The Q2 Sales Salary Guide

Published: Wed, 03/26/25

Updated: Sun, 03/30/25

March 26, 2025

TOGETHER WITH

Welcome back to the final newsletter of March 2025. The next time we see you, we’ll be in Q2, and who knows what surprises and nightmares the second quarter of the year might hold. For now, take a break with this week’s issue, where we’ll look at tech sales salaries in 2025, share a Sales Fail about sharp knives, and give some advice to a rep being asked to sell to a new niche. Let’s go!

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

42% of sales professionals cite recurring sales as their most important revenue source, followed by up-sells and cross-sells (31%), and one-off sales (28%).

Source: Alore.io

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

A well-funded AI-powered sales automation startup has allegedly been claiming it has customers it doesn’t actually have. 11x, which offers an AI bot for outbound cold sales duties, raised tens of millions of dollars from top name investors. However, TechCrunch reports that the company has been exaggerating their revenue, claiming big-name customers it does not have, and doing other shady things while presenting itself a success. You can read more about it here.
A Texas YouTuber is making the news after multiple car dealerships complained about him posing as a customer before taking sales reps on wild test drives that left them fearing for their lives, and, in some cases, damaging the vehicles. The YouTuber, Ahmed Saeed, has been behind the wheel of high-performance vehicles from brands like Chevrolet, Dodge, Mercedes-AMG, Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. You can read more about it here.

FEATURE

The 2025 Q2 Sales Salary Guide

You’re probably busy closing deals to hit your Q1 goals (or maybe you hit them a month ago). But have you stayed up to date with the latest salary benchmarks for the sales industry?

We’ve got some good news. Our friends at RepVue, just dropped their latest salary data and it’s looking good overall. Sellers reported higher base salaries across all roles compared to a year ago. And the news gets better—on-target earnings have climbed for almost every position (except one role, but we'll get to that).
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If you weren’t planning to ask for a raise or look for a better-paying gig, you might change your mind after seeing what other sales professionals are earning:
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(Data current as of March 17, 2025)
‍
Sales Development Reps / Business Development Reps

Median Base Salary: 55K
Median OTE: 85K
Top Earners: 129K+
Quota Attainment: 53.7%
‍
SMB Account Executives‍

Median Base Salary: 70K
Median OTE: 130K
Top Earners: 262K+
Quota Attainment: 43.5%

Mid-Market AEs‍

Median Base Salary: 85K
Median OTE: 165K
Top Earners: 381K+
Quota Attainment: 41.3%
‍
Enterprise AEs‍

Median Base Salary: 130K
Median OTE: 260K
Top Earners: 610K+
Quota Attainment: 39.8%
‍
Account Manager

Median Base: 95K
Median OTE: 170K
Top Earners: 400K+
Quota Attainment: 49.7%
‍
Solutions Consultant / Sales Engineer

Median Base: 140K
Median OTE: 195K
Top Earners: 328K+
Quota Attainment: 61.4%

Customer Success Manager

Median Base: 95K
Median OTE: 130K
Top Earners: 211K+
Quota Attainment: 64.9%

Of course, a number of other factors will affect your ultimate earning potential, such as industry and location. For more details and the most up-to-date information, follow the links above or check out RepVue’s free salary calculator.

HOW TO ACTUALLY BRING AI INTO YOUR SALES WORKFLOW

Efficiency is everything. Agent.ai helps outbound sales teams combine social insights and CRM data so you can spot new opportunities and convert faster.

With AI-driven agents that integrate seamlessly with HubSpot, LinkedIn, and other data sources, you don’t need to reinvent your workflow—just find the few agents that work best for you.

Agent.ai makes it easy to:

Find the right prospects – Use AI to pull LinkedIn data, track engagement, and identify decision-makers.
Automate research – AI agents can monitor company news, competitor activity, and social signals so you’re always in the loop.
Save time on follow-ups – Research contacts and keep track of social updates so you can make the best approach when breaking the ice.

Working Together: Sales teams + AI Agents

LinkedIn Profile & Activity Trackers – Get notified when a prospect engages with content or changes roles.
HubSpot CRM Triggers – Use or build an agent that is triggered by actions in HubSpot or other Agent.ai partners.
Competitor Research & Sales Intel Agents – Stay informed about shifts in your prospects’ industries or social mentions of your competitors.
Email Subject Line & Message Generators – Get AI-driven suggestions based on past response rates.

Free access, free AI agents and the option to build your own (also free), Agent.ai makes sales automation flexible and practical. Explore Now!

Try for free

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

Which crime was John DeLorean, founder of automaker DeLorean, charged with in 1982?

A. Assault and battery
B. Grand theft auto
C. Insider trading
D. Drug trafficking

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

My coworker and I were sharing stories from the craziest sales calls we've ever been on. He was telling me about when he was just starting out selling knives door-to-door. He was in the kitchen of a young couple's house going through his typical demonstration. The couple was impressed and started giving him stuff they had laying around to cut. They gave him a mango, which is particularly slippery and tricky to cut around the seed. The guy ended up slicing his finger open and started bleeding all over their kitchen counter. The couple panicked and gave him a dish towel to try to stop the bleeding but it was pretty bad. He ended up leaving and drove himself to the emergency room with the dish towel wrapped around his hand. He had to get stitches. He started looking for new jobs the next day and retired from selling kitchen knives a month later.

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- March 2025

WORTH A PEEK

Do high paying sales jobs ruin lives? We don’t think so, but a (long) recent post on Reddit made this claim, with some strong reactions in the comments. You can read the OP’s rant, and subsequent responses here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team,

I sell software to the healthcare industry, but our marketing team has recently been focused on generating content and leads from completely unrelated sectors. The CMO claims they're "expanding our total addressable market," but I'm spending countless hours with prospects from retail and manufacturing that have a much lower close rate than the established healthcare vertical. Meanwhile, my healthcare pipeline is stagnating because the marketing team is spending too much marketing budget and time trying to generate leads for these new verticals. They're making it harder for me (and my coworkers) to close deals with customers who are the right fit — and more likely to buy. What can I do?

Annoyed in the Midwest

Dear Annoyed,

It sounds like your company is trying new ways to grow the business. There are likely lots of things going on at the management level that are leading the company to expand this way. You're a salesperson, so you should focus on selling and improving your pitch to the prospects in the new verticals. Whatever issues you're having with the prospects in the new sectors, document their objections and bring them back to the marketing/product team to help enable you to sell better. If you do so, not only will you be helping the company grow, but you'll be growing your skills as a salesperson.

Quiz Answer: D. John DeLorean, founder of automaker DeLorean, was charged with drug trafficking in 1982 (you can read the source article here)

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Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Erica Furgiuele, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

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