If your sales chief got a bigger raise last year than you did as CEO, you're not alone. Of 13 executive positions charted in a recent poll, Ernst & Young found that the "top marketing-and-sales" executive enjoyed the greatest base-salary increase -- an average of 6.7% from 1992 to 1993. Growing pains don't change things: the small companies that were just breaking even still handed 5.1% increases to their marketing maestros.
Annual Salary for Top Marketing-and-Sales Executive
| Number of Cos. | 1992 NetSales (in Millions) | Average 1992 Net Income | Mean 1993 Base Salary | Mean 1993 Total Cash Compensation | |
| 27 | Less than $2 | ($400,000) | $80,700 | $97,700 | |
| 44 | $2 - $5 | ($300,000) | $59,900 | $70,800 | |
| 65 | $5 - $10 | $0 | $82,300 | $98,100 | |
| 105 | $10 - $25 | $700,000 | $84,100 | $103,800 | |
| 93 | $25 - $50 | $1,800,000 | $97,000 | $119,900 | |
| 41 | $50 - $75 | $900,000 | $107,400 | $131,800 | |
| All Cos. | All levels | $800,000 | $87,100 | $106,400 |
Note: Sixty-six percent of respondents paid salary and bonuses. Salary data for 1993 reflect annualized base salaries at the date of the survey.
Source: Ernst & Young's "Executive Compensation Middle Market Survey," a poll of 735 companies, Minneapolis, 1993.
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