The following blog is a guest post from Vonage.

Working with technology has become the new norm, no matter what sector you work in. The right technology can be a driving force behind an excellent team, assisting with marketing, generating leads, and much much more. 

But did you know that your business’s software, apps, and other technologies may be outdated even if once considered state-of-the-art? If you want to remain ahead of the competition in your chosen field, you need to adapt to changes in technology and utilize the best tech. This is where Revtech stacks come in. 

A Revtech stack is a collection of technologies that help businesses to transform their operations and processes. Using a Revtech stack, you can improve how your business interacts with customers and collects data. This article will explore what a Revtech stack is and how it can transform your business. 

What is Revtech?

Revtech stands for Revenue Technology and is used by a revenue operations team (RevOps). It is an updated approach to marketing and sales, using a digital platform combining fantastic software like machine learning, AI, and cloud-based software. Although you may have heard of AI and cloud software, machine learning is a growing industry which is currently in high demand.

Machine learning is a branch of computer science mixed with AI. It focuses on algorithms and data, learning from documented trends and sales performance. This allows it to make informed recommendations for your business while minimizing risk.

Revenue Technology can modernize the way your business works. You can also implement Revtech alongside other modern working methods, such as using a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone system. This comparative guide on VoIP or landline explains everything in more detail. 

RevOps

If your business is unaware of RevOps, it’s time to get acquainted. A RevOps team can assist your business in reaching revenue targets that align across customer success, marketing, and sales.

They can also help build a Revtech stack that correctly aligns with your business’s values, vision, and needs. Once you know how to successfully grow your RevOps practice, you can benefit from better results across the board. 

What is a Revtech stack?

A Revtech stack is a collection of technologies enabling businesses to modernize their processes, operations, and business models. A Revtech stack can include software, hardware, automation tools, and cloud-based solutions (which are explained in more detail below). 

When used properly, a Revtech stack can improve efficiency, increase productivity, and provide a more satisfactory experience for each customer. By using a Revtech stack, your business can also streamline operations and reduce costs. 

Technologies used in a Revtech stack

The technologies you use in your Revtech stack will depend on the nature of your business and how you want to revolutionize it. Some of the most common technologies found in a Revtech stack include:

• Automation tools: An automation tool is a highly beneficial application for your business. Automation can be used in many ways, no matter your industry. With an automation tool, employees can complete repetitive tasks quickly and with little chance of error. Once these tools have been programmed, they will perform tasks in the background. Automation tools can include robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML).

• Cloud-based software: The cloud is another important technology that your business should utilize if it doesn’t already. With cloud-based software, your business can access data from anywhere, at any time. Cloud technology has many uses, including cloud-based virtual phone systems. If you want more information on this type of technology: Vonage answers what is a virtual phone system. 

• Collaboration tools: A collaboration tool is exactly what it sounds like, a way for your teams to communicate and collaborate effectively. There are many different collaboration tools available, so which you choose depends on the needs and size of your business. 

• Customer relationship management (CRM) software: CRM can help businesses manage customer relationships. With a CRM, you can view customer data and have everything you need in one platform. CRM also integrates with other platforms, such as social media.

All of these technologies can be used to improve the way your business works. 

To build the perfect Revtech stack, you’ll need to know how to start a RevOps team. You can either hire specialists in the field or RevOps or look at your team’s existing skills to see if they could fill a role in your new team. 

How your business can benefit from using a Revtech stack

Now you understand more about how a Revtech stack works and what technology is used, it’s time to focus on what a Revtech stack can do for your business.

1. Reduced cost

Your business can use a Revtech stack to reduce labor costs and increase efficiency by automating tasks and streamlining business processes. Additionally, cloud-based solutions can reduce the need for expensive hardware and software licenses. 

By cutting costs, businesses can invest in other areas, such as marketing or instant support services. Employees, management, and customers depend on you to keep business operations running smoothly. By using the money you save by not needing to expand your team, you can focus on improving how your business manages and resolves issues. 

Using an On-Demand Assistant such as RealVNC, your team can start a support session with a customer in a matter of seconds. This will improve customer satisfaction and ensure better reviews for your company, generating more leads and website traffic. 

2. Improved efficiency

One of the fundamental benefits of a Revtech stack is that it improves efficiency. Automation tools can complete repetitive tasks that are usually done manually. From data entry to invoicing and inventory management, automation tools will turn arduous tasks into a simple click of a button. 

Through automation, employees can focus on more important tasks requiring human expertise. Furthermore, by automating repetitive tasks, businesses can improve accuracy and reduce human error, ultimately delivering a better product or service.

3. Increased productivity

Employees are more likely to feel unproductive and tired of their job role when constantly carrying out repetitive tasks, rather than stimulating ones. With automation tools completing tasks faster than humans and with fewer errors, businesses can complete more work in less time. This allows employees to carry out valuable work, allowing them to learn, grow, and achieve. 

Completing tasks quickly offers more room for business development and growth too, which is essential if you want to upscale but don’t have the budget to employ more staff yet. Increased productivity also leads to increased revenue and customer base.

4. Real-time data

A top trend within revenue operations at the moment is the need for clean data. By using the right revenue technology, you can improve data hygiene practices, ensuring that any sales data is efficient and organized. No business wants to deal with inaccurate, incomplete, or duplicate data, especially regarding sales data. This leads to revenue loss, client misunderstandings, and cold leads.

A good business knows how to use its data to improve processes, increase revenue, and ultimately deliver a better customer experience. With the help of a Revtech stack, your business can view data in real-time. 

Managers and employees can then make more informed decisions based on recent numbers, as working on data more than a few hours old won’t give the same results. Real-time data can therefore support businesses in identifying current problems and opportunities. 

5. Future-proofing

A Revtech stack, which includes a PIM solution (Product Information Management), can help future-proof businesses by centralizing and managing product information, automating tasks, improving efficiency, and providing real-time data for better decision-making, ultimately delivering a better user experience and increasing productivity and revenue. With the use of cloud-based solutions, your Revtech stack can scale with the needs of your business, allowing you to add or remove resources as needed. 

By embracing new technology, businesses can stay relevant and adapt to changes in the market as they happen. Another clever way to future-proof your business is by registering your domain name. For example, if your business is situated in Malta, you should look at getting a .mt domain registration. Being one step ahead in every aspect makes for a successful business.

6. Better user experience

Finally, a Revtech stack can provide a better user experience. Your business can deliver customers a better product or service by streamlining processes and reducing errors. By utilizing cloud-based solutions, your business can also provide customers with access to real-time data. This makes it easier for customers to track orders, view invoices, and chat with support.

If you haven’t got one already, you should consider using a telephone system so customers can reach you quickly. There are different types of telephone systems available that can fit within your RevOps strategy. Implementing a reliable telephone system aligned with your RevOps strategy not only enhances customer loyalty, retention, and trust but also ensures prompt accessibility for customers seeking quick assistance.

Revtech: The future of sales

A Revtech stack is a crucial component of any modern business. By modernizing company operations and processes, your business can improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase productivity, and provide a better experience for each customer or service user. 

Customers are at the heart of everything we do as a business, so using technology that can provide an improved customer experience and more accurate data is the way forward to a better way of working. 

About QuotaPath

QuotaPath rallies teams around their financial goals by providing a source of truth for sales compensation, including automated commission tracking, in-app collaborative tools for compensation design and commission discrepancies, and more. Learn more today.

To say we know sales compensation is an understatement.

We’ve held hundreds of sales compensation plan consultations and automated plan management and commission payments for thousands of plans with QuotaPath. 

We’ve seen some incredible results from plans that drive the right selling behaviors, and we’ve also seen some that are so wildly complex that even the people who designed them struggle to explain them.

What separates the good from the bad?

In our experience, the commission structures that perform the best follow our sales compensation philosophy:

Every single sales compensation plan should be: simple, logical, and fair.

When your plan doesn’t adhere to the above, you’re likely to add unnecessary complexities while risking losing your team over compensation discrepancies. 

So, how do you design a plan from the ground up or edit an existing one, while sticking to a model that’s simple, logical, and fair?

Start by ensuring your plan answers these three questions:

• How much? (on-target earning and pay mix)
• For what? (quota amount and quota frequency)
• How to execute? (commissions/bonuses)

Below, we go through each question in the sales compensation design process.

First, answer how much

Regardless of the role you are building the plan for, account executives, sales directors, and business development reps, the first question you must answer is how much? 

This means setting fair and logical on-target earnings (OTE) and pay mixes. 

The OTE represents the total compensation a person in that role will make should they achieve 100% attainment. This number includes the base salary and the variable pay. The biggest challenge around setting OTEs is that they are often unrealistic. Meaning, companies lure amazing sales talent through the door with hefty OTEs that, in actuality, only 10% of the team is reaching. To check the health of your OTE, use our Free Quota:OTE Ratio Calculator.

Meanwhile, pay mix marks the ratio of base salary to on-target commission. So, if half of a rep’s OTE is base salary and the other half is variable, that means the pay mix would be 50:50. 

We won’t tell you how much your OTEs should be, but we can tell you that the most common pay mix for a sales rep in SaaS is 50:50. 

For determining your OTE, we recommend following trends based on industry, region, experience, and title. You can check out Betts Recruiting’s compensation guide for the most recent industry-wide numbers. 

Additionally, you can reference ZipRecruiter, Salary.com, and Built In for up-to-date salary and OTE averages for common commissionable roles in tech. These numbers change based on audience input but it will give you a pretty good baseline. 

Once you have your OTE set, you’ll then determine your pay mix.

Below, we’ve sourced some of the most commonly used pay mixes for various sales roles.

Second, answer for what 

Now you’re ready to address the second question your comp plan must answer: for what? 

You will do so by determining the quota amount and quota frequency. 

The first thing to remember when setting a quota is that there is no “one way” to do so. However, typically organizations will create one using some or all of the following methods:

• Guessing
• Quota:OTE ratio
• Historical performance
• Financial model

Our Chief of Staff Graham Collins wrote an excellent blog on how to set SaaS quotas. Here are the key takeaways.

1. Quotas should be equal to some multiple of their OTE.

This could be 3x the rep’s OTE or 8x and will depend on the size and stage of the company. Our rule of thumb? 

Set a quota 5x that of the rep’s OTE.

This will ensure that the sales the rep brings in outweigh the cost of keeping the rep on your team.

2. Consider your sales cycle length and company stage.

To ensure that your quotas are reasonable, use data and benchmarking reports from companies that match your size and sales cycle from your industry. You should also talk to peers, mentors, and your friends at QuotaPath.

3. Be ready to adjust.

You should adjust your quotas regularly to account for changes in the market, economy, and your own sales process. Plan to regularly review and adjust quotas to ensure that they remain challenging but achievable (fair) for your team.

Third, answer how

The last question you’ll answer is how? Meaning, how will you execute the above? The answer is in designing triggers, rates, and bonuses that get your team to OTE. 

Check out these simple, logical, and fair comp plan examples below. 

Account executive comp plan examples:

• Single Rate Commission
• Commission with Accelerators
• Commission with Multi-Year Accelerators

Sales development rep comp plan templates:

• Qualified Opportunity Bonus
• Qualified Opportunity Bonus & Closed Won Commission
• Demos Completed Bonus

Account manager comp plan resources:

• How to design an account manager commission plan
• 3 commission pay examples for Account Management & Customer Success

Sales Leadership compensation package resources:

• What to include in your VP of Sales compensation package
• Sales manager compensation plans
• 5 sales compensation plan examples to get you started

Build your comp plan

You should have a solid foundation to begin building your new compensation plans. Should you need additional help, or if you want to see how QuotaPath can bring clarity and automation to your sales compensation process, please reach out to our team to schedule a chat.

You’re also invited to sign up for a free 30-day trial with QuotaPath, where you can design a plan using one of our customizable templates or build a unique plan directly in-app. Once you’ve built a plan, then you can sync your CRM and invite team members to your workspace to automate commission tracking. 

The demand for sales enablement is growing rapidly.

According to Korn Ferry, the practice of sales enablement in sales organizations has practically doubled since 2017.

So, it’s not surprising that Gartner expects sales enablement budgets to increase by 50% over the next five years.

This growth is being driven by consistently shifting buyer preferences that require sellers to continually adapt and change the way they sell. Otherwise, companies risk falling behind the competition as the buyers’ journey becomes increasingly self-service with less sales involvement.

Enablement arms reps with the right tools, training, coaching, and content to effectively engage with buyers earlier in the sales process and influence buying decisions.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s take a closer look at the practice of sales enablement and the role of sales enablement manager.

What is sales enablement?

Korn Ferry’s sales enablement definition is “a strategic, collaborative discipline. It’s designed to improve sales results by providing consistent information, training, and tools that allow sellers and their managers to add value to every customer interaction.”

Establishing a sales enablement practice benefits sales teams by increasing sales revenue, improving client acquisition for the sales team, and creating more selling time for sales reps.

According to the State of Sales Enablement Report, organizations with sales enablement processes or practices in place for two-plus years report a 7% improvement in win rates and up to 14% better quota attainment. These organizations are also 48% more likely to experience high buyer engagement and 10% more likely to have greater rep engagement which reduces sales rep turnover.

Implementing a sales enablement practice involves providing reps with:

• Strategic sales content: Content intentionally created for different buyer roles and scenarios making it easier for reps to stand out in the competitive landscape and grab buyers’ attention.
• Tailored sales plays: Structured guidance on how to approach various selling situations based on the specific buyer and their needs.
• Optimized cross-functional communications: Better communication across customer-facing teams creates a seamless buying experience while unifying internal teams.
• Continuous training and coaching: To optimize sales rep performance and knowledge.
• An effective tech stack: To streamline sales processes and increase efficiency.

That’s what sales enablement is. Now, let’s look at the person who executes this practice.

What is a sales enablement manager?

A sales enablement manager is one of the core members of any effective enablement team. This person is responsible for implementing programs and initiatives that allow customer-facing teams to successfully execute key elements of their roles, especially in terms of sales and revenue.

The responsibilities of a sales enablement manager typically include :

• Initiating the creation and implementation of relevant training, content, sales messaging, processes, materials, and tools to support the sales or revenue team.
• Supporting product launches by preparing and empowering sales reps to understand and sell your products or services.
• Handling foundational and continuous learning programs for sales. This includes aspects like training content creation, scheduling, delivery, and deployment.
• Tracking and analysis of sales enablement content, courseware, and platforms.
• Supporting the buying and selling processes throughout the buying journey from lead generation through its conclusion.
• Supporting the sales leadership team and frontline sales managers in performing management and coaching activities.
• Managing and coordinating sales enablement projects and activities.

Sales enablement managers commonly possess characteristics like:

Data-driven to gauge initiative results

Tech stack tool mastery to easily select the best tools for their team

Project management to facilitate handling multiple projects and initiatives concurrently

Keen knowledge and understanding of the Buyer’s journey to easily recognize changes and keep selling processes and motions aligned

Excellent communicator for easy cross-function collaboration and developing trust and behavioral change

Astute trailblazer to facilitate adapting sales to the evolving marketplace and buyers

Effective collaborator since they work across multiple revenue teams

Efficiently organized so they maximize their resources and make the most of their time.

Sales enablement managers are essential for developing support and momentum for initiatives that drive sales rep behaviors and outcomes.

Sales enablement manager salary

How much do sales enablement managers make? Great question. The average total earnings for sales enablement managers in 2023 vary depending on the information source, the geographic location, and the individual’s experience level.

According to ZipRecruiter, sales enablement managers earn an average of $110,915 a year.

Glassdoor pinned the salary a bit higher. Their data showed that a sales enablement manager’s average total annual earnings are $114,015 a year. This is based on an average sales enablement manager salary of $96,568 per year plus additional pay of $17,448 in the form of a cash bonus, commission, and profit sharing.

Meanwhile, salary.com’s aggregated data put a sales enablement manager salary at $105,047.

Lastly, the Sales Enablement Collective’s (SEC) Sales Enablement Salary Report 2023 showed that the average base pay for sales enablement managers responding to their survey earned $114,908 per year plus bonuses or commissions.

How has this salary changed over the years? The SEC’s 2022 report found that sales enablement professional salaries increased by 10.9% from 2021 to 2022. Plus, 75% of the 2022 respondents indicated they received some sort of bonus or commission in addition to their base salaries.

Sales enablement manager comp plans

If you’re curious how to approach a sales enablement manager compensation package, the SEC’s 2022 report included the most common breakdowns:

• Base/OTE dispersion of almost 75:25
• 25% variable, with a ratio of 50% personal and 50% business performance
• Bonus split 50/50 between quarterly revenue targets and personal objective-based incentives (MBOs), payable quarterly
• An employee stock plan
• 10% guaranteed restricted stock units (RSU)
• 10% of base salary paid quarterly if objectives are achieved
• An 8% bonus every year
• 20% of total comp is variable pay
• Uncapped commission if reps hit quota

Geographical differences in sales enablement manager salary

Sales enablement managers’ salaries vary based on geography. For example, sales enablement professionals are paid more in North America than elsewhere in the world, according to both SEC salary reports. 

What’s more, according to ZipRecruiter, the top 10 highest paying cities for sales enablement manager jobs included Berkeley, CA topping the list, followed closely by Daly City, CA, and San Mateo, CA. The top three beat the national average by 22.7 – 27.9%. Plus, there was a variance of 12% in sales enablement managers’ salaries between Berkeley and the 10^th city on the list, San Diego, CA.

Sales enablement manager jobs and experience

To get a better understanding of the available job market for this role, we sourced the same platforms above. Our search revealed that ZipRecruiter currently has 756 sales enablement manager job postings, the most among the platforms we queried.

Skills and experience commonly required include:

• 4-5 years of sales or sales enablement experience: Gives you a deep understanding of sales processes and their relationship to the buyers’ journey.
• Experience with training content development and delivery: Facilitating effective sales training.
• A strong understanding of go-to-market motions and how enablement fits in: To be able to actively participate in the creation and implementation of GTM strategies and know your role in the process.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills: to be able to effectively communicate with team members across the organization.
• Expertise in using and learning a range of software, including Salesforce and LMS platforms: To efficiently use software, effectively build and maintain the best tech stack for the sales team, and teach the sales team how to use it. 
• Proven success in time management and meeting deadlines: To juggle the many demands placed on a sales enablement manager.
• The ability to learn complex and technical subjects very quickly: To easily keep pace with the ever-changing technologies involved.
• Strong collaborative and interpersonal skills: To work well with a large number of cross-functional stakeholders.

How to become a sales enablement manager

Considering a job as a sales enablement manager? To secure a position in this role it’s best if you have a bachelor’s degree and several years of sales or marketing experience. 

You don’t need a specific type of degree, but one in business or marketing can boost your chances.

Sales enablement managers often start out in a sales rep role and ascend to a supervisory role. Others transition into a marketing role, or a sales training or operations position.

Additional skills that will increase your odds of attaining a sales enablement manager position include:

• Excellent organizational skills
• Effective communicator
• Being self-motivated
• The ability to multi-task
• Familiar with a variety of software and technologies
• Experience creating content

If you’re missing some of these additional skills, don’t let that stop you from pursuing the role. Connect with enablement managers in your network and learn how they got into their roles. Plus, if you’re a rep right now, see if you can collaborate on enablement projects to start building out your experience and enablement portfolio.

Boost sales rep performance with sales enablement

A sales enablement manager is one of the core members of any effective enablement team. They are critical for creating support and momentum for programs that drive sales rep behaviors and outcomes.

The average sales enablement manager’s salary is between $96,568 and $114,908 plus a bonus or commission. You only need a bachelor’s degree and several years of sales or marketing experience, plus some key skills to become a sales enablement manager. There are no role-specific degrees or training requirements to get started. Although, you could earn certification from this HubSpot Academy Sales Enablement Training Course. 

About QuotaPath

QuotaPath automates sales commissions to bring standardization, visibility, and efficiency to your variable compensation process. Motivate your revenue team by providing real-time insights into sales compensation, forecasted earnings, and attainment. Trust the data is accurate by syncing directly from your CRM and providing a source of truth for Sales, Finance, and RevOps. Start a free 30-day trial with QuotaPath, or schedule a demo with a team member.

Learn how to comply with ASC 606 revenue recognition when it comes to sales commissions.

To keep financial records complete, accurate, and comparable, companies follow five core accounting principles. These include: the revenue principle, the expense principle, the matching principle, the cost principle, and the objectivity principle.

When compliant with these principles, companies put themselves in the best position to succeed with investors, valuations, buyers, and more.

But, these principles — and standards to help companies meet the criteria — often change as markets evolve.

One newish standard that is of particular interest to us is ASC 606, which the Financial Account Standards Board (FASB) created ASC 606.

What is ASC 606? It’s an accounting standard that dictates which accounting periods businesses should attribute revenue and expenses. This revenue recognition principle applies to any company with recurring costs. 

So, businesses that offer goods and/or services under a written agreement must pay attention to this rule. Because failure to comply puts you at risk of incurring substantial fines and an unexpected audit visit.

Aside from the non-compliance risks, adhering to ACS 606 helps businesses gain a better picture of their financial health. Establishing this practice is especially important for startups wishing to raise money by approaching investors or applying for bank loans.

When did ASC 606 become effective? The FASB introduced this new revenue recognition principle in 2014. The rule applied to public companies in 2018, followed by private businesses.

Then, the FASB added Subtopic 340-40 to ASC 606 and became effective for fiscal years after December 15, 2017. Under this subtopic, Other Assets and Deferred Costs: Contracts with Customers, it’s necessary to implement ongoing reporting and record-keeping of costs incurred while securing or fulfilling a contract with a customer. These costs include advertising, travel expenses, and sales commissions.

To comply with ASC 606, we recommend following the five steps below.

Steps to be compliant with ASC 606

Before we dive in, understand that the complexities of revenue recognition vary slightly based on the specific goods and services sold. In SaaS, where subscription-based sales are most common, ASC 606 compliance grows an added layer of complexity. 

For subscription-model businesses,  comply with ASC 606 revenue recognition by following this 5-step approach. 

Step 1. Identify the contract with a customer

First, identify the contract. In terms of ASC 606, a contract marks an agreement between two or more parties and requires:

• Approval by all parties
• Definitions of the obligations of all parties and verify they are committed to executing the agreement
• Identifying the goods or services being supplied
• Detailing the payment terms
• Showing that the contract or deal is commercially substantive, predicating that the future entity cash flows will change
• That it’s based on the likelihood that payment will be received by the vendor for the goods or services being transferred

Step 2. Identify the performance obligations in the contract

Next, you’ll want to outline the performance obligations in the contract. In the context of a contract, we define performance obligations as promises made in the agreement between the vendor and the customer. Under ASC 606, businesses must itemize what the rule refers to as “distinct” performance obligations. What makes each performance obligation “distinct” is being of value to the customer as a standalone item,  independent of other goods and services in the contract.

Step 3. Determine the transaction price

Now, you’re ready to determine the transaction price, which is the agreed-upon price the vendor expects the customer to pay in exchange for the goods or services is the transaction price. This figure excludes sales tax or other third-party variables. You must also consider the value of all cash and non-cash compensation and factor in any discounts or other pricing modifications designated in the contract.

Step 4. Allocate the transaction price

Then, you’ll allocate the transaction price. This is the step where the total transaction price is divided and attributed to specific performance obligations under the contract. This can be particularly difficult to determine for recurring payments under a subscription-based transaction where the performance obligation is continuous.

Step 5. Recognize revenue when the entity satisfies the performance obligations

This next step is the most important as it pertains to sales commissions. In Step 5, you should aim to recognize revenue for performance obligations as your team completes them. This typically occurs when the contract starts or when you receive payment. In the case of a single performance obligation, you should recognize the revenue in the accounting period when the order is fulfilled — not when the customer places the order.

However, for a continuous performance obligation, such as a year-long subscription to a software service that’s paid monthly, you will recognize each monthly payment during the accounting period when the funds are received.

How QuotaPath’s Ledger can help with recognizing and reporting commissions correctly

The five steps above will help you remain compliant. You can manage amortization schedules manually, via spreadsheet, or you can recruit the help of a smart solution to do it more accurately and efficiently. 

QuotaPath Ledger allows your accounting team to consistently capitalize and amortize commission expenses in compliance with ASC 340-40. 

Ledger provides the flexibility to recognize commission expenses according to your scheduling requirements.

With Ledger, you simplify month-end closing processes, keep up with all the details as they arise, and eliminate errors. Plus, you gain the ability to create easy-to-read, audit-ready reports quickly.

Start complying with ASC 606 revenue recognition

Failure to comply with the revenue recognition principle carries risks like fines and surprise audits. Aside from risk avoidance, proper revenue recognition enables businesses to gauge their financial health. Although this is valuable for all businesses, it is particularly important for startups that want to raise money.

Are you ready to simplify ASC 606 revenue recognition? Try QuotaPath for free for 30 days, get familiar with Ledger, and integrate with Stripe or QuickBooks for seamless implementations.

The following blog includes free commission calculators to help you manage and track deals.

Regardless of how attractive a compensation plan may be, it won’t motivate salespeople unless they understand it.

The ability to accurately calculate their actual and forecasted earnings gives sales reps a clearer understanding of how their comp plan works. It’s also a great way to help your sales team learn how to optimize their earnings.

Armed with this information, salespeople can set personal and professional goals that inspire them even more than the money itself.

This is important because there are two types of motivation to keep reps motivated:

• Extrinsic motivation: To work harder for a higher commission rate and a particular outcome.
• Intrinsic motivation: Taking action to fulfill a personal desire or goal.

Most salespeople are motivated by some combination of these two. 

So, it’s important to give them the tools necessary to show how they’re trending toward extrinsic and intrinsic factors. For instance, by showing how deals in the pipeline amount to actual earnings for the rep, you create concrete gains or losses. That way reps can see and understand the personal impact of winning or losing the deal. 

 According to Thomas Egbert, Head of Finance at Prefect, this is a must.

“Now that I’ve seen that reps have visibility into how their pipeline translates into earnings, and how powerful it is to be able to forecast deals, I’d absolutely consider this feature a requirement,” said Thomas, who implemented QuotaPath with his team.

This visibility also empowers reps to own and optimize their potential earnings.

A, “Our reps realized they could run scenarios and see how much they could earn from our monthly kickers.,” said Joe St. Germain, VP of Sales at Blackthorn.

This led to big pushes from reps as they moved to maximize the accelerators set by Joe fully. QuotaPath’s ability for reps to run “what if” scenarios also broke down how much they would need to book monthly to lock in an extra 2 percent per deal toward the end of the year.”

That’s the type of clarity, accountability, and motivation you can foster with QuotaPath’s sales incentive platform. But if you’re not ready to begin a 30-day trial to automate commission calculations, we offer free compensation tools that you can immediately adopt. 

Commission calculators

Commission calculators simplify tracking and computing sales compensation earnings per sale or period, quotas, commission rates, and on-target earnings (OTEs). These templates help sales reps figure out where they stand while giving leadership a starting point to build comp plans.

We created a couple of free commission calculators to make your life easier:

Sales commission calculator (for reps)

This easy-to-use commission spreadsheet streamlines the process of tracking and calculating sales commissions. It only takes 4 inputs and 3 simple steps to see how much an individual sales rep has earned.

Here’s how it works:

• Download your free sales commission calculator.
• Input your Base Salary, Commission Rate, Quota, Quota Frequency, and On-Target Earnings on the ‘Home’ page of the spreadsheet.
• Navigate to the ‘Deals’ tab to input your deals.
• View your total sales and commissions on the ‘Monthly Totals’ tab to track the attainment of your monthly goals and commissions.

For example:

Judy has a base salary of $50,000 with a monthly quota of $40,000 and a 10% commission rate, so her OTE is $98,000.

She enters her deals into our handy commission calculator to make sure she’s on track to hit quota:

1st deal for $20,000 = $2,000 commission

2nd deal for $8,500 = $850 commission

3rd deal for $12,500 = $1,250 commission

4th deal for $6,500 = $650 commission

On the ‘Monthly Totals’ tab she can see that her total sales for the month are $47,500 and she has earned total commissions of $4,750. This might also qualify her for an extra bonus or accelerator.

All Judy had to do was enter a few figures — no complex computations required.

Sales compensation calculators (for leadership)

Our free Sales Compensation Calculator consists of three calculators in one. It simplifies the process of determining sales quotas, commission rates, and on-target earnings (OTEs).

Each of the three calculators uses the same five variables of quota, commission rate, variable compensation, base salary, and OTE. When you input three variables the other two are calculated for you.

Sales Quota Calculator

When you use the sales compensation calculator to generate a sales quota, you need to input the base salary, OTE, and commission rate. 

The application subtracts base salary from OTE, resulting in the variable compensation value. It then divides variable comp by the commission rate to determine the annual quota. 

Next, it divides the annual quota by 12 or 4 depending on whether you requested a monthly or quarterly quota.

Commission Rate Calculator

The Commission Rate Calculator is the second of the three calculators in the Sales Compensation Calculator. 

How to find a commission rate with the calculator: Start by providing base salary, OTE, and quota, then select yearly, monthly, or quarterly from the dropdown.

Variable compensation is calculated first by subtracting base salary from OTE. Then we divide variable comp by the quota figure you entered to generate an annual rate or divide it by 12 or 4 to result in a monthly or quarterly commission rate according to your selection.

On-Target Earnings Calculator

The OTE calculator is the third calculator in the Sales Compensation Calculator. You need to input base salary, commission rate, and quota to find OTE. We multiply the quota by 1, 4, or 12, based on whether you specified yearly, quarterly, or monthly quotas. 

This results in the variable compensation figure, which we then add to the base salary to generate your OTE.

Commission tracking with QuotaPath

Although simplicity is essential when creating a comp plan, you sometimes need to go beyond a single rate commission plan. 

Adding new compensation plans or scaling your sales organization adds complexity to your comp plan. That’s when it’s time to consider automating the process of tracking and calculating sales commissions in lieu of manual processes.

It’s easy to get started with QuotaPath. Sign up for a 30-day free trial. 

Then complete three simple steps:

1. Build your sales compensation plans.
2. Sync your CRM.
3. Invite team members.

Our Home feature guides you through the onboarding process to get you up and running and will flag for you a priority of tasks once you’re up and running.

Then you’re ready to use QuotaPath to automate commission calculation and tracking.

Start using a sales commission calculator

Sales reps are only motivated by their comp plan when they fully understand it. 

Enabling them to run what-if scenarios inspires them to set personal goals that further fuel their motivation to achieve greater success.

Commission calculators can help sales reps gain a better understanding of their full earnings potential and see how they can reach both their quota and personal goals.

Additionally, commission calculators lend a hand to leadership looking to simplify the process of determining sales compensation calculations like sales quota, commission rate, and OTE.

When it’s time to scale your sales force or go beyond a single rate commission, manual methods simply aren’t effective or accurate. That’s when it’s time to automate the process of tracking and calculating sales commissions. See how easy it is to automate sales comp calculations. Sign up for a free 30-day QuotaPath trial. Or, schedule time with our team to see how our solution can support your compensation models.

One of the biggest challenges we see in sales compensation management is a lack of access to information across teams. 

What’s more, when that information is available, it’s often spread across multiple channels or spreadsheets, sending people on a wild-goose chase to find the data they need. 

We aim to solve this.

On the heels of our latest feature releases, Home for Admins, and expanded self-serve integrations, we released additional holistic views to present the most valuable compensation data for individual earners and comp managers. 

Called Home for Reps and Member Details, these new dashboards pull insights, tasks, and deal data history into one place, enabling users to work more effectively in and outside of QuotaPath. With these two additions, QuotaPath continues to deepen sales compensation clarity for all parties impacted by variable pay.

Learn more about Home for Reps and Member Details below.

Build rep accountability and ownership with Home for Reps

Sellers can start here for an overview of earnings per month or quarter, plan payment breakdowns, and payouts.

One of the best parts of QuotaPath’s Home for Reps is how it encourages seller accountability and ownership of their sales compensation. 

Instead of sending your reps to finance and accounting when they have questions about their commission plan or payouts, you can direct them to QuotaPath’s Home for Reps. Plus, with mobile-friendly views, reps can check it anywhere, anytime, whether they’re at the office or on the road. 

With this seller-focused user experience, reps will have easy access to the answers to their most pressing compensation questions. When will I get paid for this deal? How much will it be? How close am I to hitting the next commission tier? What will my next commission check be? What SPIFs am I eligible for? Did finance address my question yet? Send them to QuotaPath.

Upon logging in, reps will see from the first screen they land upon what, why, and when they’re getting paid across all of their deals in a UX-friendly view. Here, they can also see an overview of their individual performance, forecasted earnings according to their pipeline, and task alerts.  

A monthly breakdown shows the rep how they’re performing against their compensation plan split up by each comp plan component, such as SPIFs, accelerators, and bonuses. 

Do your reps have personal goals they’re working toward, like a down payment, car, or vacation? Home for Reps also has a designated spot to showcase the seller’s progress toward their personal goals. Reps can add goals directly from this page and gauge how close they are to achieving their goals every time they log in.

Plus, anytime they raise a flag in-app (deal flagging) over a deal payment they have a question on, Home for Reps will alert them when it’s been resolved or if additional communication is necessary. If your team introduces compensation plan changes or a new plan, your reps will also be notified here to verify their understanding using our plan verification tool. 

With Home for Reps, motivate your sellers by keeping them privy and connected to their earning progress in an easy-to-understand view with the data that matters most to them.

Manage commissions by rep using Member Details

Start with Member Details to execute the steps needed to pay the seller.

Just as our Home for Reps dashboard is making it easier for reps to access their commission information, our new Member Details view will consolidate relevant deal data at the individual-rep level to allow effective commission management.

Need to check how a rep is getting paid or look into a previous payment? Looking at the rep’s performance over time before moving to a new role?  Helping a rep understand their quota attainment across multiple deals?  

Member Details pulls in everything you need to know regarding a single rep’s earnings history and upcoming payouts from one page. 

Use the Tasks tab at the top to see by rep what deals need approval, which deals have discrepancies, what flags remain unresolved, and how many payments you owe.

Explore total earnings, approved earnings, and total closed/won deals by month, quarter, year, or a custom date range. See what compensation plans this rep follows and what previous plans they’ve received payments under. 

This view organizes each piece of the seller’s compensation plan. In doing so, you can navigate QuotaPath more efficiently and take in-app actions necessary to ensure your reps received accurate and timely payments.

Smart sales compensation management 

Now with QuotaPath, find earnings, attainment, and commission payment information faster than ever before.

Use Member Details to execute payments more efficiently. And, send your sellers to Home for Reps for current, forecasted, paid, and to-be-paid commission information to foster compensation ownership and motivation. 

To check these features out yourself, start a free 30-day trial with QuotaPath, or see it live in a guided demo with our team.

QuotaPath Director of Demand Generation Bret Lehnhof authored this blog post on adjusting SDR compensation for today’s technological landscape.

With the increased use of technology to identify target accounts and automate sales tasks, the role of an SDR (Sales Development Representative) has evolved. 

For instance, advancements in AI have automated many of the traditional roles of an SDR such as identifying potential leads, crafting personalized email copy, and even responding to emails and scheduling meetings. 

Still, SDRs remain a critical piece of your growth engine because the technology needs an orchestrator.

More importantly, businesses will always require human relationships. 

However, the introduction of AI and sales enablement technology have shifted the way we should think about compensating SDRs. 

Traditionally, SDRs have followed compensation plans that pay based primarily on booking meetings for account executives. That means for any lead that they set a meeting for with their account executive, they earn a bonus. Think $200 per demo set.  

But as automation has replaced some of the responsibilities that SDRs used to be in charge of, how can you re-imagine their compensation plans to fit today’s times better?

Why use an SDR compensation plan:

An SDR compensation plan is essential because it aligns incentives with the role’s evolving responsibilities, ensuring SDRs stay motivated and productive.

As automation takes over tasks like lead identification and email outreach, compensation should shift to reward higher-value contributions, such as engaging prospects in meaningful conversations, qualifying leads effectively, and driving pipeline growth.

Additionally, a well-structured plan helps retain top talent, encourage skill development, and ensure SDRs remain a valuable part of the sales process. Ultimately, SDR compensation should evolve to reflect the strategic, relationship-building aspects of the role that technology cannot replace.

Below are three things to consider when thinking through SDR compensation plans in the age of AI:

1. Keep your eye on the revenue

Even though AI has changed (and continues to change) the game, SDRs still need to drive revenue for the business. Therefore, compensation plans that incentivize your SDRs to drive revenue remain in full effect.

Focus on plans that reward your SDRs for booking demos and giving them a piece of the pie for when the leads they pass convert to customers. Adding a “Closed-Won Commission” component to a compensation plan drives urgency for the SDR to create a very human first impression and stand out from the AI crowd to build real relationships needed to win.

2. Reward technology adoption

AI and sales enablement tools are here to stay and are only going to improve. The SDR that stays on the frontline of tech advancements and creatively implements new practices will rise to the top.
Consider developing a SPIF that rewards the SDR with the most successful AI integration into their prospecting initiatives.

3. Incentivize efficiency

Automation has exponentially increased the speed at which an SDR can prospect into accounts. It’s also enabled SDRs to tackle an enormous amount of daily sales activities.

While tracking SDR activity levels is a leading performance indicator (view our sales funnel calculator), you should prioritize efficiency. An effective SDR compensation plan should consider sales opportunity conversion rates and how many of those opportunities move to qualified or closed-won stages. 

Reward the SDR that creates meaningful conversations with prospects that are ready to buy. Consider creating a SPIF for the SDR that has the shortest closed-won sales cycle. You could also SPIF for the SDR with the highest opportunity conversion rate.

How to Design an SDR Compensation Plan

Designing an effective SDR compensation plan requires aligning incentives with both business objectives and the evolving role of SDRs. Given the increasing use of AI and automation, compensation should go beyond just meetings booked and reflect SDRs’ contributions to pipeline growth and sales enablement.

Key considerations when structuring an SDR comp plan:

1. Balance Base Salary and Variable Pay: Traditional SDR compensation often follows a 60/40 or 70/30 split between base salary and variable earnings. However, the split may need adjustment based on how SDRs contribute beyond just setting meetings.
2. Incentivize Pipeline Impact, Not Just Meetings Booked: While demo bookings remain a core metric, consider rewarding SDRs for qualified opportunities that progress further in the funnel rather than just initial meetings.
3. Incorporate Multi-Touch Contribution Metrics: Since automation now plays a role in outreach, SDRs should be compensated for strategic engagement, such as nurturing high-value accounts, facilitating multi-channel outreach, or assisting with outbound personalization.
4. Set Clear, Attainable Goals: Compensation should be based on realistic quotas informed by historical performance, industry benchmarks, and the effectiveness of AI-assisted outreach.
5. Offer Bonuses for High-Quality Opportunities: Reward SDRs for deals that progress to later sales stages (e.g., opportunities that reach proposal or close-won status) rather than simply paying for booked demos.

By shifting the compensation model from a volume-based approach to a value-driven one, businesses can ensure SDRs remain motivated and focused on impactful sales activities rather than just chasing meeting quotas.

SDR Compensation Plan Examples

Depending on your business model, sales motion, and use of automation, here are a few SDR compensation plan structures to consider:

1. Traditional Meeting-Based Plan:
   • Base Salary: 60-70% of total comp
   • Variable Pay: Paid per demo set (e.g., $200 per completed demo)
   • Best for: High-volume outbound teams with lower ACV deals
2. Qualified Opportunity Plan:
   • Base Salary: 60-70% of total comp
   • Variable Pay: Compensation based on the number of qualified opportunities rather than just meetings booked (e.g., $500 per opportunity that reaches a defined pipeline stage)
   • Best for: Teams focused on pipeline quality rather than raw meeting volume
3. Revenue-Based Plan:
   • Base Salary: 50-60% of total comp
   • Variable Pay: SDRs earn a percentage of revenue from deals they sourced (e.g., 1-2% of closed-won revenue)
   • Best for: Organizations with longer sales cycles and higher ACV deals
4. Hybrid Compensation Plan:
   • Base Salary: 60-70% of total comp
   • Variable Pay: Mix of meeting bonuses, opportunity-based rewards, and revenue share
   • Best for: Businesses looking to balance activity metrics with sales impact

Each model should be tailored to reflect how SDRs drive pipeline growth in today’s AI-assisted sales environment. By rewarding strategic engagement instead of just raw activity, companies can create SDR compensation plans that motivate reps while adapting to modern sales strategies.

Final Thoughts

In summary, AI and sales automation are here to stay.

However, SDRs remain a crucial role in orchestrating the technology and providing human-to-human interaction necessary to drive revenue. 

As tech advances, so should the way we think about compensating our SDR teams. 

For additional resources to support the growth of your SDR team, check out the following blogs:

• 7 lessons we learned after building our first SDR team
• SDR compensation plans to consider for 2023
• How to set bonus and commission rates for SaaS SDRs

Ready to automate sales compensation management and commission tracking? Sign up for a free 30-day trial or schedule time with our team to learn more. 

The following blog shares four steps to increasing sales compensation equity at your organization.

Sales expert and advocate for women in sales Lori Richardson has nearly 30 years of experience working in tech sales.

The Founder of WOMEN Sales Pros, Harvard Business School Sales Coach, and Growth Strategist for Score More Sales, is a prolific leader in the space and has had a storied career. And, like other women leaders in sales, she’s also learned first-hand the pay discrepancies between men and women particularly in sales.

“Some people are just flat-out paid differently,” Lori said. “That happened to me. I found that my male counterparts were paid more, even though they had no more experience than me.” 

Lori’s experience dates back to her years climbing the sales leadership ladder more than two decades ago. Yet 2023 data confirms this remains a prominent issue in sales.

A recent report found that women earned 23% less in commission and salary than men. What’s more, men made nearly double the amount of commissions as women per sale according to their data. Analysts cited biases, differences in negotiation successes, and lack of growth opportunities as the leading reasons for these numbers.

We’ve also seen the number of comp plans within a sales organization lead to pay discrepancies for women and people of color. 

“If you have different compensation plans for people in the same role with the same title, on average, you end up paying women and people of color less,” said QuotaPath Chief of Staff Graham Collins. 

Inequitable territories also threaten fair earnings potential. 

This occurs when sales territories fail to evenly balance sales potential or opportunities across the team, making it harder for the reps in those territories to achieve their full on-target earnings (OTE). 

The same can be said for poor account scoring models that send the highest-ranked leads (the accounts most likely to close) to top performers. 

When you have inequitable lead distribution plus discrepancies across sales compensation plans, you create an environment at-risk of inequity. And when that happens, no one wins. It’s unfair to your employees. It’s bad for business. 

Your employees should be paid fairly, equally, and competitively. Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because when you have compensation equity, you’re more likely to attract and retain top talent while improving morale and productivity amongst your team. 

“By ensuring employees are paid equitably, employers can increase efficiency, creativity, and productivity by helping to attract the best employees, reduce turnover and increase commitment to the organization,” said Cheryl Pinarchick, an attorney with Fisher Phillips in Boston (The Importance of Pay Equity).  

So, how can you as a business leader ensure your sales function operates under equitable circumstances?  

You can start by standardizing your compensation structures and ensuring your account scoring models and territory designs are set up to give your reps the same chance at success. We also suggest being open and upfront about your compensation packages with job candidates.  

Below, we explore ways in which you can increase sales compensation equity.

How to build sales compensation equity into your plans

The first principle of building an equitable sales compensation plan is to standardize it. Make sure that every person with the same role follows the same comp plan. 

“At QuotaPath, we have an Account Executive, an Account Executive II, and a Senior Account Executive role,” said Sr. Director of RevOps Ryan Milligan. 

He explained that each rep with the same title shares the same variable and base. When they earn a promotion to AE II or Senior AE, their base and variable pay increases.

“That should be public, and every rep should know and understand the varying levels of OTE for positions within the org.,” said Ryan. 

Next, your sales compensation plan should follow our three comp plan pillars. 

Every structure should be simple, fair, and logical. That means that reps understand how and when they earn commissions. If you can’t explain in less than 30 seconds or write it on a napkin, your reps won’t be able to either. 

Create compensation equity via fair territories and OTEs

For fairness, every rep should have the same shot at reaching their OTE. That means equally distributed territories. 

“Start by implementing round-robin lead distribution,” Ryan said. 

This will ensure reps inherit opportunities in an order one at a time, rotating as they come in. By doing so, opportunities spread out evenly across your team which fosters compensation equity. 

Additionally, your OTEs should actually be attainable. If your OTEs are unrealistic, you’ll lose your top performers quickly. To get a gauge on the health of your quota to OTE ratio, use our free OTE calculator. 

The last pillar, logical, ties more to your business strategy. Comp plans should follow your company’s targets and not the other way around. 

Align your structures to your financial goals so that reps put their efforts behind what matters most. If the key metric is net revenue retention, set up your comps plans so that your sales reps pursue accounts that are most likely to renew and see value in your solution — aka your ideal customer profile. This helps to spread compensation equity because you’ll steer all of your reps toward similar accounts with the greatest chances of closing. 

Ensure your account scoring model is equitable

Another way to create equity across your team is through your account scoring model. Similar to our suggestion of a round-robin demo distribution, accounts with the highest scores should also distribute evenly across your team.

In order to stay on top of this, you have to commit to tracking where accounts go. 

“I think the most important part about looking into the validity of your account scoring model is to accurately track account distribution across your team,” said Gradient Works Head of Growth Lily Youn Jaroszewski.

Doing so will help you avoid sending top accounts only to your top performers, and visa versa, which can frustrate reps, skew data, and mess with your team’s chances of success.

Be open with candidates regarding your compensation policy

Lastly, you can make sales compensation more equitable by being open and transparent with job seekers about your compensation policies. 

“The hiring company should provide the salary range and on-target earnings estimate first,” said Heather Foidart, Business Owner and Sales Coach.

Fortunately, we’ve seen an increase in companies sharing OTE, base pay, and even quota targets and sales activities within the actual job descriptions. 

This is good practice so that candidates are clear upfront on expectations. It also ensures that employers don’t pay sales candidates less if they find out the candidate’s salary requirements are lower than what the company had in mind.

Plus, leaders agree that it’s a red flag when an organization isn’t upfront about variable compensation packages and performance metrics.

“An employer should always be able to share the breakdown of the variable compensation plan,” said Heather. “Know the metrics: Average deal size, time to close, ramp time, win rates, % of the team hitting quota, etc. If a company has a “story” behind why they don’t have these metrics, it’s a red flag.”

Sales compensation plan best practices

We close with six additional best practices to build equitable sales compensation strategies:

Use a performance-based plan. A performance-based plan rewards employees based on their sales results. This type of plan is generally considered to be the most equitable, as it rewards employees for their hard work and results.

Set clear goals and expectations. Employees should know what they need to do optimize their earnings and what it will take to get their next promotion. Make sure your sales compensation plans and career ladders are clear, easy to understand, and accessible for your reps. 

Use a variety of metrics. Don’t just focus on sales volume. Consider other factors such as customer satisfaction, new accounts, and repeat business.

Regularly review your plan. Revie your sales compensation plan on a regular basis to ensure that it is still fair and equitable.

Consider using a third-party consultant to help you create your sales compensation plan. A consultant, or partner like QuotaPath, can help you to ensure that your plan is fair and equitable and that it meets the specific needs of your business.

Get feedback from your employees. Once you have created your sales compensation plan, collect feedback from your reps. Ask them if they think it is fair and equitable. 

For additional compensation plan resources, visit Compensation Hub . This library of comp plan templates allows you to adjust, customize, and model for your business. 

And, to extend compensation transparency across your organization, automate sales compensation management with QuotaPath. Sign up for a free 30-day trial or schedule time with our team to learn more.

After running sales commissions manually through spreadsheets, you’re ready to offload some work by recruiting the help of automation. 

Congratulations, you’ve made the right choice. 

While we respect the spreadsheet and its loyal fanbase of formula wizards, we also believe in working smarter, not harder. Why calculate and track commissions in a cell when you can leverage the power of technology to take that on for you?

That’s where commission payment software comes in.

With a growing list of sales compensation management platforms and four leaders in the space, where do you begin? To help, we built a thorough comparison list of the most widely adopted and top-performing sales commission platforms.

Read on for a comparison between QuotaPath, Spiff, CaptivateIQ, and Xactly. Want to jump right into QuotaPath and get a feel for yourself? Start a free 14-day trial here.

All platforms, in a nutshell

To help you get an idea of the best sales commission software, we surfaced what customers and prospects care about most when evaluating which platform to purchase. 

Tool accessibility and usability: The ease with which the platform allows you to create compensation plans and make changes or adjustments as you scale. 

Forecast earnings/attainment: Executive- and rep-level reporting on existing and forecasted revenue and earning potential tied to pipeline and quota attainment. 

ASC-606 Compliant: Ability to schedule, recognize and report commission expenses in compliance with ASC 606 regulations. 

Time-to-value: The time it takes for customers from the moment of purchase to realize the value of a sales incentive compensation platform.

Accuracy: Trust in the math and calculations.  

Integrations: Data connections that enable direct and real-time data flow from commissions’ source of truth.

Rep accountability: Views that provide clarity into sales compensation, progress toward goals, and when, what, and how commissions are paid. 

In-app communication: Collaboration and communication enabled within the commission tracking app to dispute, resolve, and keep records of commission payment discrepancies.

Support: Accessible, reliable, and helpful vendor support.

Pricing: Upfront pricing models, no minimum user limits, and no onboarding, implementation, or professional services fees.

Spiff vs. CaptivateIQ vs. Xactly vs. QuotaPath 

Reviews Comparison

To get an objective view of all four platforms, we checked out three independent review sites under the sales compensation software category. 

Pricing Comparison

In today’s market, buyers want (and should expect) to be able to find out pricing information without having to jump through hoops and speak to a sales rep or two.

That’s why QuotaPath proudly shares transparent pricing directly on our website. 

“Your website should answer almost all the questions a buyer might have, especially pricing,” said QuotaPath CEO and Co-Founder AJ Bruno.

If you visit Spiff’s, CaptivateIQ’s, and Xactly’s websites, you’ll find an absence of actual pricing info on pricing pages or missing pricing sections altogether. However, after some sleuthing, we were able to locate pricing for Spiff, CaptivateIQ, and Xactly for you. 

Check out the model below to see how they all compare: Spiff vs CaptivateIQ, CaptivateIQ vs Xactly, Spiff vs Xactly, and QuotaPath vs CaptivateIQ.

Which is the best platform?

The best sales commission software will largely depend on the size of your company, commission’s source of truth, and preference for setup.

For instance, scaling small to medium-sized tech companies will find the most value with a solution like QuotaPath’s. That’s because QuotaPath’s fast time to value (onboarding and implementations within 6 weeks), no minimum user limit, and guidance on compensation plan design are invaluable for fast-changing teams that need a helping hand in aligning their compensation strategies to their business goals. 

Those who run deals and earnings info through HubSpot, Salesforce, Copper, Pipedrive, Zoho, and Google Sheets, as well as invoicing systems such as Quickbooks, Maxio, and Stripe, will also benefit from QuotaPath’s 3-step data syncs and real-time updates. 

Meanwhile, large enterprises are a better fit for Spiff, CaptivateIQ, or Xactly. Plus, those platforms prefer that based on their minimum user requirements and lengthy implementation periods dedicated to carefully setting up large accounts. 

Pros of QuotaPath over Spiff, CaptivateIQ, and Xactly

Incentive compensation management software come in all shapes and sizes. 

What sets QuotaPath apart from the rest is our team, our solution’s ability to foster accountability and ownership over company-wide financial goals, and streamlined workflows that build operational efficiencies in your compensation management processes. 

Plus, we are the only commission tool with a free trial. 

The Team

Sales compensation is nuanced. 

Having a partner with a trusted commission management solution and a team that knows the ins and outs of comp design can play a critical role in rallying your team around your financial targets. 

QuotaPath’s team has evaluated thousands of sales comp plans. We share our knowledge with our communities and customers and act as advisors to steer teams toward simple, logical, and fair incentive structures.

We listen, understand, and empathize. Whether you’re in the front of the house, or the back of the house we’re here to help.

Our Customer Success team is the fastest in the biz, with less than 90-second response times. Our Account Managers ensure even your most complex comp plans run smoothly and accurately, and our Product team has their eyes and ears locked in on the customer to ensure our platform is evolving with your needs. 

Accountability and ownership

Department-wide understanding and alignment over your financial targets are paramount to the success of your business.

By collaborating with QuotaPath, you gain an advisor to align your compensation plans directly to your business metrics, such as annual recurring revenue (ARR), gross revenue retention (GRR), net revenue retention (NRR), etc.

When everyone knows what they’re working toward and how their efforts impact the bottom line, you’re setting your team and organization up for success.

Pair that with the commission tool itself, and you give all stakeholders visibility into real-time progress toward those goals as well as forecasted earnings and revenue. Account managers now have access to see how their most recent renewal improved GRR and how much they can expect to get paid on it.

What follows is accountability and ownership from the top down over progress and earnings. 

Operational efficiencies

We surveyed Finance, RevOps, and Sales leaders about their compensation management, and the biggest challenge they reported with their processes was that their sales comp models were too hard to execute and too time-consuming. 

QuotaPath creates operational efficiencies from comp plan design through commission payments. 

“When you scale a team, comp structures start to contain different elements,” said Katie Cooper,  Muck Rack, Senior Business Manager, Business and Data Operations. “QuotaPath offers the ability to take what you have in the system and build on it so that when you have a slightly tweaked plan or a new teammate, you can build a new plan and assign accordingly in three minutes versus an hour.”

By streamlining workflows from the moment you sign up for a free 14-day trial to hosting in-app communication to raise commission questions and resolve disputes, and by surfacing the most important commission-related tasks to those who run payouts, we’re making it easier to own, stay on top of, and run commissions.  

Need to get rep sign-off on a comp plan change? Use Plan Verification in QuotaPath to distribute new commission policies and collect rep sign-off.

Katie, for example, used to spend 2 to 3 hours manually sending mail-merged compensation and goal emails to every rep. Now, it takes 10 minutes.

Free app experience

When in doubt, don’t take our word for it. Play in the app yourself by signing up for a free trial. 

As the only commission tool with a free trial experience, QuotPath gives you the chance to integrate your CRM, map your existing comp plan, or test your current pipeline’s data with one of our customizable templates, and invite team members to your QuotaPath workspace.

What’s more, you can even run commission payouts. 

All for free and without having to enter credit card information. 

With QuotaPath:

• Provide reps and leadership with immediate insights into forecasted revenue 
• Monitor team-wide performance
• Pull up ARR in realtime
• Quickly design and build compensation plans within the platform
• Be ASC 606-compliant with commissions recognition and reporting
• Incentivize your reps
• Integrate your CRM

To learn more, chat with one of our teammates today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Spiff and what are its alternatives?

is a commission management software designed to automate and simplify the calculation and tracking of sales commissions. It integrates with CRMs, ERPs, and other financial systems to provide real-time visibility, ensuring accuracy and transparency for both sales teams and finance departments. Spiff is particularly popular among organizations that need a scalable, flexible solution for managing complex commission structures.

Alternatives to Spiff

Here are some notable alternatives to Spiff, often used for commission management and incentive tracking:

1. QuotaPath
   • Focused on sales commission tracking and forecasting, QuotaPath offers a user-friendly interface, seamless CRM integrations (like HubSpot and Salesforce), and features that tie commissions to pipeline performance.
2. CaptivateIQ
   • A platform that combines automated commission calculations with spreadsheet-like customization, ideal for companies with complex or unique compensation plans.
3. Xactly
   • A robust solution for incentive compensation management (ICM), offering features for automation, analytics, and compliance, catering to larger enterprises.
4. Performio
   • Designed for sales performance management, Performio provides insights, commission tracking, and customizable workflows for mid-sized to large organizations.
5. Everstage
   • A platform focusing on transparency and user experience, providing commission tracking and analytics for sales teams.

What is Xactly and what are its alternatives?

Xactly is a provider of cloud-based sales performance management (SPM) solutions, offering tools for incentive compensation management, revenue forecasting, and sales planning.  

Alternatives to Xactly:

When considering alternatives to Xactly, several platforms offer comparable features in sales performance and incentive compensation management:

1. CaptivateIQ: A flexible platform that combines automated commission calculations with spreadsheet-like customization, ideal for companies with complex or unique compensation plans. 
2. Varicent: Provides tools and information for sales reps, ensuring accuracy and efficiency. Managers and administrators can take control of their operations, eliminate surprises, and make better strategic choices for their variable incentive programs. 
3. Performio: Designed for sales performance management, Performio provides real-time insights, commission tracking, and customizable workflows for mid-sized to large organizations. 
4. QuotaPath: Focused on sales commission tracking and forecasting, QuotaPath offers a user-friendly interface, seamless CRM integrations (like HubSpot and Salesforce), and features that tie commissions to pipeline performance and forecasting.
5. Everstage: A platform focusing on transparency and user experience, providing commission tracking and analytics for sales teams. 

When evaluating these alternatives, consider factors such as the complexity of your compensation plans, integration capabilities with existing systems, scalability, user experience, and pricing to determine the best fit for your organization’s needs.

What is CaptivateIQ and what are its alternatives?

CaptivateIQ is a platform designed to automate and manage sales commission processes similar to spreadsheets. The platform integrates with various data sources, providing visibility into sales performance and ensuring compliance with industry standards. 

Alternatives to CaptivateIQ:

When considering alternatives to CaptivateIQ, several platforms offer comparable features in sales performance and incentive compensation management:

1. Xactly: A cloud-based solution for incentive compensation management, Xactly helps customers’ ICM processes with easy administration, advanced automation, and clear data visualizations.
2. Varicent: Provides tools and information for sales reps. Managers and administrators can take control of their operations, eliminate surprises, and make strategic choices for their variable incentive programs. 
3. Spiff: A platform that improves quality and provides reps with personalized, commission portals.
4. Performio: Designed for sales performance management, Performio provides insights, commission tracking, and customizable workflows for mid-sized to large organizations.
5. QuotaPath: Helps sales teams measure and model performance and commissions costs, track commissions, and increase earnings, with onboarding taking minutes, not months, to close more deals

What does calculating incentive pay look like without the help of a free commission tracking app?

Manual commission tracking can be a cumbersome, time-consuming, error-prone process that decreases sales team morale, productivity, and retention.

What’s more, your accounting team grows to dread the end of the sales cycle when they must deal with angry reps who blame them for commission miscalculations. We’ve had finance managers admit over calls that commission payouts were the “worst part” of their jobs because of the emotional aspect of commissions. 

Plus, keeping commission earnings and incentive pay locked in a spreadsheet prevents transparency, making it difficult for leadership — and reps — to gauge how they’re performing.  

A commission tracking app can reduce this friction by automating the entire process, eliminating inaccuracies, and democratizing the data with real-time updates. In turn, teams experience boosts in morale, time saved, and valuable visibility and insights into team and compensation strategy performance.

Integrating with a CRM to build trust around data

But with growing tech stacks, adding another platform may sound like a daunting task. 

That’s why QuotaPath integrates directly with deal data sources of truth, like CRMs such as HubSpot, Salesforce, and Close, and invoicing systems like Quickbooks and Stripe. 

A QuotaPath integration with your CRM does not impact CRM data and only involves 3 steps. Then you can map out your comp plan to immediately begin feeding deal data into QuotaPath.

It’ll give you peace of mind knowing the data is accurate. Take Katie Cooper of Muck Rack, for example.  

“When I’m reviewing commissions in QuotaPath, I’m not checking to see if they’re right in QuotaPath, I’m checking to see if the deals and fields in HubSpot are correct. Knowing that the data comes from HubSpot is a huge peace of mind,” said Katie“I can trust it.”

Integrating QuotaPath with your CRM also fosters good CRM hygiene. 

That’s because QuotaPath’s data depends on accurate CRM data. If reps want to know how much their pipeline is worth to them, then they have to keep their CRM data clean and up to date. That way, their forecasted earnings will accurately reflect what’s real in their pipe. Our Salesforce commission tracking integration works the same, by enabling you to automatically import deals from your Salesforce 

Our integrations: 

• Provide a single source of truth for both attainment and earnings, eliminating the need for a dual entry in multiple tools.
• Are simple and intuitive to setups, with no complicated logic or code needed to get connected.

As Dennis Dube of EverView said, “The ease to get up and running with QuotaPath was a big plus – that and QuotaPath’s real-time Salesforce integration.” 

And according to Dennis’s colleague, Ron Morgan, “Our comp plan was easily measured and easily viewed by our sellers in QuotaPath, which drove positive selling behaviors.” 

As a result, EverView achieved record sales in 3 months with QuotaPath and the best sales year in company history.

Options to track commissions without an app

Our preference is for you to sign up for our free commission tracking app experience, but we recognize not everyone is in a position to do so. For those not ready to commit to automation, how do you calculate incentives without a commission-tracking app?

Here are some options.

Excel sheets or Google Sheets

For small businesses with basic and simple commission structures, bulk spreadsheets will work just fine. But as your business grows or your compensation plans become more complex, keep in mind that:

• Any changes to incentive pay require manual updates.
• Every new deal, related bonus, or spiff that affects commission payouts also must be added manually.
• Bulk spreadsheets don’t carry over month-to-month, making it necessary to re-add any exceptions or modifications to a rep’s commissions each month.
• If you want to provide reps with individual commission statements, you’ll need to create them manually, deleting other reps’ info from the spreadsheet.
• Manual data input and adjustments increase the risk of incorrect commission checks.
• Since spreadsheet access is often permission-based, commission visibility will be tough to promote as reps will have to contact finance and accounting anytime they have a commission-related question.

Commission tracking template

Another option to track commissions without a commission tracking app is to borrow our free commission tracking template. You can download the template to see exactly how much your team earned with just four inputs.

Use the tabs within the template to add your commission rates and quota frequencies and deals, then look at the “Monthly Totals” tab to see your earnings. 

How to get started with QuotaPath

Let’s say you are ready to try a sales compensation management software. Try QuotaPath’s free commission tracking app by signing up for a 30-day free trial.

Your trial will allow you to:

1. Build your sales compensation plans.
2. Sync your CRM.
3. Invite team members.

To help get set up, leverage our Home feature. This dashboard will guide you through onboarding by directing you through the steps to get a plan completely up and running in QuotaPath. This includes creating your first plan from scratch or using a free comp plan template from our compensation plan template library, integrating your CRM, and inviting your team members.

The best part? Syncing your CRM or data source only takes 3 simple steps:

1. Select your integration.
2. Authenticate it.
3. Map it.

Then you’ll be ready to invite your team members and start automating incentive calculations with a free commission tracking app.

Best practices on how to get the fullest out of QuotaPath

To get the most out of QuotaPath, take the following actions:

• Log in regularly to get a pulse on team progress and attainment, total earnings, and to see what tasks are due.
  
• Use team leaderboards to help sales leaders identify coaching opportunities so they can be more strategic with their coaching and time.
  
• Include QuotaPath in your new sales hire onboarding to review compensation policies and show transparency around earnings.
  • That’s what our customer Katie does and talked about this in this case study, when she said, “A major game-changer for me is the ease in which I can onboard a new team member. Assigning a plan, quota, and rate in QuotaPath saves me about 30 minutes per employee.”
    
• Encourage reps to pull up QuotaPath daily so they know how close they are to reaching their next commission milestone and run “what if scenarios” using their forecasted data.
  • Joe of Blackthorn discussed this tactic in this case study. He said, “Our reps realized they could run scenarios and see how much they could earn from our monthly kickers.” This motivated Blackthorn’s reps to fully maximize the accelerators and the “what if” scenarios broke down how much they would need to book monthly to lock in an extra 2 percent per deal by the end of the year. This resulted in record-breaking sales following QuotaPath implementation.
    
• Distribute and collect rep signatures on compensation agreements using QuotaPath’s plan verification feature.
  • This shows that your reps grasp how they get paid and creates alignment and transparency across the comp planning process. When reps have a clear understanding of their comp plans and how they earn incentives, the plan motivates and empowers them.
    
• Collaborate and resolve deal discrepancies in-app by using deal flagging.
  • This feature provides reps with an easy, operational way to raise a payroll issue without needing to email or message anyone. So, when a sales rep spots an incorrect earnings amount, they can proactively report discrepancies instead of waiting to report an issue after receiving their paycheck.

Sign up for QP or learn more through a demo

Ready to check out our platform? Sign up for a commission tracking software free 30-day trial or schedule time with a QuotaPath team member today.

RevOps is growing fast. Really fast.

Since 2020, the number of RevOps tools and platforms has doubled, growing from about 500 solutions to over 1,000 in 2023, according to The State of RevOps 2023 by G2.

What’s more, Future Market Insights reported that the estimated market for RevOps platforms totaled just shy of $3 million in 2021. They predict that number to increase 5x by 2032 to $15 million.

But these numbers were published in 2022 and they already seem outdated.

Recommended reading: How to start a RevOps team

For instance, RevOps jobs increased by 300% in the last 18 months on LinkedIn. When a rise in a new role grows, a flood of technology typically follows. And despite economic conditions threatening buyer spend, RevOps leaders are still buying products.

We know this firsthand from the RevOps communities we’re a part of, such as RevOps Co-op and RevOps Alliance, partnering with RevOps professionals that run commissions through QuotaPath, and from watching our own RevOps team shop for technologies to make their jobs easier and more impactful. 

Additionally, we know that when they are buying, they’re often turning first to their peers and RevOps networks for recommendations. 

Like Brandon Smith, QuotaPath’s RevOps Manager. 

“The way that I buy is I get recommendations from people that have used a tool like it before,” said Brandon. “That’s step one.” 

So, to help fellow RevOps managers who are new to the role and building their first tech stack, or to those curious about what we use since we invested in RevOps early, we asked Brandon to shed some light. 

Below, Brandon shared what is core to QuotaPath’s RevOps tech stack, how he shops, and what he’s still on the hunt for. 

What are the core tools in your RevOps tech stack?

Brandon: I’ve bucketed our tools into the following: CRM, customer communications for inbound and outbound, marketing attribution and exclusively outbound customer communication, sales activity tracking and cadence building, prospecting management, calendar management, demo routing, compensation planning software and commissions, call transcription and insights, contract management, data analytics reporting, and workflow automation and integration.

Here are the tools we use for each one:

• CRM: Salesforce
• Customer communication: Intercom
• Marketing attribution and outbound customer communications: HubSpot
• Sales activity tracking and cadence building: Salesloft
• Prospecting management: Apollo, Clay, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Gradient Works
• Calendar management: Calendly
• Demo routing: Chili Piper
• Compensation planning software and commissions: QuotaPath
• Call transcription and insights: Chorus
• Contract management: Docusign
• Data visualization: Mode
• Workflow automation and integration: Zapier

What tool could you not live without? 

Brandon: In my role, I would say Zapier and Salesforce. I use Zapier a ton. It connects all of our tools that lack out-of-the-box integrations with each other. All of our notifications are powered through Zapier. 

Salesforce has the largest organizational impact. We’ve built so much within Salesforce that we point people to use. And Mode has been helpful on the data visualization side especially as we grow org-wide adoption. 

Our Sr. Director of RevOps, Ryan Milligan, would also say he couldn’t live without QuotaPath, since he used to run commissions manually. Now it only takes him about 10 minutes at the end of a commissions cycle. 

How do you decide when it’s time to shop? 

Brandon: We decide based on what the teams we support are telling us and by looking into if what they are asking for we already have and maybe they just don’t realize it. Then it’s figuring out if what we have can accomplish what they’re requesting. 

Also, if multiple teams are requesting the same thing, then it becomes a measure of business impact. The asks that come in under the premise of “we cannot do our jobs without this” take a higher priority than tools that might save our team a little bit of time. 

It’s all about the need and pain that the teams are experiencing. 

Describe your tech evaluation process. 

Brandon: I’ll give you a real-life example that we’re going through right now. We’re in the market for a ticketing solution, like a help desk. So I started by getting recommendations from people I know who have used a few of the tools we’re looking at.

Then I looked at G2 reviews by finding the top software in those G2 categories. I look at how the companies talk about themselves. For instance, if there’s a ticketing system that talks a lot about e-commerce, and we’re B2B software, I’m less interested. 

I don’t want to have to fit into your box — I want you to fit into what I am wanting. 

QuotaPath on G2

What is something buyers and sellers might not think about? 

Brandon: Sometimes you don’t necessarily want to completely replace a tool or system. A lot of these pieces of technology house helpful content or data, and if you replace those outright or consolidate them, you risk losing that information.

This just happened to me on a call with a vendor for this ticketing system. They said we would be completely replacing Intercom, and that’s not actually what we’re looking for. We need something to supplement it, not replace it. Because if we replace it outright we’ll lose out on customer experience. 

How do you measure the success of your RevOps tech stack? 

Brandon: This is a really manual process and it’s an easy one to neglect. Right now, it’s about being in the office and hearing people’s gripes about certain things. I do a lot more listening than people realize. When I hear a rep complain about something that I oversee, I make a mental note to look into it. Sometimes they’ll tell me directly that something isn’t working as it should and I’ll dig into it. 

We also look at usage and adoption. 

Lastly, what’s something you need in your RevOps tech stack that’s not out there yet? 

Brandon: I could use a tool that told me how reps felt about different tech stacks or tools. That would be super helpful. I’m putting together a survey for the reps to fill out in a few weeks on this topic, but if a tool could do this for me, that would make my life easier. 

***

Brandon, thank you for your time and your insights. 

For additional RevOps content, check out the following articles:

• What is a good rule of thumb for growing your RevOps team?
• How to start a RevOps team
• RevOps best practices
• 8 questions to diagnose a sales data quality issue

Curious about QuotaPath? Sign up for a free 30-day trial to connect your CRM, build your comp plan in the system, or borrow one of our templates and invite team members to immediately begin tracking commissions. 

This blog features executive compensation negotiation best practices from three women sales leaders from the professional sales community, Women in Sales, with which QuotaPath is a proud partner.

The gender pay gap remains steady, with women in full-time roles earning 83.7% of what men are paid — an inequity that increases even more for Black and Hispanic women. 

While 83.7% spans industries and roles, in sales alone women reported earning 23% less in commission and salary than men. That’s according to a report published earlier this year. Analysts have suggested that part of this pay gap falls to the biases women experience in sales, such as leaders underestimating their knowledge or seeing women as “weak.”

Another factor, however, involves how men and women negotiate a job offer. 

For a while, most reports and anecdotal evidence hinted that women were less likely to negotiate compensation. But the report showed that it wasn’t that women were holding back from negotiating. 

“Despite a similar number of women and men negotiating their salaries and commission rates, men were more successful at getting what they wanted,” the report states. 

Is this for lack of negotiation skills or because business leaders have an easier time saying “no” to women in sales?

We can’t answer that. We also can’t control the latter. But what we can help with is elevating the voices of women who have seen success with executive compensation negotiation in their careers to help others.

Below, Ashlee Horn, CEO of Horn Sales Coaching, Heather Foidart, Business Owner and Sales Coach, and Rebecca Bormann, Founder and CEO of Rebecca Bormann Consulting,  offered actionable advice you can immediately put into practice. 

Learn what to keep in mind when negotiating, how to prioritize and communicate non-negotiables, how to ask for more, and steps to strengthen your skills. 

Before reading our Q&A below, first meet our leaders:

• Ashlee Horn, CEO, Horn Sales Coaching, and former Global VP of Revenue at Toptal and Regional VP at Gartner. 
• Heather Foidart, Business Owner and Sales Coach, and former Strategic Advisor at Coconut Software and VP of Sales at Shmoop.
• Rebecca Bormann, Founder and CEO of Rebecca Bormann Consulting, Advisory Board Member at Boss Babe Network, and former Managing Director of Sales and Services at Bell Techlogix, Inc. 

Thank you all for taking the time to answer our questions and share your expertise.

Let’s start with how to counteroffer salary. What are some salary negotiation tips?

Ashlee: Early in my career, I was advised to keep a running list of my accomplishments always up to date. This allowed me to easily pull together a business case during the budgeting season to request a raise. It can be hard to remember all of the things you’ve done over the course of a year so waiting until the EoY review process will dilute the quality of your business case. Keeping a live list increases the volume and quality of data points you’ll have to draw on for a raise.

Heather: When you join an organization, you have the most leverage to negotiate your salary. Ensure you’re maximizing this opportunity and aligning with salary expectations at every interview process step. If a salary range was provided and you know your expectation is at the top end, be explicit about that early and often.

Rebecca:  Be prepared with your past performance documents, competitive salary and compensation information, and the value you bring to the organization.

What are 3 things to keep in mind when negotiating Sales executive compensation packages?

Rebecca: 

1. The first offer is very seldom the best and final offer.
   
2. Determine your minimum prior to engaging in compensation package negotiations.
   
3. Consider benefits beyond financial like flexible work schedule, the ability to work remotely, stocks or stake in the company, non-compete requirements, outreach/marketing/training, and professional development budgets.

Heather:

1. Ask for the compensation range and on-target earnings upfront. The hiring company should provide the salary range and on-target earnings estimate first before you share your expectations.

2. Look beyond just monetary compensation and consider what’s most important to you. Perhaps it’s a flexible schedule, a 4-day work week, or remote or hybrid work. Other factors to consider are benefits like 401k matching and health insurance. Sometimes, you can negotiate to waive the waiting period before you’re eligible for insurance. Or negotiate a higher 401k match. 

3. Equity. While it can be lucrative to have equity in early-stage companies, keep in mind that up to 90% of startups fail. I never recommend accepting less money in exchange for equity or working for commissions only. 

Ashlee:

1. Scalability of the compensation package over the long term. Example: In Sales, it is common to receive a percentage of business unit growth commission or bonus. You should ensure that the plan is designed to scale.

2. Entry salary is key. Your future earning potential at the organization will be determined by your salary on Day 1. Most organizations have an upper limit on the percentage of annual raises each year, meaning you are unlikely to see much more than a 5% annual merit increase even with a stellar performance. 

3. Incentive-based packages or recurring bonuses should be clearly and quantifiably defined. I’ve seen organizations that provide a bonus to increase the overall OTE and attract elite talent in the marketplace and then use qualitative, changing metrics making the attainment of an MBO or bonus nearly impossible.

Throughout your career, what have been some of your must-haves? How did you communicate these?

Heather: I value flexibility in the workplace and paid time off for my passion in life, traveling. I am always upfront with my employers about my PTO expectations. When environments say “unlimited PTO”, I recommend negotiating an explicit amount of time you would like to take annually.  When I travel, I fully unplug and always ensure my leaders are on board and aligned with this non-negotiable. 

Ashlee: Base salary — especially in sales organizations that tend to entice talent with a large OTE number. 

When you are new to an organization, there are many unknowns: customer perception, product-market fit, number of open roles, etc. Many of these should be teased out as you assess an opportunity but you won’t be able to learn everything. While successful sales leaders tend to be incredibly confident in their abilities to succeed, they also need to protect themselves from circumstances outside of their control. 

It takes time to hire great talent and drive change when you are new to a role. You could lose 30% of your OTE because it takes you two quarters to assess and upgrade the talent on your team, base salary negotiation gives you the opportunity to build for the long term while still improving short-term results which is what an organization should be looking for in a sales executive.

Rebecca: My non-negotiables include base salary, uncapped commissions, equity, and inclusive work environment and culture, the ability for a career path and professional development, generous PTO, and the ability to work remotely with a flexible schedule.

Transparency is key and my best practice is to share the must-haves upfront and also to ask and understand the organization’s must-haves as early in the interview process as possible.

What are some red flags candidates should be on alert for during the negotiation process? 

Heather: An employer should always be able to share the breakdown of the variable compensation plan. Know the metrics: Average deal size, time to close, ramp time, win rates, % of the team hitting quota, etc. If a company has a “story” behind why they don’t have these metrics, it’s a red flag. Also, make a plan. If your quota is $1M, the average deal size is $50k, and the win rate is 25%, you would need to close 20 deals per year (with 80 opportunities in the pipeline). 

Rebecca: If the organization is not willing to discuss compensation packages upfront. Other red flags include a lack of diversity in the organization, especially at leadership levels, and an unwillingness to allow you to talk to peers or teammates during the interview process.

What steps can leaders take to strengthen their executive compensation negotiation skills? 

Ashlee: Be intentional in your negotiation. I’ve seen many reps especially women, negotiate with me simply because they read that they should. They have not prepared a business case nor do they come to the table with a clear ask, they seek more. This is unproductive. Know your numbers, and your contribution to the business, and articulate the return expected if the organization were to continue to invest in you. 

Ask ONCE for what you want. In one of the worse botched negotiations I’ve seen the candidate asked for two specific things. I fought hard as I believed in the candidate and I was able to get executive approval for those terms. Recruiting went back pleased to share good news and the candidate asked for more. I was unwilling to request more a second time, so I pulled the offer. It became apparent the candidate was going to continue to see what was possible, which reeked of low integrity. She lost credibility with me and I lost confidence in her value to the team.

Help your leader advocate for you. Write a clear business case outlining your role in high-impact projects, revenue contribution, and other accolades that lead you to believe you deserve further investment.

Be specific in your ask. Do your market research. Avoid comparing yourself to others internally, it is a poor look and leads to team disruption. It does not benefit you or anyone else. Have a % increase request or a specific dollar amount you’d like to see. Providing the other side with a few options makes it easier for them to find a creative solution that will leave you both happy.

Heather: Hire a coach! I help women gain confidence and navigate the hiring and compensation conversations. We role-play, discuss those red and green flags, and work on positioning tactics.  Negotiations don’t have to feel anxiety-inducing.  

If you approach negotiation calmly and feel prepared for the conversation, you can successfully negotiate more. The fun part is knowing what “more” is for you, money, flexibility, time off, etc.  

Rebecca: I recommend attending workshops or professional development sessions around negotiation skills and best practices. I see masterminds and workshops popping up on this topic more and more in the last couple of years. Additionally, it’s a great topic to discuss and ask for advice from your mentors and sponsors.

***

Thank you again to Ashlee, Heather, and Rebecca for their thoughts on executive compensation negotiation. We connected with them through Women in Sales, a professional community focused on elevating, empowering, and promoting women within the sales profession, which we’re a proud partner of.

For additional support with sales compensation management, from design through tracking and payment, learn more about QuotaPath by scheduling time with our team.