A good SDR compensation plan is 60/40 to 70/30 base to variable, pays the variable on held qualified meetings rather than raw activity, and adds a small kicker on the opportunities those meetings create. That structure aligns the SDR with the outcome that becomes pipeline, instead of with dials and emails that do not. This post covers the split, what to pay on, worked examples in rupees and dollars, and the three plans that reliably go wrong. It is for founders and sales leaders designing or fixing an SDR plan.
It sits alongside the full cost picture in how much an SDR really costs and the retention plan in why SDRs quit, because a badly designed comp plan is one of the top reasons good SDRs leave. The salary ranges here are directional and vary by market, seniority, and cost of living.
What is the right base-to-variable split?
60/40 to 70/30, base to variable, is common SDR practice. There is no single house number, and the right point in that range depends on how much of the outcome the SDR controls. The more the meeting quality depends on the rep (their research, their conversations) the larger the variable can be; the more it depends on the list and the market handed to them, the more the plan should lean on base.
Why not a bigger variable? Because an SDR who is mostly commission will chase volume, and volume is exactly the wrong incentive for a role whose output should be quality meetings. A stable base keeps the rep doing the research and the careful qualification that a pure commission plan punishes. The traits this protects are the ones in what makes a great SDR.
What should you pay SDRs on?
Held qualified meetings, with a small kicker on opportunities, and nothing on raw activity. The metric you pay on is the metric you get, so paying on the right thing matters more than the size of the payment. Pay on booked meetings and you get no-shows; pay on dials and you get dials; pay on held qualified meetings and you get held qualified meetings.
| Pay on | Use it? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dials and emails sent | No | Rewards activity, not outcome; produces spam and busywork |
| Meetings booked | No | Rewards volume; produces no-shows and junk meetings |
| Meetings held and qualified | Yes, the core | The outcome that becomes pipeline; the SDR controls it |
| Opportunities created | Yes, a small kicker | Ties the SDR to quality, not just quantity |
| Closed revenue | Rarely for SDRs | Too far from the SDR's control and too slow to motivate |
The definition of a qualified meeting has to be written down and agreed before the plan starts, because the whole plan hangs on it: right title, right company, a stated problem, an agreed next step. Without that definition, every payout becomes an argument. The full metric hierarchy is in how to measure sales outreach performance.
What does a worked plan look like in rupees and dollars?
Here are two directional examples using the salary ranges the SDR-cost math is built on. Both use a 65/35 split and pay the variable on held qualified meetings, with a target of about 12 qualified meetings a month and a small opportunity kicker.
| Component | India example | US example |
|---|---|---|
| On-target earnings | About 9,00,000 rupees a year | About $75,000 a year |
| Base (65%) | About 5,85,000 rupees | About $49,000 |
| Variable (35%) | About 3,15,000 rupees | About $26,000 |
| Per held qualified meeting | About 2,000 rupees at 12 a month | About $180 at 12 a month |
| Opportunity kicker | About 1,500 rupees per opportunity created | About $50 per opportunity created |
The per-meeting figure falls out of the variable divided by the yearly target, so it moves with both. Set the target from your funnel, not from a wish: if you need a certain number of opportunities, work back through your meeting-to-opportunity rate to the meetings, as in how to set outbound targets. The fully loaded cost these salaries sit inside, tools and data and management, is in how much an SDR really costs.
What are the three plans that go wrong?
Most broken SDR plans fail in one of three ways, and each one produces a predictable, bad behaviour.
- Paying per booked meeting. The SDR is paid before anyone checks whether the meeting was real, so they book loosely and your held rate collapses. Pay on held and qualified instead; the held-rate math is in why booked meetings no-show.
- Uncapped activity bonuses. Paying per dial or per email at scale produces exactly that: dials and emails, sprayed at a loose list, which burns your domains and your reputation. Activity is an input to coach on, not an output to pay on.
- Quarterly-only payouts. An SDR who only sees their variable every three months does not feel the connection between this week's work and their pay. Pay the meeting variable monthly so the incentive is close to the behaviour.
A fourth, quieter failure is a plan with no floor: an SDR ramping in month one, through no fault of their own, earns almost nothing and starts looking for another job. Protect the ramp with a base that carries them through it, the same reason the 30-day onboarding plan protects the first month for learning.
How does comp connect to retention?
A plan that pays fairly on outcomes the rep controls is one of the cheapest retention levers there is. SDR is a high-churn role, and average tenure is often well under two years, so every plan that pushes a good rep out early is expensive. A comp plan that rewards quality, pays predictably, and protects the ramp keeps people in the seat long enough to become good, and then long enough to promote. The other five reasons SDRs leave, and the fixes, are in why SDRs quit.
How MarginSales thinks about SDR compensation
MarginSales provides sales outreach services for companies that want to extend their outbound capacity without building the entire sales development function internally, and we also help clients build and pay their own SDR teams through our hiring and enablement work. When we design a plan, we start from the definition of a qualified meeting, pay the variable on held qualified meetings with a small opportunity kicker, keep the split at 60/40 to 70/30, and pay the meeting variable monthly. The point is always to make the pay plan reward the behaviour that becomes pipeline.
If you are designing an SDR plan and cannot tell whether it will produce quality or just volume, that is a conversation we like to have. Our approach to placing and enabling reps is on our sales hiring page.
Frequently asked questions
How should you structure SDR compensation?
As a 60/40 to 70/30 split of base to variable, with the variable paid on held qualified meetings rather than raw activity. Add a small kicker on opportunities the meetings create, so the SDR cares about quality, not just quantity. Avoid paying on booked-but-not-held meetings, on dials or emails, or only quarterly. The split and the metric matter more than the exact numbers.
Should you pay SDRs per meeting booked?
Pay per meeting held and qualified, not per meeting booked. Paying on booked meetings rewards volume and produces no-shows and junk meetings, because the SDR is paid before anyone checks whether the meeting was real. Paying on held, qualified meetings aligns the SDR with the outcome that becomes pipeline, and a small opportunity kicker aligns them further.
What is a typical SDR base and OTE?
In the US, SDR on-target earnings commonly run about $60,000 to $95,000, usually 60% to 70% base. In India, a common range is around 6 to 12 lakh a year, or roughly 50,000 to 1,00,000 rupees a month, with the same split. These are directional; the right numbers depend on market, seniority, and cost of living.
Pressure-test your SDR plan
Send us your current SDR plan, or the one you are about to roll out, and your definition of a qualified meeting. We will tell you what behaviour it will actually produce and what to change, whether or not you work with us. Book a 20-minute review.