The Future Of Sales Compensation Is Insights Driven

November 5th, 2021

Summary

Most sales compensation plans pay B2B sellers based on their ability to achieve or overachieve their assigned quota, which is directly tied to the value of closed/won opportunities (e.g., bookings, recognized revenue, contract value). However, sellers are working in an increasingly complex environment with more buyers involved in the purchasing decision and longer sales cycles in a team-selling environment. Achieving a successful outcome requires a sales rep to work within a revenue ecosystem that consists of multiple functional groups (e.g., marketing, sales support, customer success, professional services) working together to influence the outcome of an opportunity. This complex environment makes it challenging for sales leaders and compensation plan designers to align compensation measures to the actions required to advance and close an opportunity. In this report, we explain how new insights into account potential, buyer behaviors, seller activities, and who truly drives closed/won opportunities will lead to major changes in quota setting, compensation measures, and the participants who qualify for variable compensation.

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