The SCN Blog
The Sales Comp Network blog focuses solely on sales incentive topics. Subscribe for FREE to get instant access to all of our posts and receive the latest content by email. Each post has actionable tips that will help you create or improve your sales compensation program!
How Much Are Your Sales Commission Plans Costing You?
One of the most important questions that company leaders ask is “How much are these comp plans going to cost us?” That is where plan modeling or costing comes in.Â
This is the time of year when companies are creating sales compensation plans for next year. Â They usually invest time in determin...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
sales commission
sales commission cost
sales comp analysis
sales comp cost model
spiff or spif
Recoverable Draw vs. Non-Recoverable Draw
If you have ever been in a sales role, or played a part in a sales compensation program – then you most likely have heard the term “draw”. There are two main types of draws, recoverable and non-recoverable. There are two types because they accomplish different objectives and are processed dif...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
sales commission
sales compensation management
Changing Sales Compensation Plans Quarterly, Does It Work?
If you have ever designed sales compensation plans, the suggestion to build an incentive plan and then change it quarterly may have been proposed. Perhaps leadership needs this flexibility because of the many unknowns in planning. Maybe the company is going through restructuring, where the sa...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
sales comp analysis
sales compensation management
sales effectiveness
When To Use An MBO Bonus Plan
Before we go into when to use an MBO bonus plan, lets define what an MBO is. “MBO” stands for management by objective, it is a type of sales incentive that is tied to specific objectives, goals or milestones. Some companies also refer to it as a KSO plan, or key sales objective plan. Both mea...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
mbo
sales compensation management
Do Team Incentives Work?
When brainstorming sales incentives to motivate employees, team incentives usually pop up. But typically the topic is followed by questions related to the effectiveness of these incentives. Some stakeholders may question if team incentives drive desired behaviors and business outcomes. During...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
design factors
sales compensation management
sales effectiveness
Will AI Take Over Sales Jobs?
Has this crossed your mind? As a company, are you considering using artificial intelligence (“AI”) instead of a salesforce? As a salesperson, are you worried that AI will take your job? Well, those are reasonable questions to be asking, given the current AI fascination and push in our culture...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
design factors
Tweaking Compensation Plans – Is it Good or Bad?
At the start of the sales compensation planning period, you will undoubtedly here the concept of “tweaking plans”. Instead of doing a complete overhaul on the sales compensation plans, many leaders will suggest to only “tweak” or slightly change the plans. This sounds like a great idea, becaus...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
design factors
sales compensation management
sales effectiveness
Why Complex Commission Plans Are Hurting Your Sales Team
Many companies don’t desire to create complex commission plans, as business needs change some plans become complex overtime. Typically, a company will have a simple sales compensation plan to start. Then, as the company grows, and goals shift, the compensation plans change – which is best prac...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
sales commission
sales compensation program
sales effectiveness
Do I Need To Create Sales Compensation Plans?
If you just started hiring your sales team, you may wonder if you need to give them a sales compensation plan (also known as a “commission plan”) to sign. You may think “It’s only 2 sales people, we can have a verbal agreement”. Well, you can definitely choose to do that if the sales professio...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
sales commission
sales compensation management
Who Creates The Best Sales Compensation Plans?
You may assume that I am going to give you a name of consulting firm, or even this company Sales Comp Academy. However, the best sales compensation plans will not come from an external consultant doing the work outside of your organization. The sales compensation consultant will guide a compan...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
design factors
sales compensation program
sales effectiveness
How To Pay Sales Incentives On A New Product
Congrats! Your company is going to launch a new product into the market next year. I am sure this has been a long-awaited release, and many hours have been spent in this effort. Most likely including your go to market strategy and the channels you will be using to sell this product. But have...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
creating sales compensation plans
incentive on new product
sales commission
sales effectiveness
sales incentives
spiff or spif
Top 3 Tips for Choosing an ICM Tool
So, what is an ICM tool? An ICM tool is an incentive compensation management software. With the rise of AI, technology and automation, you will find countless options online. Each of these vendors have their pros and cons, but their bottom-line functionality is processing incentive or commiss...
by Shirah Smail —
Nov 16, 2024
icm
sales commission
sales compensation management
sales compensation program