April 26, 2025 | Read online
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I’ve been on a few webinars and panels recently talking about Sales and Marketing alignment, or lack thereof.
This is a topic that has been discussed and debated well before I got into this industry and will continue to be for years to come.
There are so many layers to this but I’ve always said the main way to address the misalignment is to remove “attribution.”
However, the main issue with removing attribution is commission.
With the evolution of the market, and the Predictable Revenue model falling apart in front of our eyes, I think we need to restructure the SDR/BDR role and potentially make it a salaried position with the potential for bonuses but not commission.
I wrote a more detailed justification for this and posted it on Linkedin this week.
I knew it was going to cause a stir and was ready to engage with some of the comments.
Unfortunately, less than 10 minutes after I posted it, I somehow got locked out of my Linkedin account and couldn't get back in for 2 days.
When I was able to regain access to my account I saw the post got over 140,000 impressions and 180 comments which is definitely on the high side for me when it comes to engagement.
I didn’t have time to respond to each comment but I wanted to get a better understanding of what the overall sentiment was.
Previously, I created my own Custom GPT to help me come up with ideas for content (which I recommend you all do. Here is how to do it).
I copy/pasted my Linkedin post with all the comments into my CustomGPT and asked it to analyze the comments, summarize them and pull out key takeaways.
From there, I thought it would be interesting to write a follow-up post about what I learned, but I didn’t know what angle to take with it, so in the same Custom GPT, I asked it to write a blog post for me as a follow-up to the previous post.
What it came back with was pretty f-ing awesome in my opinion.
It was so good that I debated on whether or not to use it as this week’s newsletter copy. It would have been way easier and saved me a ton of time compared to thinking and writing this out like I am now.
But, I’ve committed to never using AI without letting people know I’m using AI, which I think is a key distinction people need to make.
If I know something is AI-generated, then I’m typically interested in engaging with it to see where it can go. However, if someone uses AI to pretend like it’s coming from a human and I get a sense that it’s not, I immediately discredit whoever and whatever it is.
However, AI is getting better every day and it’s going to be harder and harder to determine what is AI generated and what isn’t.
You can be the judge on this one. Below is the post that my Customized GPT created for me based on the insights from the Linkedin post.
If I didn’t tell you this was AI generated would you know? Let me know what you think.
SPOTLIGHT: Otter AI
It's finally ready!! You may remember that a few weeks ago, 15 sales creators and I went to The Empire State Building to discuss the state of sales together and then go to the Glengarry Glen Ross play.
There was A LOT of content to go through but we finally got the recordings done.
Huge shoutout to Otter.ai for not only being a sponsor that day but giving us the tech to record and ask questions about the recordings.
You'll need to have an Otter account in order to ask it questions but the transcriptions are available to everyone.
Sign up for Otter here (so you can ask specific questions like "What were the biggest takeaways from the training?")
Listen to the Recordings here.
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SDR Compensation Is Broken. But Not for the Reason You Think.
A few weeks ago, I posted a take on LinkedIn that triggered a firestorm:
“SDRs/BDRs should be salaried positions and NOT commission based.”
173 comments. 130,000+ impressions. Dozens of reposts and DMs. I knew it would stir up strong opinions—but what I didn’t expect was how many people agreed, how many pushed back with force, and how many just weren’t sure what the hell to believe anymore.
And honestly, that’s the real story here. The debate isn’t about salary vs. commission. It’s about what we actually value in the modern revenue engine.
Let’s be real—SDRs are stuck in the middle of a misaligned system. They’re paid to book meetings. AEs are paid to close deals. Marketing’s measured on MQLs. The result? Everyone’s chasing different goals, nobody’s rowing in the same direction, and leadership ends up blaming “poor handoffs” for broken pipeline.
But this isn’t a comp structure problem. It’s a strategic one.
The issue at the heart of all this is misalignment. When you compensate for activity instead of outcomes, you create a machine that rewards noise instead of signal. SDRs are pushed to book any meeting they can, whether it’s qualified or not, just to stay out of the red zone. AEs spend half their time canceling those meetings. Marketing sits on the sidelines watching their “hot leads” fall flat.
We keep treating SDRs like junior salespeople, when many of them aren’t even trying to get into sales. Some want to be in RevOps. Others in Customer Success, Product Marketing, or even Data. And yet we structure their pay like they’re quota-carrying closers, then wonder why burnout, turnover, and mistrust between teams is at an all-time high.
The comment section on my post told the story better than I could. Some people called for change. They were tired of seeing talent pushed out of the industry because they didn’t “hit numbers” that were never tied to real outcomes in the first place. Others stood by the old playbook—arguing that if you remove commission, you remove drive, urgency, and accountability. And then there was a third group—the most interesting one. The ones who said, “Let’s rethink this from the ground up.”
That group started talking about things like impact-based bonuses. Not just rewarding booked meetings, but paying based on qualified opportunities and closed deals. They brought up rotation programs where SDRs can explore different parts of GTM before locking into a career path. And they emphasized team-based comp—where the SDR, AE, and CS functions win together, not at each other’s expense.
That’s where the future is headed.
Because the truth is, AI is already better at doing what most SDR comp plans reward—high volume, low-context activity. What AI can’t do is build trust, understand nuance, or spot early-stage problems that aren't yet defined. If you want to build a revenue team that thrives in a world of smarter buyers and more noise, you don’t just need more hustle. You need alignment. You need quality. You need SDRs who are trained and empowered to think like GTM operators, not just meeting setters.
This is bigger than compensation. It’s about reimagining the role itself.
So here’s where I land after hearing from 173 people in the arena: Stop asking if SDRs should be salaried or commissioned. Start asking if your comp plan actually reflects what you want people to do. Start asking if the metrics you track every week build pipeline—or just make dashboards look busy.
You want performance? Align your incentives to it.
You want trust between teams? Comp them on shared outcomes.
You want SDRs to grow into future leaders? Treat them like more than dial machines.
Otherwise, AI will replace the parts of the role that don’t matter—and the talent you actually want will find somewhere else to go.
Let’s evolve this thing before it breaks completely.
The conversation’s just getting started.
ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN LEVEL UP YOUR SALES GAME
- The JB Sales Membership is where you’ll get access to my live training, workshops, AMAs and OnDemand catalog so you can level up your sales skills every day! 3000+ Sales pros have already joined. Are you next?
- The industry-leading Make it Happen Monday Podcast where you’ll get insights and inspiration from some of the most interesting and influential people in the world of Sales and business. (this is where you’ll hear the Guy Kawasaki episode on May XYZ)
- The JB Sales YouTube channel with practical tips that you can apply immediately to drive results along with interviews and content that is guaranteed to get you to think differently.
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