Salespeople need incentives, but it’s all too easy to “incent” your top performers out the door. Today, more common mistakes and an introduction to a compensation management program that can answer all your comp questions.
Yesterday’s Advisor detailed 6 sales force compensation strategies that actually work against your company’s best interests, according to Alan McAnally, president of SalesComp, America, in Andover, Massachusetts. Today let’s look at three more:
Design Comp Plans That Don’t Match Company Goals.
Nobody’s going to be happy with the sales force if compensation plans don’t match up with company goals. Say you’re trying to launch a new product that is much more profitable than existing products, but harder to sell. If your comp plan doesn’t incent your salespeople to push the new product, they never will.
Make Plans Really Complicated
Here’s another common mistake: Plans need to be simple enough that salespeople can predict reasonably well what their earnings will be. Sure, there will be some adjustments. However, plans that are so complicated that no one but a CPA can figure them out are just going to confound salespeople and turn them off.
Reward New and Existing Business in the Same Way.
Existing clients are the easiest source for sales, but few businesses can survive without attracting new customers. Yet many organizations reward new sales the same way they reward sales to existing customers. If new business is important to your organization, reward new accounts more generously than existing ones, says McAnally.
No doubt, sales comp is challenging. Of course, as comp pros know, all compensation decisions are challenging. If you don’t pay enough, you’ll never get the people and productivity you need, but on the other hand, if you pay too much, it’s bye-bye profits.
The challenge is complicated further by factoring in other variables–where you’re located, what the law says, what your competitors are paying– not to mention internal equity issues. How do you figure it all out? Where do you get good data?
What are your competitors offering workers these days? Check your state’s edition of BLR’s exclusive Employee Compensation in [Your State] program to find out. Try it at no cost or risk! Click for info.
A Program to Avoid Compensation Miscues
Our editors recommend a classic BLR program, used by thousands of companies for more than 20 years, Employee Compensation in [Your State]. The [Your State] refers to the fact that a separate edition is published for each of 43 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia. So if you live in Illinois, Employee Compensation in Illinois is the reference you receive.
While not specifically directed at sales compensation, the Employee Compensation program will likely meet your every general comp and benefits compliance and best practices information needs. Each edition contains these key elements:
Don’t just look at national data for salary guidance on hundreds of jobs when you can have it specifically for your state. It’s in BLR’s famed Employee Compensation in [Your State]program. Try it on us! Here’s how.
The program is priced affordably for small companies as well as large ones, at about $1.50 a working day. That’s coffee money for just about every form of information most managers need to run a competitive and efficient comp/benefits program.
You can check out the entire program in your own office for up to 30 days, with no need to buy. (We even pay return postage.) Just click the link below, and we’ll be happy to set things up.
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