Salespeople working as employees for B2B publishers typically receive 2/3 of their compensation from base salary and 1/3 from commissions.

Balances differ publisher to publisher. Commission rates can be impacted by what’s being sold, the salesperson’s quota, expectations set by other salespeople, the salesperson’s record, and other factors.

After a salesperson hits quota, commissions typically increase in tiers. If a salesperson has a quota of $500,000, the commission rate could be 20 percent up to quota, ramping up to 30 percent of sales afterwards.

Commission rates are much lower for salespeople who are renewing existing clients rather than finding new logos. Many publishers bifurcate these roles, with salespeople hunting for new business only.

The balance between base pay and commission shifts when publishers use contract salespeople, in part because doing so requires no payment of benefits or overhead.

Salespeople working on contract are frequently asked to sell on commission only. These arrangements are rarely successful for either the publisher or the salesperson.