How accelerator tiers work in sales commission plans, why they exist, and how to model total compensation at different attainment levels.
An accelerator is a higher commission rate that kicks in once a rep exceeds 100% of
quota — it's the mechanism that rewards overperformance instead of capping upside once
the base target is hit.
A typical accelerator structure
| Attainment |
Commission rate |
| 0–100% of quota |
Base rate (e.g., 10%) |
| 100–150% of quota |
1.5× base rate (15%) |
| 150%+ of quota |
2× base rate (20%) |
A rep who closes exactly at quota earns the base rate on all revenue. A rep who closes
at 160% of quota earns the base rate up to 100%, the accelerated rate on the 100–150%
band, and the top rate on everything above 150% — each band is calculated separately,
not applied retroactively to the whole number.
Why companies use accelerators instead of a flat rate
A flat commission rate creates a natural ceiling on ambition — once a rep hits quota,
the marginal incentive to keep pushing drops sharply if there's another quota reset just
around the corner. Accelerators keep the incentive to close "just one more deal" alive
all the way through the period, which is exactly the behavior that drives outsized
quarters.
The flip side: decelerators
Some plans include the opposite — a reduced rate below a minimum attainment threshold
(e.g., under 50% of quota), intended to discourage reps from "sandbagging" deals into a
future period once they know they'll miss the current one. Decelerators are less common
than accelerators and more controversial, since they can also punish reps for
circumstances outside their control.
Modeling total compensation with accelerators
To estimate full-year earnings, don't just multiply expected attainment by the base rate
— calculate commission band by band using the attainment percentage, since a rep
consistently closing at 120% earns meaningfully more than 1.2× the base-rate commission
once accelerators are factored in.
Frequently asked questions
Do accelerators apply per deal or per period?
Almost always per period (monthly, quarterly, or annual) based on cumulative attainment
— not per individual deal.
Are accelerators standard for SDRs as well as AEs?
Less common for SDRs, since their comp is usually tied to pipeline generated rather than
closed revenue, but growing in popularity as companies look to reward top-performing SDRs
similarly to AEs.
Use the Commission Calculator to model your total
compensation and OTE attainment at a given revenue level.