Seven signs your sales comp plans could be doing more for your business
1. Do your sales people appear to be “coasting”?
2. Are your sales people acting like teenagers?
3. Are your sales people selling – but not the right stuff?
4. Are your sales people confused about their sales comp plans?
5. Are your “keepers” leaving?
6. Are you having trouble hiring top talent?
7. Are your sales comp costs going up?
We can help
Clients Say…
Robert Fodge
“Thanks to the analysis and best practice recommendations of The Cygnal Group, we got agreement from all three divisions to make the changes needed to really improve the motivational value of our plans. I can’t thank the Cygnal Group consultants enough for all of their help. They worked really well, together with our internal team, and did some pretty magical things.”
— VP Human Resources, major telecommunications provider
Brenda Hodge
“Compensation plans are all about driving behavior and The Cygnal Group understood our business thoroughly in order to drive maximum value from our plans. I would never use anyone else for compensation design.”
— Brenda Hodge, Vice President, Sales Operations, Allscripts
Kyle Matthews
“We couldn’t have gotten our new plans together for the merged sales organization without The Cygnal Group’s support. The HR leadership team didn’t believe me when I told them the Cygnal Group could make this happen . . . they’re believers now.”
— Kyle Matthews, VP Human Resources, FMC Agricultural Solutions
Gary Lawrence
The Cygnal Group consultants have excellent project management and client management skills. They are professional and task oriented but with a great sense of perspective and the ability to quickly make realistic assessments of client issues. They are very effective communicators, and great listeners.
– Gary Lawrence, Director of Sales Operations, Waste Management
David Moff
“The Cygnal Group consultants are among the best Compensation professionals I have ever worked with. They love their work and always have the client’s best interest at heart. SALES COMP is their thing and they know it inside-out.”
— David Moff, SPHR, CEO of The HR Group
Gayle Kirkeby
Spend 10 minutes with a Cygnal Group consultant, and you will see that they are outstanding compensation specialists. I am glad to recommend them without hesitation. They have been on retainer for almost two years (so far) and during this time, they have provided timely support when needed, and helped us through two major incentive compensation changes. They are professional, nice people, fun and experts in their field.
– Gayle Kirkeby, VP Sales, Prometric
John Gwynn
Everyone on the Design Team said we had hit a home run. They could not have been more impressed, nor could the project have been more successful. In fact, the team wants me to talk with you about spending a day with our CEO and President once we have our thinking a little further along. I cannot thank you enough for your work on our behalf. It’s clear how much you love what you do!
– John Gwynn, Director, Human Resources, Viewpointe Archive Services
Latest posts in our library of
Sales Compensation for Consumption-based Selling
Consumption-based, usage-based, pay-as-you-go – these are different names for a pricing model that is becoming more and more prevalent in businesses formerly dominated by committed subscriptions. Customers like it, businesses see good reason to do, but it’s not easy to get the sales comp right. Click through for great ideas from the Sales Comp ’23 conference.
Steady Selling for Stable Revenue – Linearity Incentives that Actually Work
Linearity is steady selling through a year, or a quarter, or even a month. It matters to many businesses, and so many try to incentivize it in their plans. Click through for a collection of all the best ideas to help your team sell more earlier, and more steadily all year.
How are comp plans for inside sales different?
Any tips for putting together an incentive plan for “inside sales” employees? We are trying to get our employees into a “value-added selling” frame of mind (instead of price-point) and want to provide an incentive.
What is the Difference Between a Commission and a Bonus?
The difference is that the “commission” is communicated as a “piece of the action,” whereas a “bonus” is a fixed incentive amount offered for achieving a specific objective. Commissions and bonuses both have their place in sales compensation plans – but knowing when to use which one can be a bit tricky.
How much of our sales team should we include in our President’s Club?
The best way to make sure you include the right people is to start with your goals. Why do you have a President’s Club?
Webinar: Predicting the cost of your sales compensation plans
(52 mins) Predict the cost of your proposed new plans using the right aggregate cost modeling technique. View this webinar to understand three good bases for modeling the cost of the new plans based on either a synthetic distribution, your historical performance distribution, or a simulation. Example of all three are provided in a downloadable Excel file.