Stay where you are, don’t take the promotion. Sounds like you’re kicking ass, now. Levereage exactly what your currently doing successfully (it sounds like your doing it successfully, anyway) to make more $.
sales is the engine that powers the company. A very good rep is gold to the company. Your earning potential will always be greater as a star sales rep than a mgr and your job very secure (as long as you deliver sales.) You can be the biggest ahole around, but if you’re reliably overachieving on your number, then you walk on water, as far as sr mgmt is concerned.
Middle managers are a dime-a-dozen. Position is *very* vulnerable and it can be frustrating – you are accountable for a sales number, but you don’t have direct, unfettered control over achieving it (your reps underneath you do.) Often the best sales reps are poor sales managers – requires different skillset.
On the otherhand, consider the position if you are a crappy to mediocre rep. If this is the case, then you’re current position isn’t safe and you probably should get out of a direct sales position.
You should have a base salary + commission, with the latter component being significant and not capped – with real earning potential for the star performers. If not, I agree with previous post, you’re not in a real sales position.
“Options” in your instance sounds like a manner of seducing you into the lower OTE. You won’t be given squat for options. You’ll get a token amount that sounds great, but read the option grant smallprint, do the math & you’ll see they’ll amount to little, even in the best of scenarios as they slowly vest over many yrs. Also, they’ll be valued at current estimate of company worth, not when company started. Just as it should be, the original founders & any subsequent investors will stand to make real money on any stock (options) not middle managers, yrs after company was founded. (Unless your company is the one-in-a-million w/ some new earthshattering platform, which is highly unlikely, despite what sr mgmt is undoubtably saying.) You have a better chance of getting meaningful options as a star sales rep, than as a middle mgr – go in to sr mgmt & win them, same way you win a new customer and bring in new business as a sales rep.
