Across C-suite roles like marketing, product, and tech, base salaries are clustered between $120k-$200k. The significant differentiator is performance bonuses. Heads of Sales see the largest impact, with an average bonus of $125k on top of a $157k salary, effectively doubling their total compensation.

At ElevenLabs, top-performing account executives refuse salary increases, preferring equity instead. A higher base salary would increase their 20x quota, making it harder to reach the lucrative 1.5x and 2x commission accelerators for overperformance. This is a powerful, non-obvious incentive alignment.

The most overcompensated roles, like sales and fundraising, are not necessarily filled by the most talented individuals, but by those willing to overcome the deep-seated discomfort of asking for money. This willingness is a rare and highly valued skill, creating a premium for those who possess it.

Salespeople's biggest frustration with comp plans is being held accountable for outcomes they can't directly influence. This perceived unfairness is a primary driver of attrition, making it critical to align incentives strictly with a seller's direct responsibilities and control.

Instead of treating high commission payouts as a pure expense, view them as a marketing asset. Actively ensuring it's known that top reps make a lot of money serves as the best possible recruiting tool, attracting other A-players to your company.

Sales compensation is the most powerful lever for changing a sales team's behavior quickly. More than training or directives, incentives tell reps what they are supposed to do and why, directly shaping their daily actions and strategic focus.

To steer reps toward higher-value but more difficult sales, create a significant risk-reward upside with much larger commissions. Crucially, do not disincentivize the easier, 'bread-and-butter' transactional deals that maintain consistent revenue flow, as this will demotivate the team.

The pervasive negative image of salespeople discourages many people from entering the profession. This creates a smaller talent pool, meaning those who do enter the field and excel at it face less competition for top roles and can earn significantly more money than their peers in other departments.

ElevenLabs sets an extreme 20x sales quota, far above the industry standard, to challenge and attract the very best salespeople. Generous commission accelerators are justified because each $1M in revenue adds an estimated $33M in enterprise value, making it a no-brainer to reward over-performance heavily.