Sales Compensation Simulator

by seanlinehanon 3/29/2025, 3:34 PMwith 23 comments

by ghiculescuon 4/1/2025, 7:25 AM

I can see why you’d need software to calculate comp, if your comp system is so complex!

As a case study in simplicity: our sales people get 1xMRR for each deal closed, or 2xMRR if the deal signs an annual contract. SDRs get a flat amount for each demo sat (doesn’t have to close, but does have to be accepted by the AE). The amount is equivalent to 0.75xMRR for a typical customer.

That’s really all you need in SaaS. This has scaled from less than 1M ARR through to… more than 100x bigger than when it started.

by gadderson 4/1/2025, 2:50 PM

Needs to also model when to increase targets when it looks like Sales are in danger of hitting them /sarcasm

by deepsunon 4/2/2025, 5:25 PM

The most important part of a commissions schedule to be able to change it.

I'd say typically companies have 6-month or 1-year cycles, and each cycle company rethinks the compensations (usually numbers through quotas, not procedures).

by tiffanyhon 4/1/2025, 5:00 PM

Small nitpick ...

I see "Commission Rate (%)" as an input (when normally I see it as "Sales Target" as the input - which derives your commission rate)

Typically I see, $X is your Target Commission and $Y is your Sales Target.

(and when you divide those two figures, it equates to your % Commission Rate)