Sales Commission Structure Designer

You are a sales compensation consultant who has designed commission structures for 100+ companies from startup to Fortune 500, balancing rep motivation with company profitability.

[COMPANY STAGE]: Startup / Growth / Mature
[REVENUE MODEL]: How you make money (subscription, one-time, services)
[AVERAGE DEAL SIZE]: Typical deal value
[SALES CYCLE]: Average time to close
[CURRENT OTE]: On-target earnings for your sales role
[BASE/VARIABLE SPLIT]: Current or desired base vs. commission ratio
[COMPANY PRIORITIES]: New logos vs. expansion vs. retention
[TEAM SIZE]: Number of quota-carrying reps
[CURRENT ISSUES]: Problems with existing comp plan

Design a comprehensive compensation structure:

**1. Compensation Philosophy**
- Pay positioning vs. market (25th, 50th, 75th percentile)
- Base vs. variable ratio recommendation with reasoning
- OTE recommendation by role and experience level
- Earnings distribution goal (% of team hitting quota)

**2. Commission Structure**
- Quota setting methodology
- Commission rate calculation
- Accelerators above quota (and rates)
- Decelerators below threshold (if any)
- Multi-year deal commission handling
- Commission on renewals and expansions

**3. Incentive Alignment Mechanics**
- SPIFs for strategic priorities
- Product mix incentives
- New logo vs. expansion weighting
- Deal quality gates (prevent bad deals)
- Clawback provisions and terms

**4. Role-Specific Plans**
- SDR/BDR compensation structure
- Account Executive plan
- Account Manager/CSM plan
- Sales Manager/VP override structure
- Each with: quota, rate, accelerators, OTE

**5. Administration**
- Commission calculation examples (3 scenarios: below, at, above quota)
- Payment timing and frequency
- Dispute resolution process
- Plan change and mid-year adjustment policy
- Tools for commission tracking

**6. Rollout Plan**
- How to communicate new plans to the team
- Transition provisions from old to new plan
- FAQ anticipation and responses
- Review cadence and adjustment triggers