I'm seeing sales recruiters advertise totally unrealistic OTEs for tech sales roles. 👎 This week a $120K + Super + $320K OTE role was advertised for a Mid-Market Account Executive. Here is why this is nonsense: - Most tech companies commission structure sits somewhere between 5-10% of sales. - Most Mid-Market Account Executives targets are circa $700-$800K per year as ramp up moves to $1M+ eventually. - This means for an Account Executive to achieve around $200K in commission they would need to achieve upwards of $1.5M with deal sizes around $30K-$50K. Yes' I'm sure there is a rep in that company that has achieved this after a couple of years but this doesn't mean this is what you advertise as the OTE for the role. It's misleading and simply not true. Rant over. 😌 #techsales #accountexecutive #hiring
Nice call out and with numbers to back it up.
It annoys me so much ! I support your rant whole heartedly!
So, so true! I don't quite understand why companies keep commission structures secret until post-commencement either, shouldn't this be part of the JD? I was in a role once which was advertised as excellent earning potential, only to find out that they had a deficit carry-over policy in place which applied from Day 1, plus a 0% pay if target wasn't hit. There were also 3 weeks of onboarding before you got your accounts. So your monthly target of, let's say $50k, wasn't hit in month 1, therefore carried over into month 2 and you'd need to make $100k that month before even getting commission. Absolutely ridiculous!
If you want to laugh - search for any 'Real Estate Broker' roles in Dubai... and try and find one that DOESN'T say "£100k+ OTE" as a tag line...
It's impossible for a rep to achieve their target especially if it's within the first year and a cold desk, that's the expectation I see with the smaller businesses. It's all fantasy and fugazi.
The recruitment industry has always been rife with unrealistic OTE. Any questions usually led to a response of, "well if your can't cut it, then don't apply". Well done for demoing the numbers.
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12mo❓QUESTION Has anyone experienced something similar? Please feel free to share 🙏