1/30/2025-Comp: What should you MAKE?

The best track for managing your earnings facet of your career is to get a mentor. Find someone more tenured than you who can counsel you on reality and what your earnings path will look like.

Did your ’25 quota get a turbo-steroid boost ‘cuz you hit it outa the park last year?

It happens.

Is there a way to avoid that?

Not really.

What you should make is dictated by the market and your effective selling (of course). To that end, some years you’re a genius, but other years…ummm…not so much. (That’s okay. That happens, too. Keep moving forward.)

Further complicating everything, the market is fickle and frequently changes its opinion of you (and how much you should make).

Whether you’ve received your last ’24 commission or not, you can appraise what kind of earnings year you had.

Whether you feel you were under-compensated (or over-compensated…???), discussing your total compensation with your manager is wise this time of year.

You’ll learn more about the company’s comp strategy and have a meaningful convo with your manager about your earnings potential. And, you’ll get to chat about what really matters: your skills progression and overall development.

According to US News and World Report, sales representatives made a median salary of $63,230 in 2022. (It’s the most recent data available.) The best-paid 25% made $93,280 that year, while the lowest-paid 25% made $47,220.

Remember, your industry segment and the company you work for dictate comp ranges.

However, "relativity" is an essential concept for sellers like you as you navigate a career that tries to extract maximum earnings against pricing yourself out of the market. If you "work for the man" (as the saying goes), there is a cap on what you can make. Unfortunately, ego can get in the way when commission checks get larger; it’s natural to imagine a bottomless pit of commission monies there for you.

The best track for managing your earnings facet of your career: get a mentor. Find someone more tenured than you who can counsel you on reality and what your earnings path will look like.

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher are silly-giddy when they hit it big on a slot machine in this short scene from What Happens in Vegas

It’d be nice to win a jackpot, eh?

However, you work hard for your earnings, so you must manage your career wisely to continue doing so. Remember, sales compensation doesn’t always go up and to the right.

Slow and steady always wins.