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Sales Incentive Design
Best Practices, Observations & Insights
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To Be Covered
Indicators that your sales incentive plans may not be working
Sales incentive design best practice
The design process an overview
Choosing the right performance measures
The importance of Financial Modeling
Post-mortem review
When to use commissions, when not to
Straw Dog Model & Bonus Calculators Demo
Your Questions
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Indicators your sales incentive plans are not
working well
Sales professionals do not believe in the credibility of their sales
performance numbers used to calculate bonus
They dont feel they are fairly credited for their efforts
They routinely question their bonus payouts
Your superstars dont believe their targets are achievable
Don Quixote Targets
Too many sales professionals are not achieving threshold = no bonus
Too many sales professionals are not achieving target
Superstars are not getting significantly larger bonus than average payout
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Indicators your sales incentive plans are not working
wellcontinued
There is infighting between sales management and sales
professionals regarding priorities
Sales pros make the easy sale and dont go after more difficult and
profitable customers
Sales professionals and sales managers bonus objectives not
aligned
Sales professionals make easy sales , not inclined to sell less profitable
products e.g., sales pro plans based exclusively on sales volume
Sales managers want more sales of more highly profitable products
e.g., sales manager incentive plans based mostly on profit
Sales professionals and sales managers are at odds on priorities/objectives
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Indicators your sales incentive plans are not
working wellcontinued
Sales managers believe their bonus does not reflect the
performance of their district, region, product line portfolio
After a certain point in the year, your superstars dont bring in
any more business
You have high turnover of your consistently strong performers
Performance on one component influences payout on
another i.e., linking components
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Indicators your sales incentive plans are not
working wellcontinued
Sales pros believe theyre getting penalized for stuff
they cant control
Sales force seems too content with their targets, maybe
they know something you dont?
No arguments, too quiet out there
Performance reviews duplicate bonus payout results
Reviews focus on what is achieved rather than how results
are achieved
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Indicators your sales incentive plans are not
working wellcontinued
Plan communication launched several months
after plan effective date
Business leader objectives are not aligned
with sales incentive goals
Business leaders think their sales incentive
plans are working, sale force does not share
their view
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Sales Incentive Design Best Practice
Plans are simple | easy to understand
No more than 4 components max fewer is better
Components should never be less than 20% weighting
Designed to deliver the business objectives
Carefully considers the behaviors theyre intend to drive
Aligns goals across all levels of sales pros and sales mgmt
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Sales Incentive Design Best Practices
Strong LineofSight of job responsibilities and ability to
impact bonus
Financial modeling conducted to ensureYou can afford the
Cost of Success
Highly differentiates bonus payouts of star performers from
median performers
Carefully thought out and executed communication plans to
ensure participants understand how new plans work to get
buy-in
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Sales Incentive Design Best Practices
Performance accurately measured and tracked progress
against goals frequently reported
Carefully thought out communication plans
plan launch delivered one week prior to or week of plan effective date
Plans reviewed periodically (every year at a minimum)
To ensure theyre driving the right behaviors
Rewarding the right outcomes and results
Align with evolving business objectives
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Plan Design
Plan Financial
Review Modeling
Post-mortem
Review
Rollout
Sales Incentive Design Process
11
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Review
Plans
Assess current plans
Interview Business Head, Head of Sales, Head of Marketing, CFO,
Business Controller
Conduct market competitive analysis of sales force
Interview sales force
o Distribute questionnaires
o What do they like about their current plans, what dont they like?
o Ride alongsaccompany sales pro on sales/customer calls
Review plan documents
Did the plans work as intended? What worked? What didn't?
Understanding the Culture
12
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Design http://www.compensationedgellc.com
Design Considerations may include
How long is sales cycle? (gestation period)
Hunter vs. Farmer role
Threshold
Target
Sales performance measures measurement systems capabilities
o What can we accurately measure and track?
Commission plans vs. base salary + bonus
Incentive components
o Sales dollars invoiced vs. received?
o Profit measures Ask the questionHow can sales pros impact profit?
o Team measures
o New Business
o Premium Products
Designing New Sales Incentive Plans
13
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Financial http://www.compensationedgellc.com
Modeling
Financial Modeling Can we afford the cost of success?
Compares new plan to current plan
Same performance period(s)
Does new plan payout more or less than for same results?
Does new plan adequately differentiate reward based on
performance?
Opportunity for critical amendments to ensure plan success
Component weightings
performance measurement choices
Importance of Financial Modeling
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Rollout
oWell thought out and executed communication plans are key
to success
o Consider the culture of the organization/business unit
oTiming of implementation is criticalideally, communicate
plan one week before or week of plan effective date.
Tiered or targeted rollout
Sr. Management
Sales Management
Sales Professionals
Town Hall meetings (at end of meeting)
Hand outs Straw Dog Models, Plan Documents
Implementation & Rollout
15
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Post-mortem
Review
6 months after roll-out
Did we drive the right sales behaviors?
Did we reward the right results and outcomes?
Statistical analysis of bonus payouts
What does the distribution of bonus payouts look like?
6 months after implementation
16
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o What are your current systems tracking and reporting capabilities?
Which performance measures are credible with the sales force?
New measures will your systems measurement capabilities be up to
par at plan effective date? If not measures should not be used as it
can negatively impact plan credibility
Will sales professionals be provided with accurate and reliable
reports?
How often?
The more frequent the better!
Choosing the right performance measures
17
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o Simplicity four or less components, the less the better
Component weightings should never be less than 20%
Resist the temptation to link components
o Keep incentive components independent
o Negative reinforcement works well for extinguishing behavior,
not driving behavior
o Pay for the right results and right outcomes, not activities
Caveat paying for the right activities can make sense in
limited and specific circumstances
When sales professionals are new in role (e.g., first six months)
Choosing the right performance measures
18
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o Lineofsight consideration
Ask yourself the following questions
Can sales professionals impact this measure?
Barometer - what was the sales force reaction to proposed measure?
Resist temptation to incorporate complex profit
measures to align with Finance goals!
If sales professionals cannot impact chosen profit measures its really
profit-sharing
If target setting is fairly good, consider uncapping !
Choosing the right performance measures
19
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Team componentsbe careful!
Lineofsight considerations
Team measures may workprovided
o Sales professionals work together and depend on one another
e.g., large multi-site accounts
o Team selling behaviors are key to success of business model e.g.,
Sales Pros work alongside Technical Service Pros
o If sales professionals work independently team measures can be
a disincentive
Too highly weighted team measures can protect weak performers
Choosing the right performance measures
20
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Impact of culture on incentive plan design
What is commonly practiced in region? (e.g., NA,
SA, EMEA, APAC, ANZ)
There are differences
Commissions are more common in China
Discretionary in Japan
Team components more common in Europe
What is most commonly practiced in industry
sector?
What are business leaders preferences?
Other plan design considerations
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What is most commonly practiced in the industry
sector?
A. Commission Plans?
B. Bonus + Incentive Target?
What are the difference between the two?
Commission payouts start from dollar one of sales or profit
measure
Bonus + incentive target payouts start at threshold
What are the business leaders preferences?
Other plan design considerations
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Does new plan payout more or less for same results?
Compare same performance period new vs. current plan
Statistical summary of payouts
What percentage of sales pros earn minimal bonus?
What percentage are hitting target? (around 50% - 65%)
If more than say 65%, targets might be too easy to achieve
How much are your star performers earning as a multiple of median
bonus payouts? (should be 2 3x times median payout)
Importance of Financial Modeling
23
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Does new plan payout more or less for same results?
If it plan pays more overall, revisit component weightings
If there are slope changes, are they in the right place?
If median and below performer payouts are higher
Possible design issues to be corrected
How good is target setting?review
Conduct historic trends analysis
Importance of Financial Modeling
24
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Example: Financial Modeling
25
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When commissions work
Short sales cycle/gestation period
New markets
New products / new business
Pure hunter roles
Business development roles
Hybrid sales mgr roles that have direct sales
Territory sizes or growth goals very similar
When to use commissions
26
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When commissions dont work
Long gestation period (e.g., 1+ years)
Mature markets
Declining markets
Pure farmer roles relationship management
National accounts / very large chain accounts
e.g., Best Buy, Costco, Home Depot, Wal-Mart
Targets are highly differentiated by territory, accounts,
region etc.
When not to use commissions
27
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o Straw Dog Model
Purpose: simple one-page illustration of incentive
plan; components, features, criteria, and bonus
opportunity
Captures incentive plan design in easy to understand
format versus plan legal documents
Facilitates buy-in
Example: Sales Incentive DesignStraw Dog Model
28
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Straw Dog Model
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Promotes lineofsight!
o Enables sales pros and their managers to accurately
calculate their commissions or bonus and get instant
feedback
o Sales pros and their managers can model/forecast what
their commissions or bonus would be based on various
performance scenarios
Bonus calculator
30
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Bonus Calculator
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Bonus Calculator
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Bonus Calculator
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Bonus Calculator
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Bonus Calculator
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Your Questions
