If your salespeople can’t see $250K, they’re already looking for another job.

If your salespeople cannot see $250K, they are already looking for another job.

People don't choose sales for stability. They choose it for upside. A path to serious money without needing the right degree, the right pedigree, or five days a week in an office.

So when a rep looks at your comp plan and sees $95K OTE, maybe $120K if they perform better than Jordan Belfort on Wall Street, don't act confused when they leave.

Sales is rejection all day. Missed dinners. Bad months. Pressure that follows you home.

No one signs up for that just to earn what they could make driving Uber.

How we build a comp plan

Every plan we write for a client has the same four parts, and the order matters.

1. A base that pays the rent, and not much more. Enough that a good person can take the job without panic. Not so much that the check clears whether they pick up the phone or not. A $180K base doesn't buy you a closer. It buys you an employee.

2. A payment for the activity that leads to revenue. For an SDR, that's a meeting held. Not booked. Held. $100 to $200 a meeting keeps a rep dialing in month two when nothing has closed yet, which is exactly when most reps quit.

3. A percentage of what closes, uncapped. The cap is where great reps go to die. If the best month your plan allows is a good month, the best rep you'll ever keep is a good rep.

4. A path you can show on a napkin. "Hit this many meetings a month, close this much, and here's your year." If you can't draw it, the rep can't see it, and a rep who can't see the money is already on Indeed.

The number to test your plan against

Take your comp plan and ask one question. Can a strong salesperson at your company realistically make $200K to $250K?

Not the theoretical maximum. Realistically. Same territory, same product, same leads, a great year.

If not, your best people will find a company where they can. And they'll take the pipeline you paid them to build with them.