Focus on steady pipeline or focus on cash?

Hi All,

My comp plan is based on a monthly attainment so I get paid on whatever I close that specific month compared to my ACV target for that month. Once you go above, you hit the accelerators. pretty standard, pretty simple.

Now i've spoken with many AE's and some of them say it's best to make sure you always try to get the most out of your month and always aim for that 100% at least. (granted that that is attainable, if more, hit more) because that is what management wants to see. a steady pipeline.

On the other side of the spectrum I have AE's telling me that it's better to overachieve in month 1. make sure you hit all the accelerators, break the record for that month and get a big fat paycheck and then month 2 you close nothing so that you have pipeline in month 3 again to do what you did in month 1.

from a business perspective if the attainment would be identical on average I would hit 100% for the year in both cases. However, if I have 6 killer months in a year and 6 terrible months in a year I would earn roughly 40-50% more in OTE (90k OTE vs 130k OTE).

The question here. do we need to care about what management thinks about predictability of pipeline and hitting the monthly milestones and being a good boy. or should we be playing the commission cashcow game for as long as it lasts?

any redflags from managers experiencing this would be appreciated.

thanks