SerialBiller

Account Executive

Valued Contributor

Preparing to negotiate a job offer (I have read every post on negging offers) 🫡

Good evening to you all, my anonymous friends and sales fanatics. I am in the final throws of interviewing and I have the below details that I seek advice on yet again, thanking you all kindly in advance;

Recruitment platform AE role (salary's are not as high in the UK compared to the US for reference)

My would be manager asked me what my expectations are for salary, I threw it back and asked for banding, he threw it back to me so I didn't want to be a jerk and I said it needs to be in the range of 40-50k base and 90-100 OTE

He immediately came back and said the banding is 35-45k so 50 may be a push, we left it at that for now. This was the first interview and I have the fourth tomorrow at lunchtime.

He also said that the commish is 5%, which I didn't touch on in the first round, but that seems low to me, I am on 15% now but have averaged at around 10% over the last 10 years...

I am thinking of going in with a plan to say, I wanted 50k but you said the max is 45, so can we meet in the middle?

OR, another idea is that I say, I'll take 45 in year 1, then 50 in year two then 55 in year 3... what are your thoughts? perhaps I need to be asking for 45,55,65? in years 1,2&3...

Then there's the commish. I feel quite sure that the norm is 10% and my manager would be taking half, as I know I'm coming in to fill his boots as he has been promoted. And I will be taking his clients on straight away.

I would like to go in and say, I would have wanted 15%, you are at 5%, I am therefore happy to meet you half way and make it 10%...

Any help on how to word this and your thoughts so I can go in and smash the granny out of it

thank you all, I promise once I get this job, I will comment a lot more than I post 😂♥️

🗣 Interviewing

🤝 Interviewing/Offer

💪 Motivation

9

20 comments

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TennisandSales

Politicker

5

Head Of Sales

1. dont be worried about posting. thats what we are all here for.
2. he did not say 50K is to high.....he said it might be a stretch. 2 different things.

3. are you sure the commission percentage is negotiable? ive never been at a place where that is possible.

4. I would be interested to hear if others have pre negotiated a raise in future years. I bet they would NOT go for that.

I would go back to them and mention that their commision percentage is low for what you are seeing in the market and would need a base of $50k to make up for that.

remember you have 0 leverage if you are not willing to walk away if they dont meet you number. so if you are not willing to walk away you have to make it very convincing that you will walk away if you dont get what you want.

if you want 50K ask for 50K and dont back down. use the low commission percentage as the reason.

E_Money

Big Shot

2

💰

👆👆👆

SerialBiller

Executive

1

Account Executive

Awesome thanks so much, loads of help here. I’ll be sure to let you k ow what happens and yes I think I will stick to the 50k for sure 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

JuiceBox

Opinionated

1

Director

I negotiated my own commission rate, but at a startup, so could play differently in different scenarios

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

yeah this is the ONLY place I would expect to see it. and if I was a leader i would NOT do this.

difference base and OTE....sure. but if you operate on a % of closed deal comp model having ppl on difference percentages is a great way to drive the team apart.

JuiceBox

Opinionated

1

Director

I was also the first one in the AE role, so they didnt have a baseline.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

The commission part may be non-negotiable due to it being the company's comp plan for everyone. %'s can also be vague depending on the product. 1% of $1m deals is better than 10% of $50k deals. So it really depends on the price point of your product.<br><br>

SerialBiller

Executive

1

Account Executive

Yeah this is the thing, the pricing is not that high, 1k a month or 8k a year; but they are looking at going to enterprise companies also, so this is a possibility…

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I'm going to be that person. *throes

Definitely push for that $50K now. To reiterate a point made, he didn't say no, just that it was high.

RE the %, I think the issue there is if the 5% is across the board for all reps, or if it's a moving target as it seems it might be, based on the way you phrased your comment. The fact that you're currently making 15% is a data point you can use to ask about the structure at the new company. Stating that 5% seems low because you are currently at 15% and you'd like to understand why they have that 5% rather than industry standard is an invitation for him to explain the reasoning behind the number. At least you'll get an understanding of the logic behind it and can decide if it is workable or not.

SerialBiller

Executive

2

Account Executive

Thank you buddy, I have laid it down now and went in for the 50k… the 5% is every month the client pays subscription, so not bad tbf, as more clients add up, it adds up 😁

Now just a waiting game 🎲 🎲🫣

Diablo

Politicker

1

Sr. AE

I would just ask for 50k and I would never pitch 45 yr 1, 50k yr 2 ..... You never know what's in-store tomorrow (change in management, acquisition, non performance etc.).

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

2

Officer of ♥️

Yeah and by year two you should aim for 20% increase in base yearly honestly

SerialBiller

Executive

0

Account Executive

Thank you yes def going to ask for 50💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

1

Officer of ♥️

1. By the final interview say you need the extra 5k to sign. They will have vetted out all other potential hires at that point, already sold you internally, and would cost more to find someone knew/not worth their time to find someone new over it.

Same thing with the commision. Let them know you need 10% or you walk. ‘This is what I’m worth, and what gets me to perform well’

If they want to play hardball and not give it you have two options. 1. Walk, 2. Form an agreement that says ok look, I understand you want me to prove my worth. Lets form an agreement that states if I hit X goal on x track by month 1 or 3 then I get x promotion in base and commission. Or of course 3. Bend over.

Congrats by the way.

Also helps to have another higher offer you can send them to show you are indeed worth that, or to bluff and say, this other company is offering me 55 15, I’d rather work for you but have my limits, can we at least do 50/10?

SerialBiller

Executive

0

Account Executive

I like it, we think very similarly hahah👏🏼👏🏼

Jbeans

Opinionated

1

Director of Sales

As a hiring manager and sales rep- commission percentage will be very hard to up. It’s kind of the one thing we all know about eAchother - we all get same commish %. I’d still use the 15% is what I’m used to etc etc, but your far more likely to negotiate a higher base.

I’d almost go in asking 55k base with 5% (being ok to settle at 50k)

or you could be 45k with 10%

or!! You could ask if there’s an option once you hit plan - you get extra % for remainder of the year once that target Is met.

Don’t sell yourself short, but don’t negotiate yourself out of a job you want either. What’s the room for growth? How long do you get to ramp up? What happens when you don’t hit quota ? Do you have an account list or territory? Or are you hunting new logo ? All these things I’d expect to be asked by someone I’m interviewing. :)

SerialBiller

Executive

0

Account Executive

Thank you! You are right, the comms are fixed and the same for everyone.. I have requested 50k and so just have to wait now to see what they offer 😎

The other thing that has happened is that the other company has said I would be their first and only SDR and the money is the same, so that’s thrown a spanner in the mix, really not sure what to do if I get both

The AE one would allow me to map out the market as I would be selling to all uk tech companies and learn all about them to help me with my next career move in 2-3 years and it’s a bigger company

The SDR one is in the industry that I want to be in, but it’s only got 15 people and is going through the second round of funding so much ch more risky but will be room for growth; they have two AE’s only and no SDR’s

SerialBiller

Executive

0

Account Executive

My logical brain tells me that if I go for the AE one, I can move horizontally into another AE role in time where as the passionate side of my brain says how about growing in the company that you would be able to grow the whole way with as SDR then SDR manager then AE

VERY TOUGH

JuiceBox

Opinionated

1

Director

Label it, say something like "it sounds like base salary isn't negotiable" and be quiet, even if it gets uncomfortable, make him respond to it, if he says something like, "I didn't say that" or "not necessarily", if that's what happens you know have the leverage. if its a simple, no its not, then work on the commish, even 1% makes a big diff

SerialBiller

Executive

0

Account Executive

Thanks savage, see my updated post 😎💥💥💥

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