New sales hires often get offered a "draw" against commission, and most sign the offer letter without knowing there are two very different types. That gap in understanding can mean thousands of dollars either staying in a rep's pocket or getting clawed back months later.

A draw is essentially an advance on future commission, designed to give reps steady income while they ramp up pipeline and close their first deals. But whether that advance is recoverable or non-recoverable determines something much bigger: whether it ever has to be paid back.

This guide breaks down what each draw type means, how they're calculated, when companies typically use each one, and the mistakes that turn a helpful ramp tool into a trust problem between reps and the company that hired them.

Not every sales role drives revenue the same way, so it doesn't make sense to pay everyone on the same plan. Yet plenty of companies still try to copy-paste one commission structure across the whole sales org, and then wonder why half the team feels underpaid and the other half feels unmotivated.

Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) generate qualified pipeline. Account Executives (AEs) close it. Their responsibilities are different, their quotas are different, and their performance metrics are different, which means their compensation plans need to be different too.

In this guide, you'll learn the key differences between SDR and AE roles, how their compensation plans are typically structured, common pay mixes and incentive models, mistakes companies should avoid, and how compensation software makes managing both plans easier as a team grows.

Ask ten sales reps what OTE means and you'll get ten different answers. Some think it's their salary. Some think it's guaranteed. Some think it's a number recruiters made up to make a job posting look better than it is.

On-Target Earnings, or OTE, is one of the most misunderstood terms in sales compensation, and that confusion costs people real money and real trust. Candidates accept offers they don't fully understand. Reps hit quota and still feel confused about their paycheck. Finance teams build comp plans that nobody on the floor can explain in one sentence.

This guide breaks down exactly what OTE means, how to calculate it, and how it's different from base salary and total compensation. You'll walk away knowing how to read an offer letter, build a comp plan, or explain your own earnings potential without the guesswork.

Bizzy, a Ghent-based AI sales intelligence platform, was running commissions entirely on manual spreadsheets. After deploying Driven, they reclaimed ~4 hours per rep per month, cut commission disputes by ~90%, and got new reps to full comp clarity in a single day.

Aikido Security, a fast-growing cybersecurity platform out of Belgium, was drowning in manual commission work every quarter. After adopting Driven, their CRO went from 3 days of spreadsheet work to 3 hours of review — while giving every rep real-time earnings visibility across 6 global regions.

Revenue Operations has become the foundation of modern revenue teams in 2026. What once focused mainly on aligning sales and marketing now connects every revenue-related function, workflow, and process across the organisation. However, many companies still struggle with disconnected tools and fragmented systems. Businesses invest in CRMs, forecasting platforms, analytics software, customer success tools, and compensation management systems, but often end up with siloed data and inefficient workflows.

As a result, teams spend more time fixing operational issues than driving growth. A successful RevOps tech stack is not about having more software, it’s about ensuring every tool works together seamlessly. In this guide, we’ll explore how to build a connected RevOps stack that improves visibility, automation, and operational efficiency while reducing complexity. We’ll also look at how platforms like Driven help automate commission operations with AI-powered workflows.