Sales Performance Management Best Practices Blog

Change is the one constant that Sales Executives and their Sales Operations teams struggle with constantly. Updating your sales compensation plans to reflect new market realities is something a large percentage of sales teams have to do 

Topics: EVP/Sales Leader, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Operations, Sales Professional

Simplicity is a phrase that comes up often when discussing sales compensation. Phrases like "Plans need to be simple so they can be understood clearly", "keep the measures to less than three or four so it does not get too complicated" etc. are common for a reason. It is hard to focus on and do many things well. This philosophy transcends just talk of plan design and should impact your view your whole sales comp process. Execution of the entire process has to be as important as the elegance of a well designed sales compensation plan. To execute, it helps to narrow your focus to just a few items and do them well.

Topics: EVP/Sales Leader, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Operations, Sales Professional

Improved Sales Performance Reporting (New Years Resolution #1) is a vital element of your Sales Performance communication strategy, but it is just one element of a broader effort. When you are dealing with a sales force that is spread out geographically, the quality of forethought that you put into your communication strategy can be the difference between success and failure.

Topics: Sales Comp Plan Fundamentals, EVP/Sales Leader, Sales Performance Reporting, Communication/Reporting, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Operations

Topics: EVP/Sales Leader, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Operations, Sales Professional, ROI

With New years Resolution #1 aimed at improving the clarity with which you report and communicate sales performance to your sales and executive teams, it makes sense to be sure that the results and data which we are communicating are as accurate as possible.

Topics: Sales Comp Plan Fundamentals, EVP/Sales Leader, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Operations, Sales Professional, Accuracy

It's that time of the year again and I have no doubt the list of things you would like to improve and accomplish in the new year is long. As a manager, one of the improvements that can have a massive payback on your companies health is to improve the way you report performance to your sales team. Feedback from surveys on Sales Performance Management by WorldatWork & OpenSymetry tells us that for at least 75% of us, there is a tremendous opportunity to improve reporting Sales Performance to your organization. Here are some quick 'take aways' from the survey. 

Topics: Sales Comp Plan Fundamentals, EVP/Sales Leader, Sales Performance Reporting, Communication/Reporting, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, Human Resources, Sales Operations

One of the worst kept ‘dirty little secrets’ in the Sales Performance administration world is the difficulty in managing the Sales Compensation process in a timely, accurate and yet efficient manner without being derailed by some of the myriad challenges that abound. One of the biggest challenges that rear’s its ugly head is the need to wade through the morass of a large number of adjustments every payroll period while simultaneously trying to maintain error free levels of quality and hit payroll 100% of the time. Lets face it, adjustments take many forms and never seem to occur at a convenient time.

Topics: EVP/Sales Leader, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Operations, Sales Professional, Data Quality

Over the course of many years in this field, I can say without reservation that data quality is one of the cornerstones to a solid sales compensation process. Due to the nature of this beast, it is often a hidden aspect to the process and often rears its head only when the quality of your data is poor. Think of it, if you are one of those fortunate enough to have a relatively high quality pool of performance data, when was the last time someone appreciated that fact and all the work that went into creating that high quality information? The alternative is those who struggle with issues related to data quality and quite frankly there are few things that can hamstring your sales performance improvement efforts more than poor data quality. When this occurs, the two steps forward, three steps back grind overtakes your process affecting everyone from sales reps to analysts, and all the senior managers to whom these producers report.

Topics: EVP/Sales Leader, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Operations, Sales Professional, Data Quality

When you  have 5 minutes (6:39 to be exact), Ryan Johnson's (WorldatWork) interview with Dave Chicelli (Alexander Group) is a great investment of your time.  While the 2012 interview is a bit dated , there are several theme's Dave and Ryan pull from the 2012 Sales Comp Trends survey data which are timeless. As a big fan of data based decision making, the fact that the insights are gleaned from data trends observed over a 10 year time span makes this all the more impressive.

Topics: EVP/Sales Leader, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Operations, Sales Professional

Topics: Sales Comp Plan Fundamentals, EVP/Sales Leader, CTO, CFO/Finance Leader, Sales Compensation Professional, CEO, Human Resources, Sales Professional