tequilaninja

Account Executive

Is it common for sales manager to ask his rep to share commission with him?

my manager bitched about me not sharing commission with him because he "is the leader" and "assigned” the leads to me. other sales reps also got approached with the same topic. For the record we have a system of lead assignment, and took me almost a year to work on the deal (not like he had negotiated everything and asked me to run the contract) is it like an unspoken rule in the sales world? I've never have a manger in the past asked for this, like we would go out to celebrate but never got asked to split cash. what do you guys think?

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66 comments

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Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

His comp plan should have a “manager override” or something similar so he gets comp’d on whatever you and the rest of the team sell. Him asking for a % of YOUR commission is highly suspect.

If he asks for it in the form of a gift card, blow the whistle.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Exactly what I was thinking... When I've managed a team I've always gotten paid based on what my team sold.
This is really messed up. Great call out on the GC - no paper trail and sketchy as hell

Leave the company immediately!

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

This is a massive red flag, they get paid on the team performance already so they can fuck off

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Like actually fuck right off, what kind of douche asks this?

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Yo wtf?! Fuck that

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

Absolutely no way in hell should you be having to split your commissions with anyone else specially not your manager.

Retired Sales Professional

Hells No!!

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Don’t walk. Run to HR

wwwb2b

Personal Narrative

AI Advisor

this

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

🐺

Tell your VP lol

tequilaninja

Catalyst

Account Executive

The problem is that he’s doing is a very smart way. Hinting here are there but never have the wording, the first time he asked me out of no where so I couldn’t even record what he says. And now a few reps observed the lead allocation is artificially disturbed to a specific rep. Just super hard with this macro situation to look for another decent opportunity. I was 1.5x target last year and this year likely would end with 80%. Terrible situation

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

This is a fireable offense by your manager. If he's doing it to the whole team I suggest y'all band together to go above his head.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Sounds like bribery.

slaydie

Big Shot

Account Executive

This is quid pro quo and is harassment. Please report.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

You work for the mob?

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

Do the right thing. Give Paulie his tribute…

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

No. This is not okay.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Hell no

waterjugsales

Politicker

Account Executive @ Funemployed

Fuck No.

Fenderbaum

Politicker

Retired Choirboy🪕

He can bitch all he wants... bright red flag right there.

SLC

Sales Leadership Consultant

There is not a scenario where this kind of behavior or ask is appropriate. Get to HR fast!

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

um no

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

Director of Revenue

Ask them if they're sharing their commission with the Sales Director or VP?

tequilaninja

Catalyst

Account Executive

Actually VP is super likely support what he does, because VP was like “you gotta show your gratitude” it’s just super hard to escalate, need evidence. And it’s costly for company to remove two senior role given our region is still making money overall.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

What kinda shady place you working at?!
Strong pyramid scheme vibes...

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Right? This is not normal at all in a good company. At all.

tequilaninja

Catalyst

Account Executive

Thanks guys. At least I know I’m not “ignorant”

VP Sales

If the VP supports it then leave that company as fast as you can.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

No, he should have a % of all deals closed on his team (override) which gets allocated internally. Moreover, his % and quota should be around 90% of the entire team below his quota. So if there are people killing it and others that are low producers, he has incentive to coach up or coach out and bring in new talent.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

HELL NAW

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

This is crazy and unheard of. Screw him

J.J.McLure

Politicker

Owner at *redacted*

Hard no. Not unless he worked the deal with you AND it’s in your comp plan to split the commission when you have help.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

And honestly, that shouldn't be a thing either. Managers/VPs are paid out on the team's attainment. He's already getting a % of the deal. It's his job to manage a team so they bring the deals through the door. Anything else is extortion.

J.J.McLure

Politicker

Owner at *redacted*

That's a valid point. I'm fine with either as long as it's transparent from the beginning.
To play devils advocate, I'm expected to do it all from first call to close, and I get a certain % for that. I didn't earn that whole commission if I needed help with it. If I do pull my manager in it means I believe I wouldn't have closed the deal alone and I'd rather take a smaller commission than none at all.
I think it makes a difference too that I'm at a smaller company, my manager carries his own quota and is stretched very thin so if I pull him into my deal it takes time away from him working his own.

tequilaninja

Catalyst

Account Executive

Exactly. As long as transparent. My previous company had a 80/20 split rule for a supporting AE, both get full credits for quota retirement, which is fine. I was willing to split more if my partner AE has done more, but the situation now is he simply did nothing and expecting for sth now. Need us to “appreciate” to have him as manager

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It's very different at a company where a manager does not carry a bag. I work for a tech company - we definitely need to pull resources from different departments in order to close business. There's no such thing as a rep doing it alone - in fact, that is considered a red flag for us.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

No, a manager is NOT an AE.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

no and seems like a ethics/hr problem

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

lmao what the hell is that.

ZachBlide

Opinionated

You need to straight up report this: whether it’s explicit or implicit - it’s unprofessional, selfish and shady behaviour. I think you can tell from this thread, the only person who seems to have any hesitation about doing this, is you. Trust in the judgement of all the experienced salespeople you’ve got advising you here: this is not ok, call it out.

If you want to confront your manager about it first: go for it. But I think going over their head is perfectly justifiable

DCAE

Account Executive

This is bananas. You'd pay him after taxes are taken out? The company pays people, not the employees. That this hasn't been a topic until after the deal is closed is also extraordinary.

londoniscoldandwet

Opinionated

SDR

I know you probably don’t remember all those HR training videos, but this is defo something in one of them 😂

tequilaninja

Catalyst

Account Executive

Haha harder IRL than theory. I’m basically recording all our 1-1. Def reporting this mofo when I have the evidence. Otherwise if he only got a warning and still in the office then I’m done

londoniscoldandwet

Opinionated

SDR

Take care of yourself - and good idea

lowhangersalesbanger

Executive

Director of Sales

Uh... no

Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

This should NEVER happen in a professional sales organization if you want to keep your team intact!

fastgrowth

Vice President Sales

They should never ask. They have their own plan

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Gotta ask - what country is this company in?

tequilaninja

Catalyst

Account Executive

US company but I’m working in their China team. I’ve also asked my friends in similar companies in the region but none of them have this issue. At least not for western companies

National Sales Manager

That's your issue right there. I saw a lot of shady payoffs going on in China when I used to do business there. When Chinese New Year came there were a LOT of "red envelopes" with kickbacks and bribes being passed around amongst the people doing business with each other. At the end of the day your manager asking to do this is basically trying to rip you off. As others have said make sure it gets brought to light. Also, that guy that getting all the best leads is kicking it back to the boss already. That's why he's getting the best leads. make sure he gets reported as well.

coletrain

Politicker

Account Executive

Leaders get their own spiffs. Ring the alarm bells and go to your skip level

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tequilaninja

Is it common for sales manager to ask his rep to share commission with him?

66 comments

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