[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":103},["ShallowReactive",2],{"lesson-/academy/account-executive/account-executive-compensation":3},{"path":4,"data":5,"html":52,"toc":53,"prev":66,"next":72,"track":76},"/academy/account-executive/account-executive-compensation",{"title":6,"description":7,"primaryQuery":8,"secondaryQueries":9,"module":14,"order":15,"tier":16,"intent":17,"asset":18,"publishedAt":21,"author":22,"reviewedAt":23,"relatedTool":24,"challenge":25,"exercise":49},"Account Executive Compensation: How the Money Changes at Promotion","An account executive's compensation is base plus commission on closed revenue, expressed as an on-target earnings (OTE) figure tied to a revenue quota. At promotion the real change is the risk transfer: more of your pay is variable, earned by hitting quota, and a slow quarter pays less. It is not the SDR salary with a bigger base — it is a larger OTE that you only actually collect in full by closing.","account executive compensation",[10,11,12,13],"how are account executives paid","account executive commission structure","account executive ote and quota","how pay changes from sdr to ae",1,4,"B","informational",{"type":19,"title":20},"delta table","SDR → AE compensation: what changes at promotion","2026-09-10","closers","2026-09-24",null,{"type":26,"id":27,"brief":28,"buckets":29,"items":32},"sort","ae-m1-l4-comp-reality","Which of these describe how AE compensation really works?",[30,31],"True of AE comp","Not how AE comp works",[33,36,38,41,44,46],{"key":34,"text":35},0,"The quota, commission rate and territory decide how real the headline number is",{"key":14,"text":37},"A slow quarter genuinely pays less even if you did your job well",{"key":39,"text":40},2,"Commission is paid on the deals you close, not on the meetings you book",{"key":42,"text":43},3,"Your OTE is a target you earn by hitting your revenue quota, not a guaranteed paycheck",{"key":15,"text":45},"Promotion means your same guaranteed base with a bigger bonus on top",{"key":47,"text":48},5,"The salary in the ad is paid every month regardless of results",{"prompt":50,"successCriteria":51},"Classify each statement as true of AE comp or a myth, then write one sentence explaining the risk transfer you'd be accepting at promotion.","You can explain that the AE 'raise' is partly variable, earned by hitting a revenue quota — not a guaranteed step up.","\u003Cp>An \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/account-executive/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">account executive\u003C/a>'s \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/commission/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">compensation\u003C/a> is base plus commission on closed revenue, packaged as an on-target earnings (\u003Ca href=\"/glossary/ote/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OTE\u003C/a>) figure tied to a revenue \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/quota/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">quota\u003C/a>. At \u003Ca href=\"/academy/sdr/sdr-vs-ae/\">promotion from SDR\u003C/a>, the change people get wrong isn't the size of the number — it's the structure. More of your pay becomes variable, earned by hitting quota, and a slow quarter genuinely pays less. Go in with that clear and a slow first quarter won't feel like a broken promise.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"the-structure-base-ote-quota-commission\">The structure: base, OTE, quota, commission\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>An AE plan has four parts you should be able to name before you accept one:\u003C/p>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Base\u003C/strong> — the guaranteed part, paid every month regardless of results.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>OTE (on-target earnings)\u003C/strong> — base plus the commission you'd earn at 100% of quota. It is a \u003Cem>target\u003C/em>, not a guarantee.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Quota\u003C/strong> — the revenue number that triggers your full commission. Everything is measured against it.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Commission\u003C/strong> — the rate or accelerator on the deals you close, paid as revenue lands.\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\u003Cp>The same OTE can be a great plan or a trap depending on how the \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/quota/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">quota\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/commission/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">commission\u003C/a> are set. The mechanics of reading any sales plan are the ones the \u003Ca href=\"/academy/sdr/how-to-read-a-sales-comp-plan/\">SDR comp lesson\u003C/a> walks through — the AE version just has a bigger quota and more at stake.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"the-change-that-surprises-people-the-risk-transfer\">The change that surprises people: the risk transfer\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>The SDR seat is mostly guaranteed base with a smaller variable piece. The AE seat is the opposite in spirit: a larger OTE where a meaningful share is earned only by closing. That is the trade nobody puts on the offer letter — \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/commission/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more upside\u003C/a>, more of it tied to your \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/quota/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">quota\u003C/a> attainment, and real downside in a bad quarter. It is not "the same job with a raise." It is a different risk profile.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"how-to-judge-an-ae-plan-not-just-its-headline\">How to judge an AE plan, not just its headline\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Ignore the biggest number in the job ad and read the plan against three things:\u003C/p>\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Is the quota reachable?\u003C/strong> A plan you can only hit in a perfect year is a lower real income than a smaller, honest one.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Is the base enough to live on?\u003C/strong> The base is your floor in the slow quarter — it decides how much variability you can actually tolerate.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>What's the territory and history?\u003C/strong> Reps hitting or missing quota on this patch tells you more than the OTE does. Ask what the median rep actually earns.\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"what-comp-is-not\">What comp is not\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>A bigger OTE is not a guaranteed raise. A generous headline is not a real plan if the \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/quota/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">quota\u003C/a> is fantasy. And promotion does not remove risk — it shifts it onto your revenue. If the structure — base plus commission on the deals you close, inside an OTE you earn — sounds like the trade you want, the next step is learning how to actually \u003Ca href=\"/academy/account-executive/become-an-account-executive/\">make the ask for the promotion\u003C/a> and negotiate it.\u003C/p>\n",[54,57,60,63],{"id":55,"text":56},"the-structure-base-ote-quota-commission","The structure: base, OTE, quota, commission",{"id":58,"text":59},"the-change-that-surprises-people-the-risk-transfer","The change that surprises people: the risk transfer",{"id":61,"text":62},"how-to-judge-an-ae-plan-not-just-its-headline","How to judge an AE plan, not just its headline",{"id":64,"text":65},"what-comp-is-not","What comp is not",{"path":67,"title":68,"description":69,"module":14,"order":42,"kind":70,"practiceCall":24,"core":71},"/academy/account-executive/what-does-an-account-executive-do","What Does an Account Executive Do? The Job, Day to Day","An account executive (AE) owns the full B2B deal from the moment a lead is qualified: discovery, demo, proposal, negotiation, and the close. Day to day that means running buyer conversations, presenting the product, drafting proposals, handling objections and procurement, and keeping an honest forecast — all while carrying a revenue quota. It is the seat you promote to from SDR, and the job is ownership of revenue, not meetings.","order",true,{"path":73,"title":74,"description":75,"module":14,"order":47,"kind":70,"practiceCall":24,"core":71},"/academy/account-executive/first-90-days-as-an-account-executive","First 90 Days as an Account Executive: Ramp to Quota","Your first 90 days as an AE are about surviving the ramp and building the habits that hit quota: learn the product, process and territory fast, run full discovery on every deal, go for early winnable deals, and keep an honest forecast. By day 90 you want a repeatable cycle — a clean pipeline you feed yourself, a credible forecast, and your first closes banked.",{"slug":77,"title":78,"shortTitle":79,"crumb":79,"path":80,"positioning":81,"totalLessons":82,"modules":83},"account-executive","Certified Account Executive (CAE)","Account Executive Certification","/academy/account-executive","The free certification for the promotion from SDR — learning to run the full deal, from discovery and demo to negotiation and the close. The AE is the closer.",27,[84,87,90,93,96,99],{"id":14,"name":85,"lessonCount":15,"description":86},"The Promotion: SDR to AE","What changes when you move from booking meetings to owning a book and a revenue quota — and why the AE is the closer — 4 core lessons.",{"id":39,"name":88,"lessonCount":15,"description":89},"Discovery at AE Depth","Full discovery and multi-stakeholder qualification — the pain, the money, the people and the path to yes — 4 lessons.",{"id":42,"name":91,"lessonCount":15,"description":92},"Demo, Value and the Proposal","Turn discovery into a demo and proposal the buyer can defend internally — 4 lessons.",{"id":15,"name":94,"lessonCount":47,"description":95},"Negotiation and the Close","Price, concessions and the final objections — then the ask. The AE is the closer — 5 lessons.",{"id":47,"name":97,"lessonCount":15,"description":98},"Pipeline, Forecast and Quota","Run a real book: honest pipeline, forecasting, and hitting a revenue quota — 4 lessons.",{"id":100,"name":101,"lessonCount":100,"description":102},6,"Getting Hired as an AE","Land the AE job — resume, interview answers, comp plan, and the certification assessment — 6 lessons.",1792888517053]