boisebully

Senior Account Executive

Paid Ramp

I started working for a brand new start up (9 current customers) 3 weeks ago and I'm the only AE. I asked in the interview process if there was a ramp period and the CEO said of course, but come payday only my salary was paid and not any of my OTE. I understood a ramp to be paid a % of your OTE during the ramp period but I had a friend that started a job a month before I did and his org did not have a paid ramp. Is that standard?

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FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

You need to find out how they pay commission as well. What’s in your contract and plan? That is how you are going to get paid

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Most relevant

boisebully

Good Citizen

Senior Account Executive

Agreed. But asking what is common practice for most orgs? Is it a majority or a minority that offer a paid ramp. Being such a young company and really establishing SOP and the GTM motion the CEO has been very impressionable. If it’s common Im much more likely to get that cheddar

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Then I say it’s common! Do I believe that? Actually, yes. % of variable guaranteed, sometimes as a draw but yes, most make some kind of effort to hire decent people.

CPTAmerica

Opinionated

President/CRO

Your the only AE. Does that mean you’re their first AE? If yes, they have no idea what your OTE really is. At that point it’s an educated guess.

Yes, it’s common to only make your base during ramp. Especially in early stage companies. The exception would be if they enticed you away from a stellar role where you were leaving future commission on the table to come join them. As others said, that would all be defined ahead of time in your agreement.

boisebully

Good Citizen

Senior Account Executive

They had an AE and in her 9 months she didn’t sell a single account from what I’m told. And your completely right. We haven’t even established a quota yet so we don’t know what the hell where I should be at. How do you establish a quota for reps if we are still proving proof of concept?

CPTAmerica

Opinionated

President/CRO

ha, sounds about right. When working with early stage companies I like to focus on deal stages and use conversion metrics as the goal not a quota. We want to create a scalable sales model where leads flow through the stages in a way that is predictable and forecastable. Then we try and increase the conversion metrics at each stage and fix stages where we see a massive drop off.

I'm a bit unconventional though, I believe quotas are just about worthless.

Deluno

Fire Starter

Account Executive

I worked at a startup like that, we focused on signed evaluation agreements, my salary was full ota the first 6 months

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

You should have exactly what the ramp means outlined in your contract.

Companies define the ramp differently. Some have a draw, others don't. Still others define a ramp as a lower quota, so your % of the sale is higher while you ramp up - but you're still only paid on what you bring in.

You need to check your contract for what they mean, and if it isn't there, it's time to ask what they meant by ramp, and what it means for your compensation.

boisebully

Good Citizen

Senior Account Executive

Wasn't outlined in the contract and we are so small we don't have a HR department to take it too. Will have to take it to the boss man tomorrow. The CEO/Founder is a first time founder and probably didn't even know what I meant by a ramp. Stupid of me not to clarify in the interview process.
Would you say a paid ramp is more common then not? I just don't want to look bad if I go to him asking for money if that's not typical in most orgs.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

I’d approach him with benefit of doubt leading the chat. First time founder- first time founder mistake. He’s probably just figuring out how to process payroll without freaking out. “I think this must have slipped your mind” would be a good open.

boisebully

Good Citizen

Senior Account Executive

Love it. Thank you!

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Also, always trust the bunnytruths. Bunny may not know all, but definitely most.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

The bunny has just been around a while. And sometimes these are things I learned the hard way myself, and I share, so you don’t have to also learn the hard way.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Well usually or often commission runs a few months behind (2 months)

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Sounds like you did not qualify the comp structure...and you're holding your hat.

What did you sign when you started?

WheelofCheese

Opinionated

Sales Executive

Depends on the company. Sometimes this ramp up period provides only a base salary until you earn enough commission to cover the base the company is giving you (with a defined time period-- e.g. 3 years). In this example, you would start earning commission above and beyond that "break even" point. Other companies pay you a base salary for a period of time and still allow for additional commission to be paid-- and cut off the base after a certain period of time. The thought is that your sales will offset the base. It sounds like you either didn't ask the right questions or the company didn't offer a detailed explanation on the structure of the comp.

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

"Ramp period" means different things to different companies. Last company I was with had a 90 day ramp, half of which was spent training/onboarding and the other half building pipe. Only base salary was paid unless we closed a deal (we had no quota for that quarter, so we weren't expected to close anything). It was an early stage startup.

Current company had a one month ramp. Quota was cut in half for that month, but because they have 8 weeks of onboarding, we only got half the month to sell anyway. Paid out on what we sold, not our expected OTE.

To be honest, I only ever interviewed one place that stated they did any ramp period where they paid full OTE. Established company (with a mixed reputation). I didn't get an offer though so I don't want the actual offer letter would have stated.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

It depends on the contract tbh that organizes this matter, it's better to check with HR to see how it works.

CPTAmerica

Opinionated

President/CRO

I'd bet good money there is no HR :)

FoodForSales

Politicker

sit down with your boss and have him step you through it

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Go ask

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If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

boisebully

Paid Ramp

22 comments

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