When building a competitive compensation plan, understanding how to structure on-target earnings (OTE) by role is critical. Whether you're managing a Sales Development Representative (SDR), a customer success team, or marketing professionals, aligning OTE schedules with role-specific goals is the key to driving performance.
In this article, we break down how to tailor OTE for key revenue-driving functions, ensuring alignment between expectations, motivation, and outcomes.
On-target earnings represent the total expected annual compensation for an employee if they meet predefined performance goals. Unlike flat salaries, OTE compensation motivates outcomes by combining base salary and OTE bonuses.
However, the ideal mix—and how it’s earned—varies by role:
A Sales Development Rep (SDR) typically thrives on activity-based incentives.
A Customer Success Manager (CSM) may need goals tied to renewal or upsell rates.
A Marketing Manager could be aligned to qualified pipeline contribution or campaign ROI.
That’s why structuring OTE based on function is both strategic and necessary.
For sales roles, including Account Executives (AEs) and Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), OTE sales structures must be intentionally designed to stimulate the core activities that drive revenue. This means constructing compensation packages that not only reward individual achievements in prospecting and pipeline generation but also directly incentivize moving leads through each stage of the sales funnel.
For SDRs, a well-calibrated OTE plan motivates high outreach volumes, efficient qualification of leads, and consistent scheduling of qualified meetings for the sales team. For AEs, the compensation structure should focus on closing deals, hitting or exceeding quotas, and contributing to predictable pipeline health.
Linking OTE to sales cycle milestones and outcome-oriented KPIs ensures that both SDRs and AEs remain focused on the proactive, high-value behaviors that power business growth. By aligning earnings opportunities with desired sales outcomes, organizations foster a culture of accountability, drive team motivation, and secure ongoing pipeline momentum.
SDR OTE often follows a 60/40 or 70/30 base/commission split.
AEs may operate on a 50/50 structure with clear quotas.
Commissions should be uncapped to incentivize overperformance.
Metrics to align OTE:
Number of qualified meetings (SDR)
Closed-won revenue (AE)
Quota attainment and pipeline contribution
| Role | Base Salary | Variable | Total OTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR | €50,000 | €25,000 | €75,000 |
| AE | €60,000 | €60,000 | €120,000 |
For post-sales teams, the focus shifts to retention, expansion, and customer satisfaction. Customer Success roles should have OTE schedule that reflect long-term engagement over immediate results. Instead of rewarding short-term wins or transactional milestones, these compensation plans prioritize sustained customer relationships and overall account health. This often means tying the variable portion of OTE to metrics such as net and gross revenue retention, expansion revenue, customer health scores, and NPS.
By structuring OTE this way, organizations ensure that CSMs and other post-sales professionals remain motivated to build trust, address client challenges proactively, and consistently deliver value throughout the customer lifecycle. This approach not only drives recurring revenue but also helps reduce churn and encourages upsell opportunities - key pillars for high-growth companies operating in competitive markets. Thoughtful CSM OTE design ultimately aligns compensation with the ongoing, high-touch engagement that differentiates exceptional customer success teams.
80/20 or 70/30 splits are common for CSMs.
Bonuses tied to renewal rate, churn reduction, or NPS.
Metrics to align OTE:
Gross/Net Revenue Retention
Expansion revenue
Customer health score
Tip: Incorporate quarterly bonuses to recognize long-term outcomes without delaying rewards.
Marketing professionals, especially in demand generation or growth roles, may benefit from performance bonuses tied to pipeline impact. Structuring OTE for these roles to include variable compensation based on measurable marketing-driven outcomes can sharpen focus on the activities that matter most to revenue growth.
For example, performance bonuses can be linked to qualified lead generation, sales pipeline contribution, campaign ROI, conversion rates from MQL to SQL, or even the volume of closed sales where the lead was initially generated by the marketing team. By rewarding marketers not just for campaign execution, but for direct influence on sales pipeline and business results, organizations foster a results-oriented culture.
This approach encourages marketers to collaborate closely with sales, optimize campaign targeting and messaging, and prioritize initiatives that deliver verifiable impact on pipeline velocity and revenue performance. Aligning marketing OTE with pipeline and revenue influence helps ensure that marketing investment consistently drives meaningful business outcomes and positions the marketing team as a strategic, accountable revenue driver within the company.
Heavier on base salary (90/10 or 85/15 OTE split).
Align to measurable business outcomes like MQL-to-SQL conversion rates or pipeline contribution.
Metrics to align OTE:
Campaign ROI
Sales-qualified leads generated
Marketing-influenced revenue
While OTE is less common in marketing, forward-thinking orgs are experimenting with hybrid comp plans to improve cross-functional accountability. Hybrid compensation structures combine a predominantly fixed base salary with a smaller, performance-driven variable component that is directly aligned to marketing's contribution to revenue and pipeline. These progressive orgs recognize that traditional flat salary models can silo marketing, while variable pay plans designed in isolation from sales often fail to move the needle on business growth.
By integrating compensation elements that reward marketing for outcomes such as sales-qualified leads generated, pipeline value, influenced closed-won deals, or collaborative targets with sales teams, companies foster tighter alignment and shared responsibility across go-to-market functions. This approach not only incentivizes marketing teams to focus on metrics that matter for business performance but also breaks down barriers, driving more strategic collaboration between marketing, sales, and customer success.
In practice, hybrid comp plans for marketing may include KPIs like campaign ROI, MQL-to-SQL conversion, jointly held sales pipeline targets, or even customer acquisition cost improvements - ensuring that marketing's impact on bottom-line results is visible, measurable, and rewarded. This growing trend reflects a broader shift toward outcome-based accountability and a unified approach to revenue generation within high-growth organizations.
Benchmark by industry and region: Ensure your base salary and OTE package remains competitive.
Align incentives to controllable KPIs: If the team can’t influence it, don’t base their pay on it.
Communicate clearly: Use an OTE schedule to show expected earnings and how they’re earned.
Review regularly: Adapt the plan quarterly or biannually to reflect company strategy and market conditions.
| Role | Typical Base Salary (%) | Typical Variable (%) | Common OTE Split Example | Performance Metrics Tied to Variable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales (AE) | 50% | 50% | €60K base / €60K variable = €120K OTE | Closed-won deals, quota attainment, revenue generated |
| Sales (SDR) | 65–70% | 30–35% | €50K base / €25K variable = $75K OTE | Qualified meetings, pipeline sourced, outreach volume |
| Customer Success | 70–80% | 20–30% | €70K base / €20K variable = €90K OTE | Renewal rate, net revenue retention, NPS, upsells |
| Marketing | 85–90% | 10–15% | €85K base / €10K variable = €95K OTE |
MQL-to-SQL rate, pipeline contribution, campaign ROI |
Note: These OTE splits and metrics are typical for B2B SaaS companies but should be adjusted based on company size, market, and growth stage.
Structuring OTE by role creates transparency and motivation across your go-to-market teams. Whether designing SDR OTE plans or refining marketing incentives, tailor the balance of base salary and OTE to match each role's impact and performance levers.
Want help optimizing your OTE strategy? Bentega's compensation experts can guide you through data-driven plan design, ensuring your teams stay aligned and engaged.
Bentega helps high-growth companies design transparent and performance-driven on-target earnings (OTE) plans. Whether you're working with SDRs, sales reps, or customer success teams, we help you create scalable compensation strategies that drive results. Explore more at www.bentega.io.