Sales commission is the variable part of pay: money you earn on attainment, on top of your base. How it's structured depends entirely on the job. An account executive is paid on revenue — a percentage of the deals they close. An SDR is paid on activity the role controls — usually a flat fee per qualified meeting, because the SDR doesn't close revenue, it books the meetings that lead to it. This page explains the two structures and runs a worked example, so a quoted "10%" or "a $75 fee" is something you can actually calculate instead of guess at. The glossary definition covers the term; here's how it pays.
The two big structures — here is the asset
| Role | What commission is on | Typical shape |
|---|---|---|
| SDR / BDR | Activity it controls | Flat fee per qualified meeting booked (sometimes per opportunity accepted) |
| Account executive | Closed revenue | A percentage of the deals they sign (e.g. 10% of closed revenue) |
The rule: commission is tied to the output the role can actually drive. Don't expect an SDR to be paid a revenue percentage — it doesn't close deals — and don't expect an AE to be paid per meeting. Read the structure against the job and a confusing plan becomes obvious.
A worked example
Say you're an SDR with a $75 fee per qualified meeting that an AE accepts. Book 14 qualified meetings in a month:
- 14 meetings × $75 = $1,050 in commission, on top of your base.
Now say you're an AE on 10% of closed revenue. You close a $40,000 annual deal:
- $40,000 × 10% = $4,000 in commission on that one deal.
The two numbers aren't comparable — they reward different jobs. What matters is reading your own rate: the rate × what you can realistically produce = what the plan actually pays you, which is the real number to compare against your OTE and your quota.
What changes the payout
Commission almost never pays flat forever; four mechanisms shape it. An accelerator raises your rate above plan so overperformance pays more; a cap (or the absence of one) limits or frees that upside. A draw advances you money while you ramp, and a clawback can take commission back if a deal cancels inside the window. For an SDR the fine print is simpler, but you still need to know what counts as a qualified meeting (does it have to show up? does an AE have to accept it?) — that definition decides whether your $75 fee is real or theoretical. Read all of it before you sign, in the comp-plan deep dive.