By: Adam Johnston, Surgesoft Inc.
In an article posted by Sue Barrett at SmartCompany.com recently, the question "What is the right incentive scheme for my sales team?" was raised.
Barrett discusses the need for a solid plan design as the foundation for any sales compensation program. She warns that some of the common pitfalls in this stage of the process include selecting measures that cannot be supported by automated systems, designing overly complicated schemes, and a lack of clarity in plan documentation and poor target setting.
Below are three ways to address these pitfalls along with graphical depictions of these solutions at work, in order to paint a clearer picture:
- Select an automated system that is flexible enough to track any measure in your incentive program.
- Automate the design process with a system that uses industry best-practices as its foundation, to readily create compensation plans that are easy to understand.
- Use a system that creates clear, concise plan documents that can be communicated to the sales force easily, and in turn, focus your sales people to achieve the desired behaviours and results.
