Sales Compensation: A Gold Mine of Challenges and Opportunity

6 July 2016

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Within the world of employee compensation and total rewards, I can’t think of a more ‘target-rich’ environment than the area of sales compensation. The fact that general salary growth has been relatively flat for all employees over the past several years, just places more of a spotlight on the importance of having sales compensation plans in place that retain and, more importantly, motivate your sales force. In a global economic environment that seemingly has more twists than Chubby Checker on his best day, the stakes are that much higher for sales plans to be able to adjust and adapt to sudden and unexpected change.

The spectrum of challenges keeping sales compensation pros up at night are varied and multi-directional. Some include the usual suspects that spring eternal such as quota management and sales crediting; the latter of which has become exponentially more complicated in the digital economy with blurred territories and channels. Products are just as likely to be purchased or updated with a download or firmware update rather than the traditional transaction at a brick and mortar store. And assuming you’ve figured out how to track all this with the appropriate crediting system, you multi-national firms out there still need to ensure the numbers work in your favor when you reward your worldwide sales force in their respective local currency, while booking your sales in the HDQ currency.

How do you know your plan design is driving the right behaviors and generating the best return? How can we harness all of the available data and transform it into useable information? What can we learn from modeling and simulations to better capture the range of possible outcomes

Finally, what does the new sales force expect out of the ‘deal’?  Is it enough to pay them handsomely or are they expecting more, such as more say in how their jobs and quotas are structured?  What expectations do they have of their supervisor to manage their experiences, assignments and performance so they can grow, develop and excel?  How can we best navigate through the politics of all those within the organization that touch sales compensation

Lots of questions!  If you’re interested in getting lots of answers in one place, may I invite you to WorldatWork’s Spotlight on Sales Compensation event. Here we’ll convene some of the best and brightest minds in sales compensation to address these questions and more. Plus, a vast array of consultants, service providers and software vendors will be on hand to showcase all the tools and support they can provide to your organization. If your goal is to improve your sales compensation plans, this event is not to be missed!

About the Author

Kerry Chou is a senior practice leader for WorldatWork’s compensation practice which includes the areas of base and variable compensation, performance management and market pricing. He has 30 years of human resources experience and has worked in a variety of industries including high technology, telecommunications and transportation.

Over the span of his career, Chou held senior human resources positions at eFunds Corporation and America West Airlines. Most recently, he served as Director of Global Compensation and Benefits for ON Semiconductor. He began his career at Northwest Airlines holding several HR positions including Manager of Compensation.

Chou has been quoted in The Washington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Talent Management Magazine, NBCNews.com, CNNMoney, Monster.com, The New York Times, Human Resource Executive, Phoenix Business Journal, and several HR trade publications. He is also a regular contributor to TheStreet.com. Prior to joining WorldatWork He served for several years on the WorldatWork National Compensation Advisory Council.

About the Author

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