Noor Esposito· Total Rewards Manager, Steinbach Industrie
Posted in Sales Compensation ·
For four years running, our sellers received their plan documents and quotas in late February or March for a year that started on 1 January. US-based software company, 260 quota carriers in eleven countries. Everyone agreed it was unacceptable and it kept happening.
What fixed it was working backwards from one immovable date. Design principles agreed by the end of September. Cost modelling and rates locked by 31 October. Territories and quotas by 5 December, with a rule that anything not final then ships with a provisional quota at last year's number plus 10%. Documents issued in the first week of January, acknowledgement due within 15 working days.
The provisional quota rule did most of the work. Once late quotas no longer delayed everything else, they stopped being late. Happy to share more detail on any step.
8 helpful · 1 insightful · 3 replies · 64 views · 3 following
Noor ChenCSI, GRS
Head of Reward, Silverline Media
The provisional quota is a good device. What do you do about pay in January and February where someone has not acknowledged the plan? We hold commission payments until acknowledgement, which gets signatures quickly but always produces a few angry escalations.
Benefits Analyst, Lumen Biosciences
We pay under the new plan from day one regardless, and the document says that continuing to accept payments counts as acceptance of the terms. That wording came from our counsel and applies to the US only. In Germany and France we need the works council steps finished first, so those countries start the timetable six weeks earlier than everyone else.
Benefits Analyst, Silverline Media
Our blocker was never compensation, it was finance agreeing the company number. Quotas cannot be final until the board approves the budget, which is mid-December at best. We now issue plan mechanics in December and the quota letter separately in January. Not perfect, but people at least know the rates and rules before they start selling.
