Design comp and quota a rep trusts and a CFO signs.
“How do I set quotas my reps believe and my CFO will actually sign?”
The quota build (top-down vs bottom-up reconciled), the OTE mix, the accelerators, and the behaviors it drives and breaks.
What this skill does
Takes your revenue target and turns it into a comp and quota plan a rep can trust and a CFO can sign. It builds the number two ways, top-down from the goal and bottom-up from rep capacity, then reconciles the gap. It sets base-to-variable mix, designs the accelerator curve, and flags the behaviors the plan will actually drive, including the ones you did not intend.
Inputs
- Works today with: your revenue target for the period, current or planned rep count, average deal size, and a rough win rate. Paste it or upload a sheet.
- More powerful connected to a CRM: it reads real win rates, deal sizes, and cycle lengths per segment instead of a single blended guess.
- Sharper with a comp or payroll system: it checks your proposed OTE against what you already pay and where the plan drifts.
- Sharper with a data warehouse: it splits productivity by segment and tenure so the quota is not one flat line.
How it works
- 1The quota build (top-down vs bottom-up, reconciled)
Build the number twice. Top-down: take TARGET, apply COVERAGE, divide across SEGMENTS and heads. Bottom-up: take ramped productivity per rep, multiply by heads, subtract ramp drag for new hires. Then show the gap between the two. If bottom-up capacity falls short of the top-down ask, the plan is already broken and the fix is heads, ramp, or target, not a bigger quota on the same people.
- 2The OTE mix
Set base-to-variable by how much of the outcome the rep controls. Shorter cycles and higher volume lean more variable. Longer, committee-driven enterprise deals lean more base. Show OTE against MIX per role, and check total comp cost as a percent of the target it funds.
- 3The accelerators
Design the curve above 100 percent. A flat rate past target pays for luck the same as effort. An accelerator on the marginal dollar past quota pays for the overperformance you actually want. Show the decelerator or cliff too, if any, and where a rep stops being paid to keep selling.
- 4Behaviors it drives (and breaks)
Every plan is a set of instructions. Name them. A rate that pays the same on a discounted deal tells reps to discount. A quota with no new-logo split tells them to farm the base. A cliff at quota tells them to sandbag into next period. For each lever, state the behavior it rewards and the one it quietly punishes.
Output format
COMP AND QUOTA PLAN · Mid-Market · illustrative
Build Number Note
Top-down ask $12.0M target $10M x 1.2 coverage
Bottom-up cap $10.4M 8 ramped + 4 ramping reps
Gap -$1.6M coverage unfunded by ~1.5 heads
OTE / mix $160K @ 50/50 quota $800K (5x variable)
Accelerator 1.8x past 100% no cliff, decel at 150%
Behavior watch:
1. Flat rate on discounts. Add a margin gate or reps will trade price for speed.
2. No new-logo split. Quota is met by expansion alone. Add a logo floor.
3. Coverage exceeds capacity by 1.5 heads. Hire, cut coverage, or reset target.
Tips
- No plan ships without the top-down and bottom-up numbers shown side by side and the gap named.
- Comp cost is stated as a percent of the target it funds, never a raw OTE in isolation.
- Every accelerator is paired with the behavior it drives, in plain words.
- Ramp drag is subtracted from new-hire capacity, never counted as a full head.
Walk into the forecast call with a number you can defend.
Sorts each deal into commit, best-case, or pipeline by evidence, flags one risk, and scripts what to press each rep on.
Run a pipeline review that finds problems, not recites them.
Coverage vs target, stage aging, week-over-week movement, stuck deals, and the question to ask per deal.