UserNotFound

Account Executive

Notorious Answer

Valued Contributor

Why do so many companies fuck with our commish?

I am LIVID. I'm accustomed to small tech companies seeing a large payout on the horizon and finding a way to take my money. Really became par for the course, honestly. Now I am at an EdTech giant and just found out I'm taking a hit for something completely outside my control.

The Context: My company sells subscription access to our product. A retail store buys bulk printed codes that the end user puts in to access our platform. Rep prior to me got bonused on a HUGE order, moves to another role in the company. Your girl hires on, does amazing and hits an aggressive revenue target early in the FY. Company changes pricing, cards are outdated (old price printed on them) so retail store returns a sizable portion of their original order. My revenue number takes the hit on the return this FY.

Please tell me you savages would be as angry as I am?! I'm dust off my resume and practice interview questions in the mirror mad- even though otherwise I love this job, the pay has been an issue since day 1 but I convinced myself the massive bonus would be worth the wait... not anymore apparently.

I've been in sales at 4 companies, this makes the third to fuck with me on comp. Is this just par for the course or am I actually 75% unlucky?

🍾 Commission

18

29 comments

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Pachacuti

Politicker

8

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Commission envy is definitely a thing. Mngt gets envious when a sales person is about to hit a big payday. Especially those who aren’t in sales. Happens everywhere and all the time.

I sat in a mngt once where they were trying to figure out how to reduce some guys comp because he was about to land a 6 figure payday. It was disgusting.

Good luck with your situation.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

5

🦊

Appalling.

SaaSsy

Politicker

3

AE

🤮

Maximas

Tycoon

2

Senior Sales Executive

I second this!

SaaSsy

Politicker

4

AE

Ugh yeah the higher Ed roller coaster. I worked at one of the big 3 for some years and ultimately left when they changed commission plans to essentially reward lazy reps that just maintained business instead of hitting growth goals. It’s a fun job and basically you don’t have to work during summers but as a top performer, I lost the incentive to win bc of those changes. I’m sorry, those companies are bleeding like crazy and I believe won’t be very relevant 10 years out (look at TopHat and all these other tech startups that aren’t hamstrung by insane royalty agreements). Unless you’re close to retirement and just riding it out, I would look elsewhere.

UserNotFound

Politicker

2

Account Executive

Duuuude you’re spot on. The issue is that I REALLY like what I do on the daily. I want a few years of just enjoying the day to day before I get back into a god damn grind of a role. Honestly, once my middle kid is through HS I’ll probably leave sales behind for a clock in/clock out job because my goal is to be able to be as lazy as possible while maintaining my lifestyle. By then my house should be paid off and I’ll be able to do that.

Anyway, glad to hear I’m not uniquely getting fucked- it’s somehow reassuring. Lol.

SaaSsy

Politicker

3

AE

Haha yeah completely agree! I’m giving myself another 5-8 years to print money and then eventually I’ll go SE or AM route so I can chill. I really loved higher Ed too, it was fun learning about all the research and fun projects my profs were doing but our leadership team was seriously incompetent and They got what they wanted from commish change - 11 tenured reps left my region with me and they brought in a bunch of 23 year old pharmacy types to pay them 1/3 of what we made. Still haven’t IPO’d 5 years later after leaving…🤣😂

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

1

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Happens a lot, but just the way it is. Check what the contracts say, and you can do the same to someone else in the future.

UserNotFound

Politicker

1

Account Executive

Have NEVER been responsible for someone else’s clawback.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

0

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

That you know of. Also, yet. You could leave and a customer could churn without completing the contract.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

How I've seen this impact a rep in tech is by a non-renewal that happens early on when you inherit an account and then you're responsible for backfilling that loss, which you had no chance to avoid. That sucks. But it sounds like your situation is worse. Are they asking you to pay back commission on a deal you didn't get paid on in the first place?

UserNotFound

Politicker

0

Account Executive

They’re writing down my revenue by the return amount, which puts my revenue number just under the minimum to bonus. Apparently a few years ago they moved from a gross to a net sales bonus structure- but this is territory based not rep specific. Which feels, to me, like something a CFO came up with to help save money. I would be understanding if I had gotten the bonus on the over order. Or, if I had any control over the price change.

Me taking a hit bc of factors 100% outside my control is really upsetting. I get it if I got the bonus and then didn’t have pipeline to backfill the return. But I was still in my ramp period when the return happened.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I’m so sorry. This kind of thing is somewhat common - it pushes responsibility back onto sales, regardless of how the deal got where it is. And it’s really hard on the rep.

HVACexpert

Politicker

1

sales engineer

I worked for two larger companies who basically changed comp plans yearly. There was always adjustments or more creative ways to make it more complicated than it had to be. I am in a smaller company now and the comp plan is just a % of the margin and no cap. Pretty easy!

GDO

Politicker

1

BDM

just disgusting. I think it's mostly jealousy and the idea they can save money. However, they did not factor in the cost you leaving and training a new person etc.

You earned it you should get it.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

1

Bravado's Resident Asshole

because they hate seeing people make more money than the C-levels

RandyLahey

Politicker

1

Account Executive

Sadly this is a reality of our business. Greed, envy and jealousy are a constant in human psychology and are all exacerbated in sales.

UserNotFound

Politicker

1

Account Executive

10/10 username! I love TPB!

RandyLahey

Politicker

1

Account Executive

Greasy!

SalesinSeattle

Valued Contributor

1

Account Executive

Reminds me of working at ADP (Although at least it was just my business and not someone else's)
I started to call it "the treadmill." They would claw back deals towards the end of the year that they thought "might be bad business" that were in implementation but weren't moving fast enough. Problem is, you were comped at a progressive rate through the year, so if the claw back at month 12, you're giving back the commission at 20+% and then having to start backfilling it - EVEN ON THE SAME DEAL - at the start the year rate of 7-10%. Total BS and totally designed to screw the sales people and allow the bean counters to high five.

I feel you. I am lucky to have landed eventually with a company that legitimately does good business, cares about their people, and cares about their customers. They're actually trying to simplify our comp plans and pay us more - how refreshing!

My other $0.02, I don't think it's ever worth sticking around at a company that you KNOW is happy to screw you over. Why allow them to stick the knife in your back multiple times? If you look carefully, you may find the next gig could be the best one you ever had, don't look back.

901SME

1

Training/Subject Matter Expert

I do more sales presentations on our high cost, most sticky SaaS product than our sales reps do. I get $0 in commission on sales.
Tell me again about getting bent over on sales...

UserNotFound

Politicker

0

Account Executive

If your username is accurate and you’re an SME, don’t you go into that role with an understanding of comp? I’m surprised that you’re surprised that you don’t earn commissions…?

MileHighSolo

Personal Narrative

1

SVP of Sales

A guy I know in the industry specializes in helping sales folks track and many times defend themselves against these types of behavior. If you want his info, DM me and I'll point you to his LinkedIn profile. Hopefully he can help guide you.

jakeslater

Executive

1

VP of Business Development

Unfortunately that is common. I had a company that also expected me to be the collections department too. We had a standing monthly call with the “AR Team” that didn’t do shit. Any DSO over 90 would result in a 1% ding against my commissions every single month until they got paid off…one way or another. If you’re selling to Gov/Ed without a contract, then get out quick.

UserNotFound

Politicker

0

Account Executive

I get what you’re saying, but the nature of my product precludes contracts. If you knew what I sold you’d get it- but i don’t want to give my employer away and there are very few in my industry so it would be easy to tell.

aenima

Celebrated Contributor

0

Principal Account Manager

This is sales. What did you do for me this week?

Recommend you get used to it.

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

Because they think they can get away with it, or have gotten away with it. It's the beautiful thing of at will employment.

The_Sales_Badger

Notorious Answer

0

Account Executive

Ouch. The thing about it is that most companies have you sign a compensation agreement. In my experience, that happens quarterly.
If you’re doing well, it may be easier to just pivot then start from scratch at another company. Sounds like you’re a rockstar, so adapting to their current structure will position you as a person that is agile, which could benefit career growth.
Im sorry his happened, but getting over it quickly is necessary…. A great b“who moved my cheese”.

The_Sales_Badger

Notorious Answer

1

Account Executive

The mobile app isn’t fat thumb friendly… a great book recommendation for you right now is “who moved my cheese”.

Good luck - You got this.

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