As a VP of Sales, I helped scaled our team from 0 to 30+ SDRs, AEs, Managers, and more. Along the way, we learned a lot about what it took to push a rep to the next level.
What you'll see below is a directional sense of what you had to pay to win a world class candidate (both internally and externally), but also what they had to demonstrate to show their selling chops were worth that level.
Disclaimer 1: For confidentiality purposes, these are not the exact figures we paid, but very close approximations based on the data we used to determine "market" comp.
Disclaimer 2: These figures are from late 2022 so the data is slightly dated. But I've seen them remain relatively constant in conversations with leaders & founders hiring today.
Disclaimer 3: OTE means nothing if no one is hitting it. Find an org where the reps do.
SDR to Small-Medium Business (SMB) AE
Being a successful SDR doesn't mean you're ready to become an AE. It's table stakes that you can prospect in your sleep to be an SMB AE on my team.
Most SMB AEs do not fail in prospecting. They fail to go from a 3 minute "see if the talk track lands" conversations to 30 minute "see where the conversation goes" mindset.
Cold call talk tracks can be memorized. Discovery talk tracks should NOT be memorized.
If someone's interviewing for SMB, I expect prospecting to be on autopilot. And in disco:
- Never Miss Bookends: You NEVER forget to set an agenda or next steps.
- ONE Pain Funnel: Get to least 1 board-level business impact.
- Without The Cringe: It should start to feel like a conversation, not an interrogation.
That's enough for someone to be battle-ready in my eyes. You can fill a funnel and control a discovery call. We'll help you with the rest as you prepare to be a MM AE.
SMB AE to Mid-Market (MM) AE
The biggest gap I see between SMB to MM reps is sales process: because you can't sell $50k deals consistently without getting to power, driving timeline, running vendor reviews.
So here's what we'd expect for an SMB rep to make the jump to MM:
- You're an advisor, not an order taker: You know how to lay competitor landmines. You're able to educate prospects on problems they didn't know they had.
- Multithreading Chops: You sweat when you're not at power. Your forecasting is on the button. A 'commit' deal with a below-the-line buyer has a watertight close plan.
- "Bad Deal" Sense of Smell: You can't chase bad deals in MM. If the problems and the power feel lukewarm, you confront that directly and move forward or out.
And if you've got this down... you'll be working on those multithreading chops for the next year as you prepare for the big show...
MM AE to Enterprise (ENT) AE
The top of the individual contributor org chart. What's wild is: Even the most outstanding MM reps put up goose eggs in their first few quarters in enterprise.
That's not just because the deals can take 6-12 months to close. It's because in order to move consistent 6-figure and 7-figure deals, you need to know how to light a fire under an organization to get them to move massively.
Volume isn't gonna save you anymore in ENT. You can overcompensate for mediocre discovery and process skills in SMB in MM. But you might only get 3 at-bats in ENT.
World class ENT sellers can:
- Challenge executives on vision: Selling a 6-figure deal means selling change. You need to be able to understand their vision, but then TEACH THEM why their their organization's way of doing things isn't congruent with their goals.
- Never take no from someone who can't give you a yes: You get one no? Rip up the account laterally across departments and vertically to executives until you've beaten down every door. Remember, ENT might mean you have 10 accounts.
- Instinct for political capital: You can follow the wrong champion for 6 months only to realize that person could never get a deal done. Elite ENT sellers find the movers and shakers are in the organization and use them to push past the legacy blockers.
There are a million other things that happen as you progress in sales. But if you can master these, you'll be a cut above the pack. Get 10% better every day.
