TennisandSales

Head Of Sales

Acclaimed Answer

talking about comp: "i make more than everyone"

I wanted to write a follow up post to my last one.

2 important themes came up in the comments:

i want to talk about it but dont know how
I make the most, what do i do?

Remember the goal about sharing your comp, is to HELP others, not brag about it. so always check your ego savages.

im always careful to talk about comp when its appropriate. this time of year is always good because companies do performance reviews. So if you have a productive conversation with others, then there is a way to actually take action. nothing worse then getting all hot and bothered and then having to just sit and do nothing about it.

2 This is tricky. when you start talking about comp and YOU make the most it can turn ppl against you. I have had these conversations 3 different times in my career and 2 of them it was not an issue. the 3rd time it destroyed the relationship with the person (she made more than me, and i feel like it was more on her than me doing something to hurt the relationship you know?)

If you are talking about comp and you make more than everyone, remember a few things:

Ppl are going to be jealous, you cant stop that. but try not to make it personal.
If you can help make suggestion on how others can get to where you are, they will really value you for it.
Many times ppl just DONT KNOW whats possible. so sharing your experience could change the trajectory of that persons career if they know whats possible.
You need to make sure you have a good relationship with the ppl you are talking comp with. If you dont have a good relationship with that person, i dont think it will be very successful.

what are your thoughts?

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/why-you-should-always-talk-about-your-salary

💰 Compensation

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16 comments

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Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

7

Sales Rep

I very much appreciate the insight here. My main hesitation is also leadership might find out I have been telling people comp which will cause the other AEs to start negotiating more.

I know legally the company can't punish you, however they might "subconsciously" give me a worse territory, choose someone else to promote or negotiate harder when I am trying to get a raise.

I know its selfish to think this way, which I feel guilty about. But its kinda of a big reason why I love getting feedback here

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

2

Rolling 20's all day

This is my biggest concern as well. If management isn't understanding or decide this is reason to withhold the best territory, promotion, raise, etc. then I could pay the price for sharing my pay.
I fully believe that we should all raise each other up but it's still a concern in the back of my mind.

TennisandSales

Politicker

0

Head Of Sales

and i think its valid to be afraid of that, but idk if its a thing that would really happen. Like i believe it would have to be a HUGE situation that happened for leadership to look down on you for it.

How would this happen?
Mike asks me what i make.
I tell mike,
Mike goes to the VP and asks for a raise and he tells the VP that I make more than him.
VP comes to me: "did you tell mike what you make?"
"yeah but i didnt tell him to come to you like that, i wouldnt have handled it that way"
VP: ok as long as your not telling people to come knocking on my door"

end of conversation.

punishedlad

Tycoon

2

Business Development Team Lead

Yeah, I only discuss salary with people I trust within the org for these reasons.

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

yeah i would hate for that to be a REAL reason. but i get what you are saying.

Another reason why talking about it when you can actually do something is a good idea.

companies SHOULD be expecting employees to be asking for a raise this time of year. so when they do, its not a big deal. but if the whole sales team is asking for a raise randomly in June....thats more of an issue.

Mobi85

Politicker

4

Regional Sales Manager

Well done with those, I really like bullet point 3 under discussing comp plans. People many times do not realize what actually is possible and a few small changes in their activity could unleash a whole different level of their career that was not possible.

Thank you for posting this @TennisandSales

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

🙏🏼

glad its helpful!

Diablo

Politicker

3

Sr. AE

You are right - all will never be happy about you doing great but if we have the right goal and purpose in mind - we can definitely impact many+ve ly

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

So a question I have: are people asking you about your comp, or are you sharing proactively?

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

people ask me.

i normally dont volunteer this information. BUT if I found out someone i like is being underpaid and they dont KNOW it....then ill volunteer this information. but normally its ppl ask me.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I figured, but didn't want to assume. Appreciate it. Good list and great points. Thank you for sharing! We definitely need to take care of each other.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

I haven't been directly asked about comp, but I will definitely keep this list in mind when it happens.

SaaSam

Politicker

2

Account Executive

This might make me a bad person but because I have the highest salary in the sales department and make more than anyone in the company when commissions are factored in. I keep my comp to myself. We're a small enough organization that there is no way leadership doesn't find out and we are big enough that a shit load of people in other departments would 100% bitch and moan about their comp if they knew how much money I've made this year.

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

Doesn’t make you a bad person. I would never tell someone that’s not in sales what i make. It wouldn’t help them at all and there is no way they make as much as we do haha

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I think it reflects on the negotiation skills of the worker. I don't talk about my comp because its a no-win situation.

When someone has come to me about being paid less for doing the same job, I just point out the fact that they had a window to ask for more and now its closed. You want to make more $$? Sell more and/or demonstrate you are worth more. But don't come to me crying about how bad you were at negotiating your base salary when you were hired.

activity

Politicker

0

VP, Business Development

Great post!

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