One of the questions that comes up time and time again from our readers is how can they make more money in sales? We happen to know the authority on sales compensation, Ryan Walsh, CEO of RepVue, the premier sales compensation and sales jobs platform, so we decided to reach out and get his take.
Here are his top five recommendations:
1. Don’t let your ambition get in the way of being successful in the job you have NOW. Current success is the fastest way to move up. Be patient and don’t expect to up-level from a $140k OTE to $300k overnight. It may take three or four promotions or job changes over the course of years.
2. Chase bigger deals. If you’re doing $15k deals now, you need to ensure your next role is meaningfully higher. Shoot for a minimum of 2x the average deal size in your next role. There is a DIRECT correlation between deal size and OTE.
3. Don’t be afraid to switch roles. I stayed at the same company for 15+ years but I’m a dinosaur. Fortunately, companies are A) recruiting you regardless of your tenure in your position, and B) paying new hires more than the existing team, so I never fault anyone for doing what they feel is best for them.
4. Negotiate. Despite some tech layoffs, it’s absolutely still a candidate’s market for top talent. The comp in your next role is going to be relative (UP) to your current comp, or why would you make a move? Every $10k you negotiate lifts your floor for both now and the future.
5. OTE (on target earnings) may quickly become off-target earnings if you pick the wrong company. Even with a $300k OTE you may end up taking home much less than that if you don’t do your research on the product / TAM / territory / company. This is where we can help of course.
More from RepVue:
How does your org stack up? Explore 2,300+ company profiles here
Are you being paid fairly? View salary data for every sales role here
If my quota is X how much can I expect to earn? Use the salary calculator here