker

0

AE

i know of people at bigger companies which made the big $$, but then the company nuked the comp plan. So to make the big commish, you probably need to be at a smaller company before someone else gets the big commish.

0

Leader

Salaries in B2B sales (for ICs and leaders) have been declining over the last 2 years. Lots of talent out there due to layoffs over the last 2 years for a relatively low number of open roles. Companies have been “burned” by poor sales performance (not the reps fault, but sales leader fault) so companies are not willing to guarantee a high salary anymore.

0

Sales rep

Are you happy?

0

Federal Financials Lead

So let’s look at the reasons why the offers are lower (just so you can counter it in negotiations).
1. They are likely simply screening you into a tier of ae guided by the two years of experience. This is going to be your biggest challenge, overcoming the “unproven” objection.2. Inflated OTEs. If you got your OTE in 2021, that is when OTEs were peaking and it was a very good time to move. But as you can see in repvue fewer and fewer enterprise sellers are actually hitting that number and they are looking to move to keep their high OTE. To counter this, you need to show a history of overachievement (preferably with receipts) so that you can overcome that objection.3. Because of the current economic climate you’ll likely need to negotiate hard to secure the OTE you want. Overcoming the first two objections is what you need to root your negotiation in.

0

Account Executive

Base chase can be a career killer

0

Director of Enterprise, Senior Advisor

I think a smaller company would give better xp / learning opportunities than a big one

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