I think most folks (including Twilio, etc) have realized you pretty much have to pay salespeople the way they are used to be being paid: on the annualized value of deals.
Most traditional B2B companies pay reps on the “ACV” of the first year of the deal, and a lesser commission on any multiple year deals — but no commissions on renewals.
Most B2D/API companies also pay reps on the first-year revenue from deals, even almost 100% utility-based deals, for the next 12 months after closing.
Is that “fair” if the rep does nothing after the deal closes? If say a $5k deal the rep closes grows to $100k over 12 months, without the rep doing any work at all?
It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the rep can “close” 4x-5x or more of her total comp.
As long as that math works, it’s OK if someone of the work is done by the app itself, or others, or whatever.
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