How to design sales accelerators
Accelerators are the part of a comp plan that turns a good year into a great one. They reward the reps who blow past quota, which is exactly the behavior you want.
Design them to make the marginal deal above quota clearly worth the extra effort, and resist capping the upside.
Short answer
Design sales accelerators by paying a higher commission rate on revenue above quota, setting the threshold at quota (or slightly below), choosing a multiplier meaningful enough to motivate extra effort, and generally avoiding caps that punish your best reps. Accelerators exist to make overachievement worth chasing, which is where a sales team's most valuable upside lives.
Step by step
Set the accelerator threshold
Usually accelerators kick in at 100 percent of quota, so overperformance is rewarded at a higher rate. Some plans start slightly below to build momentum.
Choose a meaningful multiplier
The accelerated rate must be high enough that the extra effort is clearly worth it, often 1.5x to 3x the base rate. A trivial bump does not change behavior.
Avoid caps on upside
Capping commissions punishes your best reps for winning and caps your own revenue. Uncapped upside keeps top performers pushing and signals you want them to overachieve.
Model the cost
Accelerators cost more when reps overperform, which is a good problem, but model it so the plan stays affordable at high attainment and is not a surprise.
Why accelerators matter
Most of a team's upside comes from the reps who exceed quota, and accelerators are what make chasing that overachievement worthwhile. A plan with no accelerator tells reps there is no extra reward for extra performance, so they coast at quota. A well-designed accelerator turns your best reps loose, which is usually where the biggest revenue gains hide.
How Ardovo runs this
Ardovo turns this from a slide no one opens into how the work actually happens. The stages, exit criteria, and plays live in the deal object, and Rook flags any deal that skips a step, drafts the next artifact, and keeps the data honest, so accelerators reward and drive overperformance gets followed instead of forgotten.
Frequently asked questions
What is a sales accelerator?
A higher commission rate paid on revenue above quota, designed to reward and drive overperformance. For example, a rep might earn a base rate up to 100 percent of quota and a multiple of that rate on everything above it, making each deal past quota worth more and worth chasing.
Should sales commissions be capped?
Generally no. Capping commissions punishes your best reps for winning and caps your own revenue, and it signals that overachievement is not truly wanted. Uncapped upside keeps top performers pushing past quota, which is where most of a team's revenue upside comes from. Model the cost, but avoid caps.
Where should the accelerator threshold be set?
Usually at 100 percent of quota, so overperformance is rewarded at a higher rate, though some plans start the accelerator slightly below quota to build momentum toward the goal. The multiplier should be meaningful, often 1.5x to 3x the base rate, so the extra effort to exceed quota is clearly worthwhile.