Every comp plan starts with one structural decision: how much of a seller’s pay is guaranteed and how much is earned through performance. That split should follow directly from your sales motion, because a plan designed for the wrong motion pays for effort you do not need and ignores the effort you do.
Why the Sales Motion Comes First
A transactional motion — short cycles, high volume, limited rep influence over the outcome — usually supports a more aggressive variable component, because results show up quickly and reps can see the link between activity and payout. An enterprise motion, with nine-month cycles and heavy team selling, punishes reps unfairly if too much pay depends on timing they cannot control.
Reading Your Own Motion Honestly
Before choosing a split, describe your motion in plain terms: typical cycle length, average deal size, how much a single rep influences the close, and how predictable revenue timing is. Many founders assume they run a transactional motion because they want speed, while their actual deals behave like enterprise sales. The plan must match reality, not ambition.
Common Split Ranges as a Starting Point
Practitioners often start from a more balanced base-heavy split for long-cycle enterprise roles and a more variable-weighted split for short-cycle transactional roles, then adjust for role maturity and market norms. Treat any range as a hypothesis to test against your own data and retention picture.
Action Step
Write a one-paragraph description of your sales motion — cycle length, deal size, rep influence, revenue predictability — and note which direction it pushes your base and variable split. This paragraph becomes the first input to your comp-structure decision worksheet.
Educational content only. This course shares general practices and frameworks for professional development; it is not individualized business, legal, or financial advice. Results depend on your situation and judgment — adapt everything here to your own context.