title: Worked example, enterprise AE offer with a counter-offer risk description: A full run from final-round yes to start date for a fictional enterprise AE, including a gap, a recommended structure and a HIGH counter-offer rating.
Worked example: enterprise AE offer
A fictional software company wants to offer an enterprise AE after a strong final round. All names and figures are invented. Four weeks' notice.
Inputs
- Motive, in the candidate's words (from the screen): "I've hit quota three years running and there's no path to strategic accounts here. I want bigger deals."
- Current: base 150k, on-target 270k, actually earned 290k last year.
- Expectation: base 165k, on-target 300k.
- Walk-away: "I wouldn't move for less than 285k on target."
- Approved ceiling: base 160k, on-target 290k, sign-on budget up to 15k.
- Also said: "My VP has been great to me. He'll try hard to keep me." Has an unpaid commission payment of 12k due next quarter.
Close-ready gate
Motive: yes, specific and in their words. Numbers: yes, confirmed including actuals. Ceiling: yes, approved by the CRO. Proceed.
Gap
Expectation 300k on target against a 290k ceiling: 10k, about 3%. Walk-away (285k) is inside the ceiling. Base gap: 5k. Forfeited commission: 12k, documented.
Structures
| Structure | Cost | Signal | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Base 160k, OTE 290k, 12k commission buy-out on proof | 12k one-off | "We won't make you lose money to join" | Low. Paid on documents |
| B. Base 165k, OTE 295k | Permanent, sets a new band | "We value you above the band" | Two current AEs are on 155k. Fairness problem in six months |
| C. Base 160k, OTE 290k, strategic accounts list in writing plus a dated review at 9 months tied to first two closed deals over 150k | Deferred, conditional | "Your reason for moving is real here" | Low if the account list is real |
Recommended: A plus the accounts list from C. The motive is bigger deals, not base. The buy-out removes the only money objection, and the account list answers the reason they are moving.
Trial close
Candidate: "You said you want bigger deals and a path to strategic accounts. We're looking at 160k base, 290k on target, the strategic accounts list in writing, and we'd cover the 12k commission you'd forfeit. If that lands Thursday, are you accepting?"
Answer: "Honestly, yes. The account list is the thing."
Approver: told that B creates a fairness problem with two existing AEs and that A closes at lower total cost. Approved A.
Counter-offer risk: HIGH
Evidence: two HIGH signals. A long-standing VP they describe as "great to me", and a commission payment due next quarter that the current employer can use as a lever, which works like a vesting cliff.
Defence added: written acceptance before resigning, a same-evening call on resignation day, a lunch with two strategic-account AEs in week two, and one conversation where the hiring manager mostly listens.
The close card
Candidate B / Enterprise AE / Offer stage / [date]
Close-ready: Motive Y | Numbers Y | Ceiling Y
Gap: expectation 300k vs ceiling 290k on target = 10k (3%) | Walk-away: 285k
Recommended structure: A + strategic accounts list | Cost 12k one-off | Signal "we won't make you lose money" | Risk low
Trial close: candidate "Honestly, yes. The account list is the thing." | approver "Go with A"
Counter-offer risk: HIGH because long-standing VP relationship and a payment due next quarter
Notice plan: resign Mon wk0 | wk1 Fri | mid: AE lunch wk2 | logistics wk3 | start Mon wk5
Decision: Make the offer at A? Yes / No
Book the resignation rehearsal before the offer goes out? Yes / No
What happened next (illustrative)
On resignation day the VP offered a 20k base increase and "a look at strategic accounts next year". Because the rehearsal had predicted exactly that, the candidate used the agreed line, called the hiring manager that evening, and the lunch with the strategic-account AEs the next week settled it. The vague "next year" lost to an account list already in writing.