Technical sales - is there a standard or typical compensation style?

--chris-- · November 2015

I have been interviewing with a cloud services company for a pre-sales/post-sales technical engineer position. The topic of compensation has come up and I don't know how to respond. I know what I currently get as far as bonuses and commissions go, but I don't know if I am getting the shaft or a good deal.

Does anyone know what a typical commission & pay structure is for tech sales?

I feel comfortable enough I could ask them to lay out their offer, but how would I know if I should counter-offer if I don't know what is normal?

--chris-- · November 2015

I reached out to someone on linkedin and they offered some great insight.

From my conversation there is not real standard compensation package or typical offering.

A common form with pre-sales engineering is OTE (on target earnings). Base pay + commission; the commission is based on a sales number. If you make 100% of that sales number you earn 100% of your commission. 50% of the sales number = 50% of the commission.

So an OTE salary of 150,000 could be 100000 base + 50000 in commission based off from a 500000 sales goal. If you sell 500000 of XYZ you earn all 50,000 of the commission.

stlsmoore · November 2015

Good info, I was curious as well if I decide to ever leave the Enterprise roles behind.

--chris-- · November 2015

stlsmoore wrote: »

Good info, I was curious as well if I decide to ever leave the Enterprise roles behind.

He cautioned me that some recruiters will advertise a position at some high salary number, but the break down is terrible. For example: 300,000 OTE salary which is 80,000 base and 220,000 commission. FYI

TheProf · November 2015

That sounds about right... Usually it's base + commission. The package might come as 150K but 50K is number derived from your commission so some recruiters/companies might advertise 150K salary, but be sure to read the fine print, etc.

NightShade03 · November 2015

There are a lot of factors to consider in technical sales and salary structures. Some orgs do commission (monthly) and others do a bonus (quarterly). Some even have both. You should also find out if there is a cap on either. For example, if you hit 110% of your quota for the month/quarter, does that mean you get 100% of your bonus only or can you go beyond that?

For entry pre-sales positions it is common to see 20% - 30% of your OTE as a commission or bonus and 70% - 80% as a base salary. As you move up in seniority the base salary usually increases and the bonus decreases as you spend less time in front of multiple customers and focus more on managing a team and marquee accounts.

Recruiters are the worst when it comes to this sort of thing as they make a hard sell on how the company they represent is the next "hot" thing and you'll make oodles of money (almost never true). Remember though that in a pre-sales capacity there are several things beyond just a salary to consider. What do the benefits look like? High premiums? You usually can expense almost everything back to the company from food to travel to books/certifications. There is also usually an allotment for your cell phone, sometimes home internet, and such. These are all things that also put money in your pocket or prevent you from spending your money.

If you want more details or info on technical sales salaries or packages just let me know...happy to share.

--chris-- · November 2015

NightShade03 wrote: »

There are a lot of factors to consider in technical sales and salary structures. Some orgs do commission (monthly) and others do a bonus (quarterly). Some even have both. You should also find out if there is a cap on either. For example, if you hit 110% of your quota for the month/quarter, does that mean you get 100% of your bonus only or can you go beyond that?

For entry pre-sales positions it is common to see 20% - 30% of your OTE as a commission or bonus and 70% - 80% as a base salary. As you move up in seniority the base salary usually increases and the bonus decreases as you spend less time in front of multiple customers and focus more on managing a team and marquee accounts.

Recruiters are the worst when it comes to this sort of thing as they make a hard sell on how the company they represent is the next "hot" thing and you'll make oodles of money (almost never true). Remember though that in a pre-sales capacity there are several things beyond just a salary to consider. What do the benefits look like? High premiums? You usually can expense almost everything back to the company from food to travel to books/certifications. There is also usually an allotment for your cell phone, sometimes home internet, and such. These are all things that also put money in your pocket or prevent you from spending your money.

If you want more details or info on technical sales salaries or packages just let me know...happy to share.

Thanks, this is great info. I appreciate it.

Technical sales - is there a standard or typical compensation style?

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