5 ms·

To be clear there’s a lot wrong with these companies, but this passage below isn’t one of them: > The article brought attention to other things not going right

To be clear there’s a lot wrong with these companies, but this passage below isn’t one of them: > The article brought attention to other things not going right at the company. For example, DataRobot sent its top salespeople on a lavish trip to The Virgin Islands just days before laying off 7% of employees. This is a misunderstanding of how sales compensation works. Individual sales people are paid a low base salary, and earn a commission on sales. Reps carry a quota of new revenue they are supposed to land. Their base pay + commission if they hit quota is a pretty good take home, like a mid to senior engineer. Above quota, sales gets accelerators. Instead of say 15 or 20% commission on a deal, they get 25%, 30% or more. Accelerators keep compounding. The best Sales people are the highest paid individuals in a company. Outside of public companies, top sales people make more than the executives. Part of that compensation is “presidents club”. Different companies call it different things. It’s a trip or perk for the top sales people. People who are hitting 150%-200% or more of their quota. The reps not hitting their targets are no going on these trips. So yeah, telling your top sales reps Melanie or Marco, who each personally generated millions of dollars for the company and exceeded their personal targets, that they don’t get to go on their trip because some other sales people sucked so much at there job the company missed a target is not an acceptable option. Definitely not if you want to keep those top reps, which you do, because they sold double their quota. TLDR: these trips are part of compensation for the people who are exceeding their targets. Don’t fuck with their $$$

salesbs 4y ago
> personally generated millions of dollars for the company Yeah. Like I believe that. They use their connections and moxie to justify that at the expense of everyone else creating legitimate value like all the employees that have to support the crap they sell yet never see a nickle of those commissions.
Apes 4y ago
I guess it logically makes sense to not begrudge the person who scratches off a winning lottery ticket while everyone else around them is getting laid off, but it definitely feels in poor taste to send someone on an expensive company sponsored fuck-fest while the rest of the company is getting fucked.
dilyevsky 4y ago
> So yeah, telling your top sales reps Melanie or Marco, who each personally generated millions of dollars for the company and exceeded their personal targets I get what you’re saying and agree in principle but no top engineer who may have contributed as much if not more is getting such perks in a company that undergoes layoffs. So maybe pick less flashy perk to reward sales top performers?
anigbrowl 4y ago
If you're getting paid great compensation, why do you need status perks as well? Sales people do perform an important business function and it can involve a lot of skill, from knowing the product inside out to knowing the customer and competitors. But salespeople sometimes close deals by making technical promises on which they won't have to deliver, and often communicate poorly with other people inside their own company.

salesbs 4y ago

> personally generated millions of dollars for the company Yeah. Like I believe that. They use their connections and moxie to justify that at the expense of everyone else creating legitimate value like all the employees that have to support the crap they sell yet never see a nickle of those commissions.

Apes 4y ago

I guess it logically makes sense to not begrudge the person who scratches off a winning lottery ticket while everyone else around them is getting laid off, but it definitely feels in poor taste to send someone on an expensive company sponsored fuck-fest while the rest of the company is getting fucked.

dilyevsky 4y ago

> So yeah, telling your top sales reps Melanie or Marco, who each personally generated millions of dollars for the company and exceeded their personal targets I get what you’re saying and agree in principle but no top engineer who may have contributed as much if not more is getting such perks in a company that undergoes layoffs. So maybe pick less flashy perk to reward sales top performers?

anigbrowl 4y ago

If you're getting paid great compensation, why do you need status perks as well? Sales people do perform an important business function and it can involve a lot of skill, from knowing the product inside out to knowing the customer and competitors. But salespeople sometimes close deals by making technical promises on which they won't have to deliver, and often communicate poorly with other people inside their own company.