Maximising Earning Potential in Sales

How to maximise your income in a sales career

Aug 28, 2021

Welcome back!

I had a great request from on of our readers who asked for a breakdown of earning potential over a career for both average and top reps. This was inspired by @BowTiedBull and the savings breakdown in his Substack post “Probability Based Decisions - Make A Choice” - Subscribe to Bull if you don’t already. That should be a mandatory thing, I’m not joking!

If you have any requests or questions, leave a comment.

Let’s start with the simple breakdown of career income if you’re staying at a single company.

First of all, We are defining “Top” for companies as paying sales teams in the 95th percentile.

From these numbers we can derive a few tips on how to maximise your earnings in your career, as well I have done a bit more research on the topic that I will add in along with my own personal advice.

The Breakdown

*$ in ,000's and USD
*Does not take into account Tax
*Cumulative earnings = Total Career Earnings

Let’s talk about what we can see here. The table shows a general representation of what a rep can be expected to make at an average paying company vs. a top paying company. These numbers are general indicators, there are companies that pay less and pay more, but this is reasonably accurate.

Second it is looking at an average rep, hitting target maybe 80% of the time vs. a top rep hitting 100% (And they will likely exceed target, but this has not been reflected).

The most interesting thing I’ve noticed from this is that an average performer (defined as consistently only getting 80% of target) in a top paying company is going to earn more than a top performer (Constant 100% to target) at an average paying company.

The next is something that should be obvious, getting to an enterprise closing role as fast as possible is going to have you earning a lot more. There is a big jump in pay for enterprise sales roles vs. SMB, and Mid-Market.

Any time spent looking at these numbers should be enough to get you considering some strategic plays in your own careers.

What do we do with this info?

So now that we have two main insights that are going to be our focus on how to maximise income. We can start figuring out how to game the system.

First:

Average performers at top companies earn more than top performers at average companies, is a very useful thing to know.

To me, the first thing it shows that if your goal is to maximise your income, grinding it out and being the best rep at a low paying company is a waste of your time and effort unless you’re using that experience to jump to a better one. You should start looking at sales comp at different companies and figuring out how yours stacks up, and if you aren’t in that top range find a way to jump ship to something better.

It also shows that once you get to a top paying company, and figure out how to sell your product, you can start to take your foot off of the gas. This isn’t for everyone, but my advice is actually to stay as an average rep. Hit target often, but don’t stand out as #1. You’ll be further away from burn out at all times, and you can spend more time building another source of income on the side. You can be a top rep, and if you’re good enough you can be that top rep with ease, but even then, that means dial back your time grinding for someone else, and you have even more time to build your own business. (I suggest starting your own SaaS business, if you’re interested, one way into that is to start here:

White Label SaaS Company

One caveat here: I do NOT mean slack off, I do not mean miss target, and, I do not mean you want to be middle of the bunch. I simply mean you don’t need to be #1. Keep yourself solidly in the top 15-20% of the reps, look for ways to do better with less time spent, then when you need to grind you’ll be able to hit your target a lot easier.

If you fall out of the top 15-20% you’ll find it harder to get promotions, and you’ll likely have a worse time dealing with your manager.

You’re going to do exactly what every employer does to you and show NO loyalty to your employer.

Your manager, VP, HR, CEO, whoever is going to talk about being a family, talk about loyalty, talk about culture etc. All of that is a lie, the moment you stop being profitable to the business, you’re out. There will be no questions asked.

That is how you need to look at your company, the moment they stop being the most profitable option for you, you need to GTFO. It really is that simple.

That means if you’re an SDR who is in a low paying role, you need to grind that out for 6 months then jump ship. If you’re lucky you might find a SMB AE role from there, if you can’t, then find a high paying SDR role now that you have experience. If you’re an AE and you’re getting fucked over, forget the previous advice about not being #1, you’re going to grind until you’re #1 for a few quarters in a row, then jump ship for a high paying role. This should be easy with a track record of exceeding your targets.

Second:

Getting to an Enterprise AE role as fast as possible. Now we can see if you follow just a general career path you’re looking at 5-6 years to get there. That is a long time, any many people take a lot longer but we’re not trying to be average, we’re trying to be better than that. You’re not going to simply find a job, be a career man and dutifully grind until your company promotes you.

There are a few ways to do this depending on where you are in your career.

For someone not yet in sales: Whichever role you’re going into SDR (From no career experience, or no transferrable experience - most people) - Make sure the company you join has multiple AE’s who have been promoted from SDR internally in 12 months or less. This is the only indicator that matters. Recruiters and hiring managers will lie and say there is a path to promotion always. It means nothing, they are selling you the position.

If you are an SDR: Try and get promoted to an AE as fast as possible, this can be done in 6 months if you absolutely demolish your targets, so focus on the grind, you’re too early in your career to follow the average performer at top company advice. The most important thing for you is a promotion. If your company isn’t going to promote you in 6-12 months even though you’ve been #1 for that entire time, you’re likely going to need to leave. Start interviewing (Do not tell your company) and find an AE role somewhere else. There are companies out there willing to roll the dice on a high performing SDR who wants a crack at being an AE. If you’re 12 months in I would be wary of taking another SDR role, as you’ll likely reset the counter. 6 months to a better paying SDR role is okay, if you can see on linkedin other SDRs have gotten that promotion internally.

Another note on SDRs: Some companies if you are lucky will hire Enterprise SDRs, and you can find a promotion from SDR to Enterprise AE. This is rare, and time in the SDR position often takes longer but it is possible and a good route. Often they are top paying companies and you can take 1-2 years off of the entire process, but it is a risk, you need to be certain (Based on evidence not on words) that they will promote SDRs internally to that role, and you will risk staying an SDR for longer than you would in another company.

If you’re a Non-Enterprise AE: If you’re on the cusp of a promotion to Ent. AE anyway, just grind it out. This is for people who are in a closing role and don’t see a clear path to Enterprise AE. You need to create your own path. It’s the same advice really, be in the top 10%, always hit your target, and start focusing on the sales process, if you can, run enterprise deals anyway. If you aren’t allowed and they get given to another team, aim for the most complex deals you can. Dealing with public companies that have complex procurement processes, or government procurement is going to help. Your goal is to hit target while learning enough about complex sales cycles, so that when you start interviewing you have a stellar track record and can speak with confidence about how you will handle the role.

But when it comes down to it, put in 6-12 months, then start interviewing, keep going until you have a job offer at the right company doing larger deals. Repeat until you’re where you need to be.

Other Things to Consider

Getting to an Ent. AE role isn’t the only thing you can do, you’ll likely change companies 3+ times during this, every single time you have the opportunity to increase your pay. You’ll be applying for better roles that should inherently come with a higher income package. You need to negotiate salary every single time. Don’t just accept the first offer or 90% of the time you’ll be leaving money on the table.

Even when you get to a role that you feel is highly paying, and the top of the game, be interviewing elsewhere. Changing companies every few years (1-2) will allow you to negotiate higher pay again and again.

This is all GENERAL advice. No two careers will look the same, and some of this advice won’t really relate to you.

FINAL SUMMARY

So here is what you’re going to do.

Take the best role you can when you start
Constantly stay in the top 15% of performers
Leave low paying companies, it’s not worth your time.
Always be interviewing for a better role (Always means always. My LinkedIn is set to open for recruiters and if they reach out with something interesting I take the call)
Build a second income stream while you work. Sales is high paying, but it is limited to the time you’re awake and selling, your business will be working while you sleep. Sales is good in the way that you can work your own hours, giving you time to build that business.
You will not be loyal to an employer, because they will never be loyal to you. (I don’t care what they have told you, or how much of a buddy your boss is.)
You will not take a job where you cannot see other reps on LinkedIn having gotten internal promotions within a reasonable time line.
Get to Enterprise AE as fast as possible.
Every time you switch companies, get a promotion, or even if you’ve been top rep for a while and want management to recognise it: NEGOTIATE YOUR SALARY. I’ve negotiated in all of these successfully, and if you’re not, are you really serious about maximising your income?

Recommended Tools:

Apollo.io - We are happy to say we’re partnered with Apollo! This is a tool we personally pay for a subscription to and use in every sales role. Search, engage and convert over 250 million contacts at over 60 million companies with Apollo’s sales intelligence and engagement platform.

Hypefury - Manage your Twitter like a professional! Start your personal brand and earn online.

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