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An Account Executive compensation plan that pays a flat bonus for every deal closed by the rep regardless of deal size.

Account Executive

Single Rate Bonus (Quantity)

For the most basic bonus format, apply the single rate bonus structure to all deals. Single rate bonuses reward a flat amount of money for every deal closed. Whether it’s a small contract, or the largest the company has ever seen, the bonus remains the same. Note: This plan is both easily explained and understood amongst reps. A single rate bonus sales compensation plan can also be quickly adjusted to drive certain selling behaviors by increasing or decreasing the bonus base rate. However, this comp plan doesn’t account for discounting. So, your reps will be more likely to offer discounts because their bonus isn’t impacted which affects your average sales price. We generally only recommend this plan if your company has a very consistent contract value.

$140K

On-Target Earnings

$175K

Quarterly Quota

$70K:$70K

Base:Variable

5x

Quota:OTE

Model your plan
Forecast Earnings

Split

50:50

Quarterly Quota Bonus

$1-$30 million

ARR

Quota:OTE

A Quota to OTE Ratio of 4 - 8 is best.

Quarterly

Paths

Path 1: Quarterly Quota Bonus

Path Description

Quota

7 Deals Closed quarterly

Type

Single Rate

Earnings Rule

$2,500 per deal

This plan only has one path: Single Rate Bonus (Quantity). The same, flat bonus amount is paid out on every deal regardless of size.

Plan Examples

Sample Account Executive
Account Executive

Monthly quota:

10 deals per month

Base rate bonus per deal:

$300/deal
Sample IT Sales Rep
IT Sales Rep

Monthly quota:

12 deals per month

Base rate bonus per deal:

$400/deal
Sample Insurance Rep
Insurance Rep

Quarterly quota:

30 new customers per quarter

Base rate bonus per customer:

$400/deal

How to customize this plan

As with most compensation plans, the two major components that will vary across sales teams are:

Quota

To set the quota for your sales team, you should first decide on the quota period or length. This determines when, and how frequently, the quota resets for your reps.

We found more companies follow quarterly quotas when compared to those with annual or monthly quotas.

Once you’ve chosen a quota length, use our Quota:OTE Ratio calculator to define your quota amount.

Bonus Rate

First you need to figure out how many deals you would like your reps to close during the quota period you chose. This can be done by either guessing (not ideal!) or by solving for how many deals your reps should close to hit a financial target.

Once you have that determined, you would find the applicable bonus for your quota period. If you have an annual quota, that’s easy – it’s the same as your annual variable. If you have a quarterly or monthly quota, you’ll divide the annual bonus by 4 or 12, respectively.

So say you have a target of 10 deals per quarter and an annual bonus of $80k. Dividing $80k by 4 gives you a quarterly bonus of $20k, which you would then divide by the 10 deals giving you a $2,000 bonus per deal closed.

Frequently Asked Questions

A quantity-based compensation plan is one of the easiest to understand for reps in sales compensation. You get a set bonus for every single deal you close, no matter how big or small the deal is, the bonus is the same. There are two major reasons why companies use this plan. First, because they have a consistent contract value with minimal variation in contract size. The second reason is that the company is trying to close as many logos as they can, regardless of how big the deals are. This is done occasionally as companies are first starting out and want to make a splash in the market.

In sales comp, a quantity-based single rate bonus plan means that reps earn the same bonus amount on every single sale. A bonus pay example might include earning $250 per booked deal.

The quantity-based bonus is tied to every deal closed, whereas the Revenue Based Single Rate Bonus depends on the rep’s quota attainment progress. So, under the first, a rep is paid $200 on every sold deal. Under the latter, the rep receives a set bonus amount for each point of quota attainment, for example a $50 bonus for each point of quota attainment.

A milestone bonus is earned when the rep meets designated stipulations and is paid a set amount, as a result. These bonuses do not vary if the rep is below or above these requirements. Meaning, anything less than the quota, and the rep earns nothing. Additionally, the rep is not eligible for additional bonuses within the same quota term after earning the first bonus. With a single rate bonus plan (quantity), however, the rep receives the same, predetermined flat rate on every deal sold within the quota period. No cap.

Sales bonuses differ from commissions in that bonuses are based on a set amount of money for completing a task. Meanwhile, commissions consist of a percentage of the total revenue from a deal. For example, If a rep gets 10% of every deal closed, that’s commission. If a rep earns $300 for every deal they close, that’s a bonus — a single rate bonus!

When it comes to sales compensation and commissions calculations best practices, the best thing you can do as a leader is clearly communicate the methodology behind your sales compensation model to your team. A close second would be to provide every stakeholder tied to commissions with a single source of truth that democratizes the often siloed commission process.

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Manage compensation & track commissions with QuotaPath

Deliver visibility, automation, and seamlessness across the entire compensation process.

Compensation Hub provides RevOps, Finance, and Sales teams with a free sales compensation plan modeling tool to design meaningful comp plans in a few steps. Built by QuotaPath, a sales compensation and commission software, Compensation Hub includes sales compensation plan examples (including AE and SDR comp plans), a library of commission structure templates, and variable compensation recommendations and use cases for each plan. Each commission plan or bonus structure features adjustable variables so that leaders can create plans aligned with their business goals and historical numbers. These variables include on-target earnings (OTE), annualized quota, average contract value (ACV), annual recurring revenue (ARR), quota frequency, and more. Once a plan is ready, leaders can easily share it within their organizations and save it to see it automated in QuotaPath's free commission tracking software. For additional comp management support, and to learn how QuotaPath is helping teams everywhere bring visibility and accuracy to sales comp, book time with their team for a custom demo.

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