I have been handed a comp plan. How do I work out what I will actually earn?

Worked examples with real numbers for an SDR at 70:30, a CS role at 75:25 and a presales engineer at 80:20, each with quota, metric and payout. Copy the shape, change the currency.

Sales Compensation Structure: The Guide With Role-Based Templates

From Everstage 15 min read

• AEs get a 50:50 base to variable mix; SDRs are usually 70:30.
• Companies budget 6 to 7 percent of payroll for broad-based variable pay, versus 30 percent plus for executives.
• Presales engineers can be paid on their own events, for example 500 dollars per qualified POC and 1,000 per won deal.
• Under US wage law, total commissions still have to average at least minimum wage across hours worked.

The numbers you want when arguing about a plan: median commission around 11.5 percent of ACV, AE pay mix near 53:47, quota to OTE median 4.2x, and a median SaaS win rate of 19 percent. Use it to check whether your plan is normal.

SaaS Sales Compensation Benchmarks: Trends and Best Practices

From Everstage 12 min read

• Median AE OTE is 190,000 dollars on a 53:47 base to variable split (Bridge Group 2024).
• Median commission at full quota is 11.5 percent of ACV, with most plans between 11 and 14 percent.
• Median quota-to-OTE ratio is 4.2x, typically 3.2x to 4.8x.
• Median SaaS win rate fell to 19 percent in 2024, down from 23 percent in 2022.

The clearest arithmetic anywhere on rep economics: the rule of 10 for quota against base, four months to productivity, draws during ramp, and why teams attain about 70 percent of quota capacity so you must plan over capacity.

Simple Math to Set Up a Sales Team

From Craft Ventures by David Sacks 12 min read

• Rule of 10: an AE's quota is 10x base salary, and the standard SaaS commission rate is 10 percent of ARR.
• Pay a 50/50 base to variable split, then accelerate to 15 percent commission past quota.
• Plan for a 4 month ramp and about 70 percent average team attainment, so carry excess quota capacity.
• Set a manager's quota at 80 percent of their team's capacity; below 400K new ARR per AE, sales-led may not pencil.

From the Chennai-built comp platform that actually runs these plans for hundreds of companies. It gives the pay mix by role (50/50 for AEs, 70/30 for support roles) and the 4x to 6x OTE quota benchmark you can sanity check yourself against.

SaaS Sales Compensation Guide: How to Design Scalable and Fair Plans

From Everstage 18 min read

• Set quota at 4x to 6x OTE, lower multiple for SMB, higher for enterprise.
• Pay closing roles 50/50 base to variable; support roles run 70/30 or 80/20 toward base.
• Give new hires a 3 to 6 month ramp with prorated quota or a guaranteed draw.
• Only 21 percent of companies are happy with their comp plan and 53 percent of sellers miss quota.

The founder of an Indian commissions company has seen the payout data behind thousands of plans, and he explains what actually separates a plan that pays out from one that reads well. That is the right lens for working out what you will really earn.

The $400K Sales Rep: What Top Earners Know That You Don't | Siva Rajamani (Everstage CEO)

On GTMnow by Siva Rajamani 57 min