The FY27 compensation plan for Sales & Success — named rates, splits, and payout timing. Enter the access phrase shared with you.
One plan, one set of rules, for every AE and every CSM. Commission every month. Quotas every quarter. Recognition every year. This page is the source of truth — if a number here disagrees with a spreadsheet, this page wins.
Model any deal live in the commission calculator. Questions on your own plan → trav@duress.com.
Three clocks run at once. Knowing which clock governs which dollar is the whole game — most confusion about comp is really confusion about timing.
Why accelerators pay quarterly, not annually. An accelerator only changes behaviour if you feel it soon after the work. We measure it against your quarterly quota and pay it the very next quarter — so a hot Q2 pays out in Q3, not next June. The annual clock is reserved for President's Club and retention, where a full-year view is the honest one.
You earn a percentage of the software ACV you close, lifted by a multi-year multiplier, then accelerated once you pass quota. Hardware pays a flat spiff on top.
Applied to your software commission only (hardware never gets a multiplier). It rewards the term you lock in — but you're still paid on annual ACV, so it's a bump on this year's commission, not a lump sum on all five years.
| Term | M2M | 1 year | 2 year | 3 year | 4 year | 5 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiplier | 1.0× | 1.1× | 1.2× | 1.3× | 1.4× | 1.5× |
Measured against your quarterly quota. The higher rate applies to the overage only, and a single deal that crosses a threshold is blended across it — you're never penalised for the deal that tips you over.
Two engines. You're paid individually for the expansion you drive, and rewarded as a team for the revenue you all keep. Growth is yours to hunt; retention is a team sport.
Every dollar of net-new ACV you add to an account — expansion, upsell, an M2M-to-annual uplift — pays you a flat 4%, individually. No expansion premium, no tiering: growth is growth. Hardware you drive pays a 4% spiff on top. This is your number, paid monthly like Sales.
The $50K split rule. Expansion under $50K ACV increment is 100% yours. Expansion of $50K+ is split 50/50 with the AE — both sides are paid above the threshold, so nobody games the handoff and nobody sits on a big expansion to dodge a split. Enter the increment only when you model it.
A churn is rarely one person's fault — it's product, support, and CS together. So retention isn't gated on your book alone: the whole CS team is measured on collective GRR and shares a retention pool. Renewals feed this team number, not an individual commission. Hit the team GRR bar and the pool funds; let it slip and the pool shrinks.
Funded at 0.3% of the CS team's safeguarded enterprise ARR — the large-account ARR still on the books at year-end — and shared across the team. Paid annually, because retention can only be judged honestly over a full year.
Every deal is one of these six shapes. The 12-month land window is the hinge: inside it, the AE keeps expansion rights; outside it, the book has moved to Success. Tap any row.
The AE owns and closes it. Full commission on total ACV — software at base rate (10%, or 15% self-sourced) × multi-year multiplier, hardware at 10% flat. Success is not involved yet.
For 12 months from the original close, the AE keeps expansion rights on that account. Full commission on total ACV. Success may surface the signal, but the AE closes and is paid. After 12 months the account moves to Success.
Split 50/50. CS earns a flat 4% (individual) on half the increment; the AE earns their rate on the other half. No cliff — both sides are paid above the threshold. Model the increment only (new ACV above the existing contract).
CS keeps 100% and earns a flat 4% (individual) on the increment. The AE earns nothing. Model the increment only.
No individual commission. A flat renewal is pure retention — it feeds the team GRR number and is rewarded through the shared team retention pool, not per deal. The AE earns nothing.
No conversion premium. CS earns a flat 4% (individual) on the uplift only — the annual value minus what the customer would have paid month-to-month. It's net-new committed ARR, so it counts as growth you drove. The AE earns nothing.
A monthly, pay-on-booking plan only works if a few guardrails hold. These are non-negotiable and apply to everyone.
You're paid when the deal books, not when cash lands. If the deal cancels, downgrades, or goes unpaid within its first 12 months, the commission on the lost portion is clawed back from future commission runs. The 12-month window matches the land window.
Any deal above $1M total contract value needs a signed pre-close split letter naming every party and their share. No letter, no split — sort it before the deal closes, not after.
Commission is calculated on annual software ACV lifted by the multi-year multiplier — you are never paid the full value of a 3- or 5-year contract in one month. This keeps payouts (and clawback exposure) honest.
Because both AE and CS are paid above the $50K split threshold, there's no incentive to sandbag an expansion, delay a handoff, or split a deal to dodge the line. Route deals to the right owner by customer state, not by who logged it.
Pick the product, licences, term, and scenario — see exactly what you and Success each earn, including the accelerator and the split. Same math as this page.
Open the commission calculator →