Managing multiple sales channels and territories in a growing SaaS company has its challenges.  Competition and confusion can arise when different sales channels, such as inside and outside reps, target the same customers or prospects.

Goals and incentive structures may not be fully aligned across all teams, creating conflicting priorities and a lack of collaboration. Territory management issues can result in an unbalanced workload where some territories or channels have a greater concentration of leads or larger deals.

Clear alignment with business goals and collaboration across all teams is crucial to achieving sales goals and, by extension, company targets.

If you’re struggling with any of these challenges, we’re here to help. This blog focuses on common SaaS sales structures, best practices for management, and incentive strategies for different teams.

What’s a recommended sales team structure for startups?

Your startup’s sales structure selection affects all aspects of sales, including lead generation, conversion rate, and speed to close.

Take Me to Blog

Common SaaS Sales Structures

SaaS companies typically adopt the following three sales structures. Read on to learn their defining characteristics and their pros and cons.

Inside Sales vs. Outside Sales

What’s the difference between inside sales and outside sales?

Inside sales reps (ISRs) focus primarily on inbound lead qualification. ISRs use various forms of digital communication, such as email, messaging apps, social media, video conferencing, and phones, to engage prospects.

By contrast, outside sales reps (OSRs) focus on outbound prospecting, in-person meetings, conferencing, networking events, and closing deals.  

The advantages of inside sales are that it is less costly, more efficient, and easily scalable, enabling businesses access to a greater talent pool. On the other hand, outside sales facilitates relationship building and offers the opportunity for more focused engagement with the entire buying committee all at once.

Inside sales is an excellent choice for SaaS sales, where outside sales benefits businesses offering physical products, enabling prospective buyers to personally experience the product during a demo.

Hybrid Sales Model

A hybrid model is a blend of inside and outside sales. Hybrid reps work remotely at least a percentage of the time, leveraging multiple channels to engage prospects, such as email, text messaging, social media, phone, and Zoom calls. Remote salespeople also visit potential clients based on customer preferences.

Hybrid sales increased in popularity during the COVID pandemic and is said to be the future of B2B sales, according to McKinsey.

There are benefits to adopting a hybrid model. For instance, it helps businesses minimize costs. It enables former outside reps to increase customer engagement while accommodating the 40% of customers who prefer to buy from a sales rep they’ve met in person.

Hybrid sales can also facilitate gathering the entire buying committee to help build consensus. Yet the remote aspect of the model allows more data to be gathered throughout the buyer’s journey.

Account Management vs. New Business

Account managers (AMs) focus on existing customer relationships and upselling opportunities to retain and grow these essential client accounts. Accomplishing this is typically done by helping the customer achieve their goals for using the product or service they procured from your company.

On the other hand, new business reps focus on acquiring new customers. They engage with inbound leads and potential prospects to nurture and guide them through the sales process until, ideally, they become a paying customer.

Account managers and new business reps can work together to maximize customer lifetime value. It starts with new business reps prioritizing leads and prospects who match the ideal customer profile (ICP). These are the prospects likely to benefit the most from your product and remain as customers in the long term.

Then, new business reps and account managers collaborate for a smooth customer handoff where essential customer information is shared, facilitating a superior onboarding experience. This sets the customer up for greater success with your product as the account manager works to retain and grow the customer.

Best Practices for Managing Multiple Sales Channels and Territories

Leverage these best practices to more effectively manage multiple sales channels and territories.

Clear Channel and Territory Definition

Clearly defining each sales channel and territory is crucial so sales reps can function efficiently. When there is confusion or miscommunication of sales channels and territory, reps can become unsure of which specific customer segments or regional areas they are responsible for. This can ultimately result in finger-pointing and weaker sales results.

Strategies for segmenting territories include leveraging factors like customer size, industry, or geographic location.

Alignment and Collaboration

Alignment across revenue-generated teams around shared goals gets the team pulling together to achieve organizational objectives. Fostering communication and collaboration between different sales teams facilitates the attainment of targets.

Sales collaborate with various teams to reach their goals. Examples of collaboration practices include joint lead nurturing by sales and marketing, effective handoff processes from sales to account management, and team selling efforts involving AEs and SEs to advance deals.

Performance Management

Set clear performance metrics tailored to each channel and territory to gauge sales performance and identify adjustment and coaching needs. These metrics help sales teams track progress toward goals, prepare and plan for growth, and build compensation plans.

Relevant metrics vary based on role. For example, ISR metrics include the number of calls, meetings, or deals closed, and OSR metrics include the number of demos, meetings, and proposals. By contrast, AM metrics include customer retention, lifetime customer value, and account growth. New business rep metrics include the number of opportunities created, demos completed, meetings, and calls.

Feedback and coaching are essential strategies that help boost sales team performance. To be effective, these practices must take place on a routine basis. Focused 1:1 and team sessions are both effective ways to improve techniques and progress toward goals. Remember not to overload an individual rep with too much feedback in one session. Instead, prioritize one area and work on that before advancing to another. This ensures consistent improvement.

Technology and Tools

Leverage CRM and marketing automation tools to streamline team communication and data sharing. This improves alignment and collaboration across teams while boosting efficiency and results.

Utilize sales forecasting tools to improve territory and quota planning. These platforms deliver up-to-date metrics that enable data-driven decision-making and scenario modeling for greater success and results.

Incentive Strategy for Different Sales Teams

Using these strategies will help you successfully create and communicate incentive plans.

Aligning Incentives with Goals

It is essential to design incentive plans that motivate reps to achieve specific goals relevant to their channel and territory. This ensures rep buy-in while driving the achievement of organizational objectives.

Quotas, commissions, and bonuses can be structured to motivate goal achievement based on the specific role and territory.

For instance, ISRs, OSRs, and new business reps can be incentivized by a commission-based bonus, which is triggered when the rep exceeds the quota. Tiered commissions for these same reps pay increasing percentages as specific targets are exceeded, such as 10% commission for 100% and 15% for 120%.

Account managers, on the other hand, are incentivized based on metrics like customer retention rate, upsells and cross-sells, and CLTV. An example of an account management bonus structure might include renewal bonuses for exceeding customer retention goals, with the bonus triggered at a 95% renewal rate. They may also receive an expansion bonus for increasing average revenue by a designated percentage through cross or upsells to existing customers.

Balancing Individual and Team Performance

Create incentive plans that reward both individual achievement and team collaboration. Team incentives or challenges foster healthy competition and promote cross-departmental relationships and teamwork while driving goal achievement.

Team-based bonuses or contests to encourage collective success include competitions that involve territories, verticals, or small groups facing off against each other to boost sales. These contests are especially productive when combined with individual SPIFFs to achieve goals.

Transparency and Communication

Ensure clear communication of incentive plans and how performance translates to rewards. Reps will not be motivated if they don’t understand how they’re compensated. Consequently, they will fall short of their targets, hindering organizational objective attainment.

Incentive plans are not static instruments. It’s crucial to regularly review and update compensation plans to adjust for performance, market conditions, and changes to organizational objectives.

Manage and Align Multiple Sales Channels and Territories

Managing and aligning multiple sales channels and territories in SaaS has its challenges. Boost your success by implementing the best practices and incentive strategies we’ve discussed.

Remember to clearly define channels and territories to avoid confusion. Create alignment across revenue-generating teams and foster a collaborative culture to improve results. Set clear performance metrics tailored to each channel and territory and consistently provide feedback and coaching to individual reps and the collective team.

Leverage technologies and tools like CRM, marketing automation, and sales forecasting tools to streamline communication and data sharing while enabling data-driven decision-making and plan modeling.

Then, incentives will be aligned with goals to drive organizational goals by structuring quotas, commissions, and bonuses in a way that motivates goal achievements. Balancing individual and team performance through rewards to encourage collaboration and cross-departmental relationships. Transparency and clear communication are essential for rep buy-in and motivation to achieve goals and drive organization objectives.

Sales structures and incentive strategies require ongoing adaptation and improvement based on performance, market conditions, and organizational goals.

See how QuotaPath supports complex teams and compensation plans. Schedule time with a team member or start a free trial today.

Learn more about sales management with additional resources like HubSpot and communities like Pavilion and Women in Sales.

Compensation plans are used to incentivize selling behaviors and impact the bottom line.

This is true regardless of an organization’s stage, size, or industry.

However, the components of a comp plan should vary according to how large a sales team is and the business’s key goals.

For instance, we often design compensation plans for startups to attract talent, take risks, and drive rapid growth. These might include bounty bonuses or logo commissions, rewarding reps for winning top accounts from a specific industry or region. We also see startups implement single-rate comp plans as their first ones for simplicity and lack of available historical data. 

But for high-growth and larger sales teams, comp plans are modeled off lots of data tied to previous years’ performances and financial forecasts. 

These comp plans are methodical, emphasize predictable revenue, tie in various metrics beyond annual recurring revenue (like customer lifetime value), and define clear divisions and pay scales between reps’ skill levels and roles within their teams. 

Overall, compensation plans for larger SaaS sales organizations are more sophisticated, data-driven, and focused on achieving long-term, sustainable growth.

They’re more complex. And those complexities can become so overbearing that they actually deter from your compensation strategy versus support it. 

So, to keep those complexities in line, we came up with five comp plan best practices. 

5 Comp Plan Best Practices for Larger Sales Teams

1. Don’t copy and paste a plan from an existing org. 

First, no matter how tempting, do not bring a comp plan that worked well at your previous organization into your new one. 

Sure, bring in certain elements that apply at scale, like accelerators and multi-year contract bonuses. But copying and pasting a complete comp plan from a different business will cause a lot more headaches than the shortcut you took in place of developing a unique plan. 

Establish your business’s key business objectives, then, build a plan that aligns to these goals and drives selling behaviors that push these objectives. 

The best compensation plans are living documents. They should be reviewed and adjusted regularly to reflect changes in the market, your business goals, and your sales team’s needs. By establishing a culture of continuous improvement and data-driven decision-making, you can ensure your compensation plan effectively attracts, motivates, and retains top sales talent.

2. Implement tiered commission structures

As much as we love the single-tier, flat-rate commission structure for startups or plans that support a new product or territory, avoid using these for more established teams.

Instead, implement comp plans with multiple commission tiers based on performance levels to incentivize high achievers. You might also recognize the term “accelerator” for this. 

The more volume sold, the higher the commission rate paid.

For example, a rep earns 10% on the first $100,000 in sales, 15% on the next $100,000 in sales, and 20% on any sales exceeding $200,000 — no cap.

You could also consider adding cliffs or commission floors to your account manager/customer success roles and leadership compensation plans, which set a minimum performance threshold before commissions are rewarded.

3. Build a transparent communication plan

Since larger sales teams typically have more complicated compensation plans (splits, team volatility, draws, multiple products, etc.), your communication plan when rolling out compensation plan changes is paramount. 

This includes gathering feedback from reps during plan design, introducing early on that changes are incoming, dedicating team meetings specific to comp plans (and supported by 1:1s), accessible documentation, and a source of truth for all things sales compensation.

Multiple Communication Channels: Don’t rely on a single announcement. Utilize a variety of channels like town hall meetings, team huddles, email communication, and an internal knowledge base to ensure everyone receives the information.

Focus on Benefits: While outlining the details is important, emphasize the positive aspects of the changes and how they benefit the sales team. Highlight potential earning opportunities and incentives to keep reps motivated.

Openness to Feedback: Encourage questions and feedback from your sales team. Schedule one-on-one meetings or open forums to address concerns and ensure everyone feels heard. By fostering a two-way dialogue, you can identify potential areas for improvement and refine the plan as needed.

Remember, even with its complexities, a well-communicated compensation plan can maintain or build trust with your team and motivate your sellers.

4. Leveraging technology for goal setting and tracking

To help with all of this — recruit the help of technology.

Today’s software offers can streamline these compensation processes and empower both sales reps and leadership when implemented correctly.

Tools like QuotaPath, for instance, can enhance goal alignment by giving everyone a place to check the organizational-wide goals and their contributions toward those goals. 

Plus, this real-time visibility and insight allows reps and managers to adjust their deal approaches on the fly to coach, motivate, and support where needed. Another benefit of this is the accountability it creates to give reps ownership over their earnings.

Lastly, compensation performance data can help you identify flags with your compensation strategy, underperformers (and over performers), outlier deals, and more so that you can adjust and allocate resources where necessary. 

By leveraging technology for goal setting and tracking, you can empower your sales team to take ownership of their performance, hold themselves accountable, and ultimately achieve greater sales success.

5. Adjust your plans throughout the year

Additionally, remember comp plans rarely succeed for the entire year if they stay the same. 

Businesses operate in dynamic environments. Market conditions can shift, competitor strategies can evolve, and your sales goals might need adjustments. To ensure your compensation plan remains effective, be prepared to adapt it throughout the year.

Here are some data points to monitor:

• Hit Rates: Are your reps consistently achieving or exceeding their quotas? Extremely high or low hit rates might indicate quotas that are too easy or too difficult, requiring adjustments to ensure a healthy challenge and achievable goals.
• Average Deal Size: Is the average deal size meeting expectations? If reps are consistently closing smaller deals than anticipated, commission structures might need to be reviewed to incentivize pursuing larger deals that contribute more to overall revenue goals.
• Sales Cycle Length: Is the sales cycle taking longer than expected? This could indicate a need for additional sales enablement or adjustments to the compensation plan to incentivize faster deal velocity.
• Employee Turnover: High turnover rates within your sales team could be a sign that your compensation plan is uncompetitive or doesn’t adequately motivate reps. Analyze data and conduct exit interviews to identify areas for improvement in your plan’s structure and offerings.

By regularly monitoring these data points and incorporating feedback, you can maintain a dynamic compensation plan that adapts to changing circumstances and optimizes sales performance throughout the year. This ensures your plan remains a valuable tool for attracting, motivating, and retaining top sales talent.

How to Motivate Sales Team 

70% of RevOps, Sales, and Finance leaders said their comp plans motivate reps. What about the other 30%?

Take Me to Blog

Bonus Best Practices

While the core elements discussed above provide a solid foundation, here are some additional best practices to consider:

• Alignment is Key: Ensure your compensation plan directly aligns with your overall business goals. This creates a clear link between rep performance and achieving company objectives. 
• Motivate Through Incentives: Go beyond base salary and commission. Consider implementing sales contests and incentive programs to motivate your team and drive specific sales behaviors. Strategic use of contests can be a powerful tool for boosting performance. 
• Strategic Spiffs: Supplement your core compensation plan with strategic spiffs (Sales Performance Incentive Funds). These targeted rewards can incentivize specific actions that support your sales goals. 
• Feedback is Essential: Don’t operate in a vacuum. Regularly gather feedback from your sales team on the effectiveness of your compensation plan. This feedback allows you to identify areas for improvement and ensure the plan remains relevant and motivating. 

By incorporating these additional best practices, you can create a truly effective sales compensation plan that attracts top talent, drives exceptional performance, and contributes to achieving your overall business objectives.

Align Your Compensation Plans Now

Aligning compensation plans with company goals can be a complex tightrope for large companies. 

Setting goals that balance short-term wins (like quarterly quotas) with long-term objectives (building customer loyalty and recurring revenue) can be tricky. Traditional commission structures that reward only new sales might discourage reps from investing in existing accounts, hurting renewal rates. 

Additionally, ensuring fair and adaptable plans can be challenging with complex sales teams and ever-changing markets.

That’s where QuotaPath comes in. 

By leveraging data and analytics, QuotaPath helps build compensation plans that incentivize the right behaviors. It can track performance against multi-faceted goals, including customer lifetime value metrics. This allows companies to reward reps for upselling, renewals, and other actions that drive long-term growth, aligning their efforts with company objectives.

QuotaPath also fosters transparency and fairness by providing clear commission structures and performance dashboards to drive sales performance. With QuotaPath’s help, large companies can bridge the gap between compensation plans and company goals, motivating their sales teams for long-term and consistent success.

Talk to Sales today to learn more. 

Sales forecasting is one of the most essential yet challenging aspects of business. However, having an accurate estimate of revenue through a sales forecast can shape your success.

Everything from developing budgets to planning production capacity relies on this forecast. That’s why accurate insights are crucial. 

The solution? Demand forecasting. Here, we’ll explore why this process is so beneficial and strategies to implement.

What is demand forecasting and why is it important?

Demand forecasting is the process of estimating future sales of your products or services by using relevant data to predict demand. The aim is to remove the guesswork by gaining a more accurate view of predicted revenue streams to help better manage budgets and sales cycles.

Why is this important? One aspect is streamlining. Accurate forecasts allow you to anticipate fluctuations in demand to better allocate resources. Determining stock levels helps avoid understocking inventory or product obsolescence. It’s also beneficial for avoiding lost sales opportunities. 

All of this has a knock-on effect on operational efficiency and, consequently, brand awareness. It ensures you’re always able to meet customer demand. This, in turn, can increase your company’s profitability, protect your brand reputation, and ensure steady business growth. 

Key benefits of accurate demand forecasting

As we mentioned, demand forecasting offers numerous benefits, from resource allocation to sales opportunities. Let’s dive into these in more detail.

Inventory management

Demand forecasting in supply chain and inventory management is essential for maintaining optimal stock levels throughout the year. 

Rather than guessing what you need and when, you can use forecasts to reduce the potential of stockouts, improve ordering efficiency, optimize revenue management, and save on the cost of storage. By ensuring a healthy fill rate, you can meet customer demand consistently while minimizing the risk of understocking or overstocking inventory. You could even save on transport costs by spotting ways to consolidate orders.

Resource allocation

Anticipating demand equips you with the knowledge to better plan and allocate resources. Whether it’s production capacity, manpower, or marketing budgets, you can approach allocation strategically to be more effective during times of high demand and scale back during quieter periods.

Budgeting and planning

Demand forecasting gives you some of the best insights to plan budgets. This can help you decide how much to spend on areas like marketing, hiring, or product development, depending on what resources you will need and how much revenue you anticipate coming in.

Utilizing budgeting software can streamline this process further by automating data analysis and providing real-time insights into budget allocation. With budgeting software, you can efficiently track expenses, identify areas for cost-saving, and make informed decisions to maximize your resources and optimize financial performance.

You may even be able to spot investment opportunities. Automation is becoming increasingly prevalent in businesses today, so you may free up the budget for click to call dialer software to support your sales team’s outreach efforts or customer service chatbots to improve conversion rates.

Risk management

Demand forecasting helps identify potential risks and uncertainties related to sales performance. This way, you can be better prepared to manage challenges.

For example, if your demand forecast indicates a potential downturn in sales during a specific season, you can adjust inventory levels or implement targeted email marketing campaigns to give sales a boost.

Improved decision-making

Any forecasting model replaces guesswork with reliable information specific to your business and customers. With that information, you can make more informed decisions about future sales trends. 

For example, if your forecast indicates a surge in demand for a particular product, you can adjust your pricing strategies. This could mean offering promotions or increasing sales incentives during peak demand periods to capitalize on increased customer interest.

Understanding cross-channel demand patterns, particularly in the context of omnichannel ecommerce, becomes crucial for effectively allocating resources and maximizing sales across multiple sales channels. 

5 steps for effective demand forecasting

While demand forecasting can benefit your company, it’s important to do it correctly if your strategy is to be successful. We’ve broken it down into five easy steps.

1. Collect data relevant to your goals

Begin by collecting and analyzing relevant data available that aligns with your sales and business growth goals. This information could include any or all of the following: 

• Historical data: Past sales data can tell you a lot about what might happen in the future. Pull data from sources like your CRM, inventory management software, call center reporting tools, customer forms, and even other departments. Review previous demand, looking out for patterns, trends, and seasonal fluctuations that are likely to repeat. 

• Market research: Gather information about your target customers, including their preferences, buying habits, and what influences their purchasing decisions. This could be done through surveys, interviews, or analyzing existing market studies. 

• External factors: Industry trends and competitor activities can impact your forecast. But it’s also worth gathering data on economic conditions and socio-political factors like regulation changes or consumer sentiment. For example, a new competitor entering the market might affect demand for your products, or a change in government policy might influence consumer buying behavior.

2. Implement your chosen forecasting methods

Once you have the data, you must analyze it to draw conclusions. You can do this manually or with the help of automation. Let’s explore a few options.

Statistical models

Statistical techniques like time series analysis and regression analysis are useful for creating forecasting models. 

Time series analysis looks at patterns in historical data over time, such as increases or decreases in sales during certain months. 

Regression analysis identifies relationships between variables. It considers how factors like marketing spend, promotions, and economic conditions have impacted sales.

Conducting an in-depth analysis of large data sets manually can be challenging. However, machine learning algorithms make this process more efficient and can help identify complex patterns, resulting in more accurate predictions.

Forecasting software

As with many business processes, software can make forecasting much smoother. If you choose the right model, it can help to automate data collection and analysis and generate reports for you.

But it’s crucial to choose the right solution for your business needs. You should also understand how that solution creates the forecasts so you can make better decisions. 

Remember that your existing software such as your ERP system may have built-in forecasting capabilities. Or you may need a customized program for your specific industry. 

Collaborative forecasting

Technology isn’t always the answer. Bring together different departments to share insights and perspectives to help shape your forecast. 

For example, a software company launching call script software might get input from their sales team on customer demand and predicted sales. The marketing team would provide campaign insights, while the finance department could offer financial projections.

3. Segment your market

Market segmentation can refine your sales forecast by accounting for demand drivers and behavior variations across different segments. 

After segmenting your audience or products, you can develop separate forecasts for each category. This allows you to account for demand drivers and behavior variations across different segments. 

Here are two ways you might segment your market.

Customer segmentation

Narrow your wider target market into smaller groups based on different characteristics that influence purchasing patterns. This could be:

• Demographics: Age, gender, income
• Psychographics Lifestyle, values, interests
• Geographic location
• Buying behavior

Product segmentation

Categorize your products based on their attributes, such as price, functionality, and lifecycle stage. This helps you tailor your forecasting approach to the different characteristics of each product category.

You might forecast higher-priced products differently from budget items or adjust forecasts based on a product’s lifecycle (e.g., introduction, growth, maturity, decline).

4. Monitor sales performance and make adjustments

Tracking sales performance is crucial to improving the accuracy of your forecast. This allows you to make changes when needed and stay responsive to changing market dynamics.

Keep an eye on key performance indicators (KPIs), sales metrics, and market trends. How do they compare with your forecasted values? If your actual sales drop below what you forecasted, it could be a sign that you need to adjust your strategy or allocate resources differently to adapt to changing market conditions.

Remember that while it’s great to have a demand forecast in place, there are some things you can’t predict. So, it’s essential to remain agile in response to new information or unexpected events that may impact demand. 

It’s likely that you will need to revise forecasts, reallocate resources, or adjust marketing strategies along the way. For example, a competitor launching a similar product could unexpectedly reduce your demand, meaning you need to consider scaling back production.

As part of this step, establish a feedback mechanism. Gather regular insights from frontline employees, customers, and partners about their experiences and perceptions. Their feedback can provide valuable information about changing customer preferences, market trends, or other factors that may influence demand.

5. Review and repeat

After making forecasts, it’s essential to compare them with actual sales data to identify discrepancies and understand their root causes. You may need to change your data collection tactics or forecasting methods in the future.

Forecasting isn’t a job you can do at the start of the financial year and forget about. It’s an ongoing process that needs continuous refinement. Regularly review and refine your forecasting models based on stakeholder feedback, performance metrics, and learnings from past forecasting experiences.

Consider building a scenario analysis into your forecasting process, too. This involves preparing for the potential impact of various scenarios or events on your sales forecast. For example, you might consider what would happen if there’s a recession, if you launch a new product, or if a competitor starts a price war. 

Imagining these scenarios and their potential effects on sales helps you better prepare and make plans to respond effectively.

Demand forecasting: Unlock powerful insights to drive sales

While we can’t see into the future, demand forecasting could be as close to a crystal ball as it gets. 

Accurate sales forecasts help businesses make more informed decisions and plan strategically. The ability to anticipate future demand means you can make the right adjustments to everything from stock levels and manpower to meet customer needs. 

This not only contributes to a more efficient business model but also reduces inefficiencies and reduces costs, leading to a more profitable business and satisfied customers.

A sales rep based in Colorado earned $100K in commissions that the company didn’t pay because he left before they collected the cash from the customer. Their compensation policy states that commissions are paid on cash collection.

Did the company make the right call or cheat their rep?

In this case, not only did the company cheat their rep, but they broke the state law, dictating that employees should be paid their outstanding earnings within a specific timeframe. Although there are no federal laws about the payment of commissions following employment termination, most states have laws requiring the payment of earned commissions according to the compensation agreement.

However, even if the law had not mandated it, we think the company should have paid the commissions based on what the rep sold, regardless of what the agreement says. Reps should receive the commissions they earned.

Period.

This blog provides best practices to honor commissions when a rep leaves.

Let’s get started.

5 Best Practices When It Comes to Paying Commissions After a Rep Leaves

Should you find yourself in a position where a rep leaves before collecting commissions earned on recent deals, we recommend leveraging these five best practices to properly honor their commissions.

5. Know the State Laws

Laws dictating commission payouts and transparency differ from state to state, according to the Commission Payment State Law Survey. However, some states have very strict policies on commission payouts. For instance, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia prohibit commission withholding after termination.

Arkansas requires employers failing to pay employees all due wages within seven days of the next payday to owe the employee double the wages. Don’t let the term wages confuse you here. The survey revealed that most states recognize commission as wages except Ohio and Alabama.

Although most states have established policies on commission payouts after termination, these policies are typically in effect in the absence of a signed sales rep’s compensation agreement. States indicate that policies on commission payouts after termination should be clearly explained in a signed agreement.

When it comes to the debate of when commissions are deemed earned, most states, except Florida and Georgia, have a general definition that applies in the absence of a commission agreement. Additionally, Delaware and Michigan recognize the procuring cause, where commissions are earned when an order is procured and accepted unless a signed agreement states otherwise.

Download our customizable commission policy template

4. Establish a Crystal-Clear Commission Policy

A commission policy, or a compensation agreement, is a legal document designed to help the company and employee avoid future compensation disputes. It helps commissioned employees better understand your compensation structure and serves as an easy reference if questions arise. You can write your own or download one of our free commission policy templates.

Every commission policy should include a detailed explanation of the following: 

• On-target Earnings (OTE): Salary plus commissions when achieving 100% of quota for the year.
• Quota Amount: A sales objective an employee should achieve within a designated period.
• Quota Frequency: How often progress toward quota attainment is measured. Typically, quarterly, but maybe monthly or annually.
• On-target Commissions (OTC): The amount the employee will earn when they hit quota for the year.
• A Commission Table:  A table containing commission rates tied to progress toward a quota.
• Additional Comp Plan Elements That Impact Commission Rates: For example accelerators and decelerators.
• Payment Terms: An explanation of how commissions will be calculated. When a sale is considered eligible for commission, and when your organization will pay the commission.
• SPIFs: Additional short-lived contests, incentives, or bonuses during slow periods to drive product line revenue or other exceptional reasons.
• Clawback provision: An explanation of how and when a rep must pay commission back to the company if a customer cancels a contract or fails to pay after the employee has been paid for the sale.
• Dispute Resolution: The process for resolving commission disagreements between employees and the company.
• Accrual: A rule that designates employment status requirements to qualify for a commission or bonus payout.
• Commission Payout Upon Termination: A payout clause that covers paying out earned commissions to a departing sales rep.
• Signature: When an employee signs off on the commission policy, they are acknowledging understanding of their plan.

Getting rep signatures on these policies also creates alignment and transparency in the compensation process. More importantly, the plan verification process gets employees to re-read their commission policies and ask clarifying questions before signing. Once reps have signed off on the policy, ensure they can access these documents at any time to deepen their understanding of it.

3. Differentiate Earned vs. Unearned Commissions

It’s crucial to clearly define the difference between earned and unearned commissions to avoid confusion or misunderstandings.

For instance, earned commissions are commission payments for which the rep has already met all requirements to receive them, such as closed deals within the earning period. However, Unearned Commissions are commission payments for which the rep hasn’t yet met all requirements to receive them, such as a deal closed but outside the earning period.

Clearly defining these terms in your compensation agreement is fair to both parties in several ways. It ensures the rep receives the compensation they’ve rightfully earned for their completed work and the company doesn’t pay out for work not yet complete. Plus, it builds employee trust and morale by having a transparent and fair outline of the rules.

2. Communicate Clearly With Existing & Departing Reps

Proactive communication throughout a rep’s employment and during their departure is essential to build transparency and trust. As a result, you prevent frustrations, poor morale, and misunderstandings. Your commission-related communications should include:

• Review Policy Terms: Review the relevant commission policy terms with the departing rep to ensure they understand their entitlements.
• Discuss Payout Timeline: Communicate the timeline for a payout of earned commissions.
• Address Concerns: Openly address any questions or concerns the rep may have regarding their outstanding commission.

1. Lead with Fairness.

Establishing fair and equitable policies helps foster trust within the organization so employees know what to expect and what is expected. It supports the company’s reputation in the market and helps attract top talent.

There are various ways to incorporate fairness into your commission policies. For instance, communicate effectively, ensure equal pay for equal skills, experience, and contributions, and offer quota relief. You can also periodically conduct market research to ensure you’re offering market-competitive compensation and request employee feedback concerning their commission plan.

We believe that paying departing reps on what they sold, regardless of the agreement, since they should be paid what they earned instead of what we legally owe them.

Honor Commissions

Do the right thing and honor commissions when a rep leaves. Leveraging our best practices will help you achieve this goal. Know the state laws, establish a clear commission policy, and differentiate earned from unearned commissions. Then practice clear communications with existing and departing reps and establish fair and equitable compensation policies.

QuotaPath partners with leaders to develop fair and equitable compensation plans and policies and make compensation management processes more efficient through our technology. Schedule time with a team member or sign up for a free trial to see for yourself.

Strategic partnerships can lead to up to 30% revenue increases. 

It’s no wonder SaaS companies are heart-eyed toward this function. 

But compensating for this role can be tricky. 

Much like compensation plans for other go-to-market roles, your partnership compensation plans will depend on your organization’s maturity, target market, and goals. 

Are you an early-stage startup forging your first partnerships or a well-established player with a robust partner ecosystem?  Who are you trying to reach with your partners? Understanding their needs and behaviors will dictate the most effective partner compensation approach. Are you aiming for rapid market penetration or building long-term, strategic partnerships that deliver recurring revenue?

By carefully considering these factors, you can design a partnership compensation plan that aligns incentives, motivates your team, and ultimately drives sustainable growth for your SaaS business.

Below, learn about the rise of channel partners and a few ways to consider compensating your in-house partnerships team. 

What is a channel partner?

First, what is a channel partner?

Reaching your target market and achieving consistent growth can be a challenge.  This is where channel partners come in, acting as a powerful extension of your go-to-market (GTM) strategy.

Channel partners are external companies collaborating with you to sell your SaaS product or service. They leverage their established industry relationships, market knowledge, and expertise to reach a broader audience and generate leads on your behalf. 

Essentially, they act as an additional sales force, expanding your market reach, and brand awareness while enhancing your organization’s credibility and reducing your sales and marketing costs.

The most common types of channel partners in SaaS fall into two categories:

• Technology: Technology partners have deep product knowledge and integrate your offering with their services to deliver enhanced customer value (E.g., HubSpot and QuotaPath).
• Resellers: Resellers act as intermediaries, purchasing your software licenses wholesale and then reselling them to end-users at a markup. They focus on distribution and sales volume.

By building a strategic network of channel partners, you add another avenue to increase pipeline and further define your ideal customer profile. 

How to Tell if You’re Ready For Partnerships

Despite the clear benefits of adding partner channels, not every organization will be ready to activate this lever immediately.

Here are some scenarios that indicate your business should add a partnerships vertical:

By recognizing these scenarios, you can identify if a partnership vertical makes sense. 

Rise of Channel Partners

Securing tech partners is a sales play and retention play; the stronger the partnership, the more benefits there are for both. This philosophy has become increasingly clear to businesses in recent years, fueling a dramatic rise in the importance of channel partners within the SaaS landscape.

For instance, according to Glassbox VP of Partnerships Alex Richards, a whopping 85% of SaaS companies acknowledge the critical role strategic partnerships play in their growth trajectory.

Meanwhile, 65% of SaaS companies actively partnered with another organization in the past year, highlighting the shift towards a collaborative approach to market expansion.

For real-time data, search “SaaS Partnerships jobs.” Thousands of roles are open, with about 300 at the executive level. 

These statistics paint a compelling picture: partnerships are not just a trend but a strategic imperative for driving growth and success in today’s competitive SaaS landscape.

2024 Channel Partner Trends 

So, what’s next for channel partnerships? 

Techaisel compiled a list of 10 Channel Partner Predictions, three of which we’ve pulled for you below.

1. Shifting Margins: Partners Embrace Customization

Shrinking margins are pushing partners to move beyond basic reselling. Success lies in offering customized solutions that combine multiple products with high-value services like integration and support. However, striking the right balance is crucial. Partners need to avoid overly generic offerings that get commoditized, while also keeping the cost of highly customized solutions manageable. This shift demands expertise in modular solutions and a flexible approach that adapts to evolving customer needs.

2. AI: Friend or Foe? Partners Adapt to the New Landscape

AI is transforming IT, impacting both partner value propositions and the buying landscape. Channel partners need to embrace AI to stay relevant, offering solutions that leverage its benefits for faster business results and efficiencies. However, a proactive approach is key to avoid being disintermediated by vendors who develop their own AI-powered sales tools. Partners must carefully evaluate trends and invest in capabilities that align with their business goals.

3. From Push to Pull: Partners Embrace Ecosystems

Customer demand for hybrid solutions is driving a shift from traditional channel models to collaborative ecosystems. Partners must adapt by developing strong multi-party collaboration skills and integrating around data-driven solutions. This means focusing on customer needs, not just selling products. Building successful ecosystems will be essential for partners to stay competitive.

Partnership Compensation Plans

With these insights into the partnership landscape, let’s explore compensation plans that incentivize the behaviors and drive the results predicted for successful channel partners.

Think of partnership compensation plans in the same way you would business development: it’s an investment.  

Just like you incentivize your sales team to close deals, a well-designed partnership compensation plan motivates your partners to promote your product or service actively, ultimately driving growth for your entire ecosystem.

Remember that how you structure reseller partners’ compensation will differ from that of referrals from technology partners.

“If it’s a referral, you’re paying the partner something,” said Graham Collins, QuotaPath Head of Partnerships. “So, you might end up paying a collective 20% to honor 10% for the referral from the reseller and another 10% to your sales rep who closes the deal.”

Other things to keep in mind from Graham:

• The base:variable pay split is normally in the 65:35 range for in-house Partnership roles
• The commission rate will vary because it depends on how much of your revenue stems from partnerships
• When paying the referral fee, it’s best practice to keep the commission rate for your sales rep the same (versus lowering it for this scenario)
• Resellers will earn a higher commission rate because the commission stack is lower (you’re not involving sales reps from your side)
• Pay them consummate with the work they are doing for it

New Partnership Team Comp Plan

First, we have a comp plan structure for a new partnership team. 

In our experience, new partner organizations earn compensation according to the number of new partners they get. This could take form based on new partners signed or new partners submitting their first lead. 

Example: Single-rate Bonus (flat fee)  X$ per partner

The New Head of Partnerships receives $500 per partner with a target of adding five partners per month. Again, this could be based on the Head of Partnerships singing them on as a partner or timed with the action of a new partner submitting their first lead to your organizaiton. 

Mature Partnership Team Comp Plan

Once your partnership team matures, it’s time to base their bonus on a pipeline component. This could be according to the number of demos booked via your partner channels.

After that, you’d move to revenue generated from partner channels. 

Add pipeline component – no. of demos booked, then move to revenue generated

“As the partner org. matures even further, and you figure out what good customers and partners to create these with. That’s when you measure revenue sourced/influenced by partners,” said Graham.

Getting in on Partnerships

Crafting a successful partnership compensation strategy requires a careful balance of motivation, alignment, and measurement. 

By understanding your organization’s unique goals and the dynamics of your partner ecosystem, you can design a compensation plan that drives growth and fosters long-term partnerships.

Consider leveraging specialized tools and expertise to maximize the effectiveness of your partnership compensation strategy.

QuotaPath offers comprehensive solutions for managing complex compensation plans, including partnerships. Our platform provides the data, insights, and commission automation needed to optimize your partner incentives and drive exceptional performance.

Let’s connect to discuss your specific needs and explore how QuotaPath can help you achieve your goals.

According to our compensation data, 91% of teams missed sales quota last year.

Market conditions were the leading reason, along with misaligned sales activity and unrealistic quotas or sales goals.

All of which relate to the sales quota.

The pressure to hit these targets can be immense, leading to demotivation, burnout, and ultimately, a revolving door of sales reps paired with missed revenue goals. 

That’s where we come in, with years of experience partnering with organizations to build fair, realistic, and aligned compensation plans and quotas.

In this blog, we’ll explain a step-by-step process for setting quotas. This will ensure that your quotas are both challenging and attainable, keeping your team motivated and on track for success. 

Best Practices Before Setting Your Sales Quota

As you prepare to set your sales quotas, leverage these proven techniques to improve your success.

Gather Historical Data and Market Insights:

• Analyze past sales performance data to understand trends and baselines.
• Research current market conditions and competitor activity.

Set SMART Goals:

• Specific: Clearly define what the quota represents (e.g., revenue, units sold).
• Measurable: Establish quantifiable metrics to track progress.
• Attainable: Set ambitious yet achievable targets based on data and market insights.
• Relevant: Align quotas with overall sales goals and company strategy.
• Time-Bound: Define a clear timeframe for achieving the quota (e.g., quarterly, annually).

Consider Team Input and Collaboration:

• Involve your sales team in quota discussions to gather feedback and foster ownership.
• Facilitate discussions about individual and team goals to ensure alignment.

Account for Territory and Product Variations:

• Adjust quotas for different territories based on market size, customer base, and sales complexity.
• If applicable, tailor quotas to account for varying product lines with different price points and sales cycles.

Factor in External Influences:

• Be prepared to adjust quotas based on unforeseen market shifts or economic changes.
• Consider seasonal trends that might impact sales performance within specific timeframes.

Communicate Clearly and Transparently:

• Clearly explain the rationale behind the quotas to your sales team.
• Regularly communicate progress and provide ongoing support throughout the sales cycle.

Review and Revise as Needed:

• Monitor performance regularly and be ready to adjust if necessary.
• Conduct periodic reviews to assess the effectiveness of the quota and fine-tune for future periods.

Steps to Set a Sales Quota

Now you’re ready to set your sales quota.

There are various types of revenue and non-revenue quotas, with revenue quotas being the most common. Follow these steps to set your revenue-based sales quotas.

1. Calculate revenue targets based on OTE

Sales reps must generate sufficient revenue to pay for themselves including such costs as base salary, benefits, overhead, and commission. The revenue target should equal some multiplier of the salesperson’s on-target earnings (OTE).

We typically recommend a quota multiplier between 3x and 8x of your team’s OTE. However, the multiplier varies based on industry, experience, location, and company size.

For example, if your salesperson is a mid-level SaaS rep who has a $120K OTE. Using a commonly used 5x OTE, would result in an annual quota of $600K.

Next, you must decide whether your quota is monthly, quarterly, or annual.

2. Determine quota period

When setting quota frequency, consider the sales cycle length, average sales price, and company stage.

Our research revealed that companies commonly rely on average sales price and sales cycle length to determine quota periods with quarterly cycles being most frequently selected.

Factoring in the company stage typically leads to longer quota periods for older and established companies, and shorter quota cycles, such as monthly, for startups to create a sense of urgency with their reps.

Using the example of the rep with a $120K OTE, a $600K annualized quota translates to a $50K monthly or $150K quarterly quota.

3. Confirm the quota is achievable

Setting a quota is not an exact science, therefore it’s typically necessary to assess for effectiveness and adjust accordingly.

Sales quotas need to be challenging but attainable. If they are too high, your sales team may become demotivated or simply stop trying to achieve it, and they may choose to leave.

We’re not saying that 100% of your team members should hit quota, a good standard is 80% of reps hitting it each period. This usually results in the overall team hitting quota as top performers make up for laggards.

How do you determine how achievable your quotas are? For instance, take the $50K monthly quota from our earlier example. If your salespeople average $25K per month in sales, the quota or OTE may be too high. However, if your team members average $75K per month in sales, the quota may be too low.

Bear in mind that companies experiencing high growth or low growth are more likely to experience these ‘overpayment’ or ‘underpayment situations due to an ever-changing marketplace, according to Alexander Group. This is especially true when the company is striving to encourage additional growth by setting aggressive quotas and may lead to fewer reps hitting quota.

Comp Plan Evaluation

Take the 1-minute evaluation to get a grade on your existing compensation plan.

Take Quiz

What To Do If Your Quota Is Wrong

Unachievable or “wrong” quotas stem from various factors such as data misinterpretation, market shifts, lack of team input, low team morale, and high turnover. Once you recognize that you have the wrong quotas, you can take measures to adjust them.

Take action by:

• Reviewing sales data to identify trends and pinpoint areas of deviation. Make sure you consider external factors in addition to the obvious internal factors. For instance, market volatility and competitive changes must be considered in addition to individual and overall team performance.  

• Holding open communication between sales reps and leadership through scheduled meetings. Discuss concerns, present data-driven evidence of quota inaccuracies in 1-to-1 and team meetings, and gather feedback about how reps believe the plan can be improved. Then, incorporate that feedback when adjusting your quota structure.

• Evaluating other solutions outside of adjusting quota. Sometimes, the solution lies outside the quota. Provide the team with additional resources, coaching resources, or revised timelines. For instance, individual team members may need additional coaching to develop their closing skills or improve their discovery calls to meet or exceed their quotas.

Resources to Help

Setting effective sales quotas is essential to achieving business objectives. Leverage our best practices to improve your success as you prepare to set a sales quota. This includes proactively gathering data, insights, and team input, as well as accounting for territory and product variations and external influences.

Then, follow our simple three-step process for setting a sales quota. If your quota is incorrect, identify the root causes and address them accordingly.

These additional tools will help with your comp plan and quota designs:

• Compensation Plan Templates 
• Quota:OTE Calculator
• Sales Funnel Calculator

Schedule time with a team member, or check out QuotaPath with a free trial to run and manage sales compensation more efficiently. 

Spiff program management refers to the design, strategy, and execution of SPIFFs (short for sales performance incentive fund formula) to maximize sales revenue during a set period. It’s a common tactic adopted by revenue teams with powerful outcomes.

Well-designed spiff programs can boost sales by up to 20%. 

Remember that fast-start spiff that rewarded your sales team with a nice bonus for closing deals the first week of the quarter to distribute revenue? 

It felt good, right? 

While incentive designs like spiffs hold immense potential, poorly managed programs can lead to confusion, administrative headaches, and loss of appeal with your reps. In some cases, spiffs can hinder sales performance. 

Effective program management and optimization are the keys to unlocking the power of spiffs. 

This blog highlights best practices for implementing successful spiff programs, including clear communication, leveraging technology, and celebrating achievements.  

Do SPIFs work?

Nearly every sales organization runs sales performance incentive funds (SPIFFs) throughout the year. But do they work? Learn when and how to use them effectively.

Take Me to Article

Best Practices for Spiff Program Management

When designed strategically, we’ve established that spiff programs can be powerful tools for employee motivation and driving accurate results. But simply throwing out a spiff and hoping for the best isn’t a recipe for success. 

The true magic lies in effective program management.

This section will delve into the key best practices for ensuring your spiff programs are well-organized and transparent, ultimately achieving the desired impact on your sales team and bottom line. 

Follow these best practices to solidify your sales rewards programs.

 Spiff Ideation

First, you’ll want to carefully craft out what the spiff is and what you hope it accomplishes.

• Align Spiffs with Business Objectives: Don’t create spiffs in a vacuum. Ensure they directly tie into your overall sales goals and strategic initiatives. Is there a product line that needs a push?  Are you trying to close deals with a specific customer segment?  Design your spiff to incentivize behaviors that directly contribute to achieving these goals.
• Simplicity is Key:  Spiffs shouldn’t be complex puzzles for your sales team to solve.  Keep the program guidelines clear, concise, and easy to understand. This includes clearly defining the target actions, outlining the reward structure, and setting achievable targets. A confused salesperson is a disengaged salesperson.
• Offer Compelling Rewards: The reward is what motivates the behavior. While financial incentives are common, consider other options as well. Think about what would truly excite your sales team. This could be exclusive experiences, additional paid time off, recognition on a leaderboard, or early access to new products.

Communicating Program Details to the Team

The next thing to keep in mind is communication.

Your sales team needs to understand every aspect of the program, from its goals and objectives to the actions that will earn them rewards. 

Here’s how to ensure your communication is transparent and leaves no room for confusion:

• Clearly define program goals and objectives: Right from the start, explain the “why” behind the spiff program. What are you hoping to achieve with this initiative? Is it to increase new product line sales, incentivize upselling, or shorten sales cycles? By understanding the program’s purpose, your team will be better equipped to align their efforts and maximize their earning potential.
• Outline eligible products, services, or activities: Don’t leave your sales team guessing what qualifies for a spiff reward. Clearly outline the specific products, services, or activities that trigger a payout. This could be closing deals above a certain value threshold, selling specific product bundles, or onboarding new customers within a set timeframe.
• Specify reward structures and timelines: Reward transparency is key to motivating participation. Detail the exact payout structure for achieving the defined goals. Will it be a flat fee, a commission percentage, or a tiered reward system? Additionally, communicate the timeframe for earning and receiving rewards. Knowing when they can expect to see the fruits of their labor keeps your team engaged and focused.
• Communicate program rules and expectations: Lay out any specific rules or limitations associated with the program. Are there any exclusions or blackout periods? Is there a minimum participation requirement? Review these details to avoid misunderstandings and ensure everyone is on the same page.
• Use multiple communication channels: Don’t rely on a single announcement to convey the message. Utilize a variety of channels to reach your sales team. This could include sending a comprehensive email outlining the program details, presenting the information during a sales meeting, and posting the guidelines on your company intranet for easy reference.

 Leveraging Technology for Efficiency

Third, remember that technology is your friend and can make tracking, communicating, and executing spiffs easier.

Here’s how QuotaPath empowers you to leverage technology for seamless spiff program management:

By leveraging QuotaPath’s powerful features, you can streamline spiff program management, save valuable time and resources, and drive higher sales performance through a motivated and engaged sales team.

Celebrating Success and Rewarding Participants

Now for the fun part.

Remember, spiff programs aren’t solely defined by revenue-related sales success. Spiffs contribute to your team’s motivation, competition, and recognition culture.

For your spiff initiative to shine, you have to celebrate and reward your team in engaging ways. 

Here are a few ideas to do so:

• Public Recognition: Don’t underestimate the power of a public “shout-out.” Acknowledge top performers at team meetings, company-wide announcements, or even social media posts (with their permission, of course!). This public recognition validates their hard work and inspires others to strive for similar achievements.
• Leaderboards and Gamification: Inject some friendly competition into your spiff program with leaderboards that showcase top performers in real time. Consider incorporating gamification elements like points, badges, or virtual trophies to add an extra layer of fun and motivation.
• Tiered Rewards: Structure your rewards program with different tiers based on performance levels. This incentivizes continuous improvement and allows everyone to feel a sense of accomplishment as they progress through the tiers.
• Experiences Over Things: While traditional gifts and merchandise have their place, consider offering unique experiences as rewards. Think weekend getaways, tickets to sporting events, or personalized training opportunities. These create lasting memories and demonstrate your genuine appreciation.
• Instantaneous Rewards: Positive reinforcement works wonders. Offer instant rewards, like gift cards or bonus commissions, to help you achieve specific milestones. This provides immediate gratification and fuels continued effort.

Use spiffs to foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Recognize not just individual achievements but also team victories and instances where team members supported each other’s success. This reinforces the importance of teamwork and creates a positive and motivating environment.

By implementing these strategies, you can transform your spiff program from a transactional system into a powerful tool for boosting morale, driving engagement, and celebrating the achievements of your sales team.

7 Spiff Examples for your GTM Team

Ready for some examples to consider for the rest of the year?

Below are seven creative spiff ideas designed to incentivize desired actions, celebrate achievements, and cultivate a positive sales environment while ensuring your spiff program complements, not replaces, a solid compensation plan.

1. Fast Start: Motivate your team to hit the ground running at the beginning of a quarter by offering a bonus commission (e.g., $100-$200) to the first X number of salespeople who close deals within the first week. This will jumpstart activity and set the tone for a strong quarter.

2. Upsell & Cross-Sell: Encourage expanding customer value by rewarding salespeople who achieve the highest number of upsells or cross-sells within a specific timeframe. This metric could be tied to revenue generated from upsells/cross-sells or the number of successful upsells/cross-sells completed.

3. Outbound Pipeline: Focus on building a healthy sales pipeline by rewarding the salesperson who adds the most outbound qualified leads to the CRM within a set period. This incentivizes proactive prospecting and ensures a steady flow of potential customers.

4. Mid-goal Milestone: Break down larger sales goals into smaller, achievable milestones. Offer a tiered reward system in which salespeople receive a bonus (e.g., a gift card, or an extra vacation day) for reaching specific milestones toward their overall quota. This keeps them motivated and provides a sense of accomplishment as they progress.

5. Retention: Customer retention is crucial for SaaS businesses. Recognize the salesperson with the highest customer retention rate within a specific period. This could be a bonus commission or a reward tied to the value of retained accounts.
   
6. Onboarding: A smooth onboarding experience is critical to customer satisfaction. Reward the salesperson whose new customers score the highest customer satisfaction during onboarding. This incentivizes them to prioritize a positive onboarding experience.

7. Teamwork: Create a team-based spiff to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing. Offer a bonus or reward for the team that collectively achieves the highest sales target within a timeframe. This fosters a sense of camaraderie and motivates everyone to contribute to the team’s success.

Lessons Learned from Spiff Program Failures

Lastly, spiffs can be a game-changer for your sales team, but even the most well-intentioned programs can fall flat. Here are some key lessons learned from common spiff program failures to help you avoid these pitfalls:

• Misaligned Goals: Ensure your spiff program incentivizes behaviors directly contributing to your overall sales strategy. Don’t reward activity metrics that don’t translate to actual sales or long-term customer value.
• Unclear Communication: Clearly communicate all program details, including eligibility criteria, reward structures, and timelines. Ambiguity breeds confusion and frustration among your team.
• Unrealistic Targets: Setting unattainable goals can quickly demotivate your team. Balance ambition with achievability to ensure everyone has a fair shot at earning rewards.
• Overly Complex Programs: Keep your spiff program clear and easy to understand. Complex rules and calculations will create confusion and discourage participation.
• Lack of Transparency: Maintain transparency throughout the program. Share updates on leaderboards regularly and ensure everyone understands how rewards are calculated and awarded.
• One-Size-Fits-All Approach: Cater to individual preferences whenever possible. Offer various reward options to appeal to different motivators within your team.
• Short-Term Focus: While spiffs can provide a quick boost, consider the importance of long-term goals. Integrate your spiff program with your overall compensation plan for a holistic approach.
• Neglecting Recognition: Rewards are important, but take into account the power of public recognition. Celebrate achievements and acknowledge individual and team contributions.
• Poor Measurement and Tracking: Track key metrics to measure the effectiveness of your spiff program. Analyze data to identify what’s working and adjust accordingly to optimize future iterations.

By learning from these common pitfalls, you can design a spiff program that effectively motivates your team, drives desired sales behaviors and contributes to overall sales success.

Use QuotaPath to Simplify Your Spiff Program Management

We’ve explored the power of creative spiff programs to incentivize your team, celebrate achievements, and foster a positive sales environment. However, remember, spiffs are most effective when they complement, not replace, a solid base compensation plan.

You can design a spiff program that motivates your team and drives results by avoiding common pitfalls like misaligned goals, unclear communication, and unrealistic targets. Remember to prioritize clear communication, transparency, and various reward options to cater to different preferences. Track your program’s effectiveness and integrate it with your overall sales strategy for a holistic approach.

Implement spiffs with automated tracking

QuotaPath, the most adaptable commission tracking software on the market, offers a comprehensive sales performance management platform to streamline spiff program administration.

Our user-friendly interface makes creating, managing, and tracking your spiff programs easy. It ensures clear communication, real-time updates, and effortless reward distribution. Explore QuotaPath today and see how we can help you design and implement a spiff program that delivers actual results.

This is a guest blog from the data and AI company, Databricks.

Sales forecasting is supposed to make everyone’s lives easier. Sales and marketing have their targets. Customer services and accounting understand workloads and expected revenue. Despite this, a report found that 68% of companies miss their sales forecast by more than 10%.

Why such a huge discrepancy? Businesses aren’t using the right data or nearly enough of it. 

AI lead scoring is a strategy that improves forecast accuracy and empowers your organization with more efficient sales and marketing activities.

In this article, we’ll explain how AI lead scoring can benefit your business.

What is AI Lead Scoring?

AI lead scoring uses machine learning (ML) and predictive modeling to rank sales prospects. Data such as demographics and customer behavior train AI models. The AI then identifies the trends and patterns of your target audience. AI lead scoring drives marketing and sales optimization.

Data processed in AI lead scoring includes:

• Customer personal information
• Firmographics such as company size
• Engagement with emails and marketing campaigns
• Social media interactions
• Psychographic data such as interests and cultural beliefs
• Loyalty data, including purchase history and customer loyalty metrics

Image sourced from close.com

Using this information, the AI algorithms quickly identify the potential of each lead by assigning them a score. Lead scoring turns your sales pipeline into a cascading sales funnel of momentum. 

Traditional vs AI Lead Scoring

Traditional lead scoring has been around for about as long as the sales funnel has been a concept. It requires a hands-on, manual process from both sales and marketing professionals. 

Much of the scoring information comes from lead magnets. What is a lead magnet in marketing? It’s that free ebook or email newsletter you get prospects to sign up for.

Team members must seek out categorical information and rank it against baselines before assigning a score. The baselines typically come from ideal customer profiles (ICPs). Much of the scoring is down to the subjectivity of the person doing the ranking, and liable to human error.

Because AI uses historical data for accurate results, AI-based solutions allow organizations to automate and improve efficiencies in the sales pipeline.

AI lead scoring reduces the need for salespeople to be involved in the ranking process. It helps to eliminate human error, emotion, and bias from lead scoring. 

Let’s look at a breakdown comparing AI and traditional lead scoring:

The benefits of AI Lead Scoring

It takes considerable effort to set up an AI lead-scoring strategy. Is the ROI worth it?

Let’s take a look at some AI lead-scoring benefits:

• More accurate, less biased lead scoring: AI calculates without emotion or prior influence. The algorithm connects the dots to find quality leads that your team might miss.
• Reduced human error: automation reduces errors associated with manual entry such as duplicates.
• Increased flexibility: train models with new datasets to adjust for changing market trends. Lead scoring also scales with need without increasing the workloads on your team.  
• Saved time: automation reduces the need for manual lead scoring, increasing sales productivity. Your sales and marketing teams can spend more time engaging potential customers and growing your pipeline.
• Increased profits: your team focuses on the best leads for higher conversion rates.
• Integrated with business tools: connect your CRM, ERP, and other platforms for analysis and more precise modeling. Use scoring data in real time for more accurate demand planning and sales forecasting.
• Streamlines processes: AI not only enhances sales-related processes but also reduces manual workloads across various departments, such as inventory management and accounts payable, improving overall operational efficiency.
• Lower costs: eliminates manual scoring, reducing your labor overheads.

How AI optimizes sales forecasting

Sales forecasting is vital to your business’s strategic planning. It helps you better allocate resources and budget expenditures based on revenue projections. 

So how does predictive AI improve forecasting?

Precision of data-driven insights

AI lead scoring requires large volumes of data. While this can take some initial work, it pays off in dividends. Behavioral analytics offer new insights into your target audience and how to better engage with them. 

Predictive analytics also produce opportunities such as personalized marketing. AI-powered insights help your team tailor each interaction for a better customer experience and higher win rates. 

Record every touchpoint for more accurate lead scoring and forecasting.

For example, a recent survey of marketers identified aligning web content with search intent as the most effective use case for AI. With automated lead scoring, you can discover which pages to audit and which to leave alone.

Let’s say you have a landing page for your certification for data engineers course. Automated lead scoring shows that most visitors are data scientists, creating a mismatch. Your marketing team takes this insight and audits the page for better SEO keywords. 

You can flag the lower-performing pages for search engine optimization using data-driven insights. You can consider your new SEO strategy when generating your next sales forecast.

Better lead scoring

AI models identity patterns from data your sales team simply doesn’t have access to or the bandwidth to process. For example, website user behavioral data connects to your AI lead scoring. The algorithm identifies high-quality leads based on their browsing behavior.  

Better lead scoring will improve your sales numbers. It will also give you a more accurate idea of what’s happening in your funnel. Use this data to bolster your short and long-term sales forecasts.

Connection between marketing and sales

Lead scoring provides a pulse check on your sales pipeline. With human error and bias eliminated, there’s no one to point the finger at. AI lead scoring aligns marketing and sales with the cold, hard facts. 

Accurate lead scoring gives both teams a common system and promotes inter-departmental collaboration. To maximize the benefits of this alignment, it’s often necessary to hire marketers who are skilled in interpreting AI data and executing effective strategies. This can help increase lead quality and improve sales forecasting is in each department’s best interests.

Real-time predictions

AI lead scoring begins as soon as a prospect enters your pipeline. With each interaction, their score changes, becoming more precise.

All ranking data feeds into other business tools, such as sales forecasting. Over time, models adapt for greater accuracy, sending better data to those tools. In other words, the more data your AI lead scoring analyzes, the more accurate it becomes at predicting sales. 

It also helps you make more money. A recent survey found that 80% of global businesses saw increased revenue after implementing real-time data.

How to implement predictive lead scoring with AI

Customers interact with your brand in a wide variety of ways. When they enter the pipeline, you’ve already got ample information about their likelihood to make a purchase. However, you need to learn how to crack the code and decipher customer intent.

How do you put together a lead or account scoring strategy led by predictive AI?

1. Identify target audience

Sales team marketing tactics begin with knowing your target audience. Collaborate with your marketing and sales teams to create ideal customer profiles. You can base ICPs on market research and historical data but there may be a bit of guesswork at the beginning. 

What type of characteristics make up your ideal customer? Create specific details for each profile based on the following criteria:

• Demographics: age, gender, education, income, occupation, household size, geographic location
• Firmographics (B2B): company size, turnover, revenue, industry, existing tech stack, location
• Lead behavior: touchpoint interactions, marketing engagement, past purchase history
• Psychographics: values, attitudes, interests, buying habits
• Pain points: what challenge does your product solve for this customer?

For example, let’s look at an ICP for a company that provides marketing and sales automation:

• Businesses with 100+ employees
• Annual turnover exceeding 10 million dollars
• Multiple outbound sales channels
• Three-month buying decision process
• Ability to call international numbers with a local presence

Remember these are ideal customer profiles. Not every lead will be a perfect fit. It’s still up to identify the best opportunities—that’s where lead scoring enters the picture!

2. Gather data

You can’t start ranking new leads without any data. What sources of information will help you (or the AI) determine the value of a lead?

Build a data collection strategy that aligns with your ICPs, pulling in the right data from every relevant channel.

Some sources for lead scoring data include:

• Websites: track visitor activity while interacting with your web pages. Tracking pixels and cookies identify repeat visitors. You can also use website forms to gain contact information and other demographic details. Heatmaps and session recordings add another level of insight into user behavior.
• Business tools: customer relationship management (CRM) software and other apps are great sources.
• Social media: use a social media analytics tool to record prospect engagement rates and gather firmographic data. Incorporating a social media post generator can automate content creation, ensuring consistent engagement and data collection.
• Content marketing: email marketing tools and other solutions enable you to track clicks, open rates, and conversions for every prospect.
• Lead source: the origin of each lead is vital to lead scoring. Organic website traffic will have a different win rate than a customer referral. If historical data is scarce, consider using a Bayesian Neural Network (BNN) to make the most out of every dataset. You will use this data to train and evaluate your predictive model later on.
• Spam detection: not every interaction adds up to a positive. Some leads can be bots or disinterested users. For example, a freelance writer may have no use for your sales dialer, but they do want access to your most recent industry report.
  

3. Segment your leads

The goal of any lead scoring system is to evaluate potential customers for fit and interest. We can divide this into four basic categories: avoid, Stimulate Interest, Follow up, and Take Orders. 

The beauty of lead scoring is that you get a more granular classification of every lead, streamlining customer segmentation. A typical system uses scores from  0 to 100 or 0 to 1. You can usually adjust this to what works best for you. 

Prioritize scoring criteria in order of what you think is most valuable. Give more weight to the top factors by making them worth more points. As you move down the list, decrease the weight score for each category. 

If every box is ticked on an ICP, the lead score should add up to 100.

4. Set a lead score threshold

Your ideal customers are just that, ideal. These types of businesses or individuals are the unicorns your sales and marketing teams dream of. Here in the real world, you compromise on what prospects to spend your time and money on. 

Looking at the data so far, it’s time to set a minimum lead score. This will be the threshold for the “Avoid” category. Any lead that falls below this score can’t be ignored and forgotten. 

Start with a low threshold. This ensures you don’t miss out on opportunities, and soon, the predictive AI will hone in on an optimal score.

5. Train your AI model

Okay, so you have the foundation of a lead scoring system in place. The good news is that you aren’t going to rely on your team to manually tally up every individual score. It’s time to train your predictive AI.

Use separate data sets to train your AI. The first set will teach the AI as it looks for patterns. You will use the second set to test the accuracy of your trained AI.

The AI training process for lead scoring is as follows:

1. Gather historical customer and market data and form two sets of data.
2. Clean and process the data, removing duplicates and errors.
3. Train the AI with dataset one.
4. Test the AI with dataset two and evaluate for accuracy.
5. Deploy the model and start generating lead scores.
   
6. Monitor results and adjust

Now your AI lead scoring model is putting out scores nearly instantaneously. Sounds great, right? However, it’s time to evaluate the results. Use your CRM and sales analytics tools to monitor the results.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) to track include:

• Conversion rate
• Win rate
• Lead-to-opportunity ratio
• Sales velocity
• Revenue
• Customer lifetime value
• Lead score accuracy

Establish a baseline for every metric before implementing an AI solution. Compare the results. If performance is decreasing or staying put, it’s time to re-evaluate your lead scoring model. 

Use AI Lead Scoring to win more sales

Growth is great. When your business increases its total sales, everyone is busy. However, you don’t want to stretch your team out too thin. AI lead scoring ensures every prospect is rated fairly and without bias, saving your team valuable time. 

You can focus your resources on the best opportunities while preventing potential buyers from slipping away. Setting up an AI lead scoring system for your business takes time, but it’s worth it in the long run.

There are RevOps, Marketing Ops, and even Financial Operations, but have you heard of Field Operations?

These various operations roles exist to support and optimize their specific areas. However, where Field Operations differs from others is they offer direct support and optimization to geographically dispersed teams through various means.

RevOps vs. Sales Ops

An interview with RevOps Leader Christian Freese

Take Me to Blog

What is Field Ops

Field Operations is a business function within a company that supports and optimizes the work of its field teams.

Differences between RevOps and Field Ops

Two main areas distinguish RevOps from Field Ops: scope and objectives.

Here’s a breakdown of their key distinctions.

Scope:

• RevOps: Takes a holistic approach, encompassing all aspects of the customer lifecycle that contribute to revenue generation. This includes marketing, sales, customer success, and sometimes even finance and operations.

• Field Ops: This function focuses specifically on supporting and optimizing the work of geographically dispersed field teams. These teams typically include sales representatives, customer success managers, and field technicians.

Objectives:

• RevOps: Aims to align all revenue-generating activities across departments, streamline processes, and improve efficiency to maximize revenue. They focus on the big picture, ensuring smooth handoffs between stages of the customer journey.

• Field Ops: Prioritizes direct support for field teams to enhance their productivity and effectiveness. This involves streamlining their workflows, providing resources, and ensuring alignment with overall sales and customer success strategies.

Analogy:

Imagine a revenue generation process as a complex machine. RevOps is responsible for ensuring that all the machine’s parts (marketing, sales, customer success) work together efficiently. They maintain the machine and optimize its overall performance.

Meanwhile, Field Operations focuses on the smooth operation of specific components within the machine (the field teams). They provide lubrication and adjustments and ensure these components are functioning at their best.

When to Add Field Ops

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the exact growth stage when companies build a “field ops” function with embedded ops business partners. However, several factors can influence this decision:

Sales Team Size and Complexity

Often, companies establish a dedicated field ops function when their sales team reaches a critical mass. This might be around 50-100 sales reps, or even sooner if the sales organization has complexities like multiple channels, territories, or product lines, and distributed sales teams.

With a larger and more intricate sales structure, the need for dedicated support to streamline operations and ensure alignment with central strategies becomes more pressing.

Scaling Challenges

As a company scales its sales efforts, maintaining operational efficiency and supporting rep productivity becomes crucial. Field ops help automate processes, create playbooks, and provide on-the-ground support to navigate these challenges.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Field ops teams often play a crucial role in gathering and analyzing sales data. This data identifies operational bottlenecks, optimizes processes, and informs strategic decisions. As data becomes central to sales success, the need for a dedicated function to manage it grows.

Maturity of Sales Processes

Companies with immature sales processes or inconsistent practices can benefit significantly from a field ops function. These embedded business partners can help standardize processes, ensure best practices are followed, and drive overall sales effectiveness.

Here are some additional considerations:

• Budgetary Constraints: Building a dedicated field ops team comes with additional costs. Smaller companies or those with limited resources might leverage other solutions like outsourcing or utilizing existing sales leadership to handle some field ops functions.

•  Company Culture: Some companies take a more centralized, top-down approach to sales, while others prefer a more distributed model with empowered sales teams. The company culture will influence the need and structure of a field ops function.

In conclusion, while there’s no magic number, companies typically build a field ops function with embedded ops business partners when their sales teams reach a critical size and complexity, encounter scaling challenges, prioritize data-driven decision-making, or require support in maturing their sales processes.  The timing will depend on the company’s unique circumstances and growth trajectory.

About QuotaPath

QuotaPath supports field ops by providing a centralized location for automated commissions and forecasted earnings and attainment. This makes it suitable for distributed sales and operations teams, building transparency and trust. 

To learn more, chat with our team or try QuotaPath for yourself with a free commission tracking trial.

Instilling a culture of financial accountability amongst your employees is good for business.

So much so, that a study conducted by the Aberdeen Group found that companies with strong financial accountability practices experience 21% higher profitability compared to those without. This suggests a clear link between financial awareness and improved efficiency.

Empowering employees to be financially accountable also helps them align their work with the business’s goals, making it more likely to achieve said goals. Additionally, financial accountability increases transparency within your organization and, therefore, trust. 

When your team understands the financial impact of their decisions, they’re more likely to make choices that benefit the company’s bottom line. This can range from minimizing waste and maximizing resource utilization to focusing efforts on tasks (and sales) with the highest return on investment.

Financial accountability isn’t just about saving money, it’s about building a more engaged and effective workforce, which translates to better decision-making, increased efficiency, and a more positive work environment.

In this blog, we’ll explore 7 strategies to build financial accountability among employees, improve financial transparency, and achieve your revenue goals together.

7 Best Practices to Increase Employee Financial Accountability

There are many best practices for cultivating financial accountability within your organization, but we’ve selected five that we’ve found most effective. 

Regularly Communicate Revenue & Retention Targets

First and foremost, your leadership should consistently communicate the organization’s key business goals, and progress toward those. 

Transparency fosters trust and empowers employees to see the bigger picture.  When everyone understands the company’s strategic objectives, they can better align their individual efforts and make informed decisions that contribute to overall success.  

Regular updates on progress towards goals,  whether positive or negative,  keep everyone engaged and motivated. This open communication loop ensures everyone is rowing in the same direction,  ultimately leading to a more financially accountable and successful organization.

• Transparency and Alignment: Make sure everyone in the company understands the revenue and retention targets, and how their individual roles contribute to achieving them.
• Regular Tracking and Communication: Regularly monitor progress towards these targets and communicate updates to the team. This fosters a sense of shared ownership and accountability.
• Weekly Meetings: Consider holding regular meetings (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on your company’s pace) to discuss financial performance, upcoming goals, and potential challenges. This fosters open communication and keeps everyone aligned.
• Actionable Outcomes: End meetings with clear action items and assigned responsibilities. This ensures accountability and helps track progress towards achieving financial objectives.

Goal Tracking

Once you’ve established clear targets and fostered transparency around them, it’s crucial to equip your employees with the tools they need to track progress. This empowers them to take ownership of their goals and fosters a sense of healthy competition.

Tailored Tracking for Different Teams:

• Go-to-Market Teams:  For teams on incentive pay, tools like QuotaPath offer valuable insights. Real-time and forecasted earnings data allows them to see their impact on the bottom line and adjust strategies accordingly. This fosters a results-oriented mindset and motivates them to achieve financial targets.
• Non-Incentive Teams: Alternative methods can be implemented for teams without incentive plans. Gamification—incorporating game mechanics like points, leaderboards, and badges—can inject a fun element into goal tracking and encourage friendly competition.

Data Visualization:

Another powerful tool is data visualization. Interactive dashboards and reports allow employees to see progress visually, understand their position relative to goals, and identify any potential roadblocks. This transparency empowers them to make data-driven decisions and course-correct as needed.

By providing a variety of goal-tracking methods, you cater to different learning styles and preferences within your workforce.  Ultimately, the goal is to ensure everyone has a clear understanding of their progress and how it contributes to achieving the company’s financial objectives.

How to Align Your Comp Plans to North Star Metrics

Business efficiency metrics, such as profitability and line of sight to cash flow, are a top priority for most SaaS companies and startups.

Take Me to Blog

Align Compensation with Financial Performance

Next, align your compensation plans with financial performance to create a powerful incentive for employees to prioritize the company’s bottom line. 

It sounds like a no-brainer, but in our report, we found that 39% of leaders failed to align their compensation plans with targets. 

Here are two key strategies to consider:

• Performance-Based Incentives: Implementing performance-based bonuses or commissions directly ties employee rewards to achieving financial goals. This fosters a results-oriented mindset and motivates employees to make decisions that contribute to financial success.  When employees see a clear link between their efforts and their compensation, they’re more likely to go the extra mile and become financially invested in the company’s well-being.
• Profit-sharing: Profit-sharing programs offer another compelling approach. By giving employees a stake in the company’s financial success, you create a sense of ownership and a shared destiny. This fosters a collaborative environment where everyone is working towards the same goal – maximizing profits.  Employees become more mindful of responsible resource allocation and cost-saving measures, as their own financial well-being is directly tied to the company’s profitability.

By implementing these strategies, you can create a win-win situation. 

Employees feel valued and motivated by their compensation structure, while the company benefits from a more financially accountable workforce that’s driven to achieve financial 

Rely on RevOps as Data Storytellers

Our recommendation is that you lean on your data storytellers to share past performance, progress, and projections.

AKA: RevOps. 

RevOps teams are uniquely positioned for this role as the translator, transforming raw data into a clear and compelling story for the entire company. They often oversee the setup and monitoring of performance metrics for Go-to-Market (GTM) teams, giving them a comprehensive understanding of the data that drives financial success.  

By leveraging their expertise, you can:

• Communicate Target Setting: RevOps can explain the reasoning behind target setting, highlighting factors like market trends, historical performance, and competitor analysis. This transparency builds trust and empowers employees to see the bigger picture.
  
• Showcase Past Performance: RevOps can present past performance data in a clear and concise format, allowing employees to understand the company’s financial trajectory. This historical context helps them see their individual contributions within a broader framework.
  
• Project Future Performance: Using current performance data and market insights, RevOps can provide financial projections and forecasts. This empowers employees to anticipate future challenges and opportunities and make data-driven decisions aligned with the company’s financial goals.

Relying on RevOps as data storytellers can foster a culture of transparency and empower your employees to make financially responsible decisions that drive the company’s success.

Share Budget, Runway (if applicable)

Another best practice is to share the budget at the department or team levels and, when applicable, your organization’s runway and valuation with the entire company. 

Budget Talks: Sharing the budget empowers employees to understand the financial constraints the company operates under. This allows them to make informed decisions that align with financial goals and avoid unnecessary spending. Visualizations like charts and graphs can make budget information clear and easy to understand for everyone, regardless of their financial background.

Runway Clarity: If your company is a startup, consider sharing runway information. This helps employees understand how long the company can operate with existing cash flow before needing additional funding. 

Be sure to clearly define what the runway represents,  such as the number of months the company can continue operations.

Valuation Transparency: Striking a balance between transparency and sensitivity is key when considering valuation. While sharing a specific valuation figure can be sensitive, focusing on growth metrics and overall company health can paint a clear picture of the company’s financial well-being. 

 Employees can gain valuable insights into the company’s trajectory without being privy to potentially confidential valuation details.

By openly sharing relevant financial information, you empower your employees, build trust, and encourage responsible financial decision-making throughout the organization. This transparency fosters a sense of ownership and motivates employees to contribute to the company’s continued financial success.

Leverage Technology for Financial Visibility

We’ve mentioned some tools above that can help in this arena, including QuotaPath and data visualization platforms (we use Mode, for example). Some other ones to consider include: 

• Financial Reporting Tools: Implement financial reporting tools that provide employees with easy access to relevant financial data. Interactive dashboards with clear visualizations like charts and graphs make the data readily understandable, regardless of an employee’s financial background.  This empowers them to see how their daily activities contribute to the company’s financial performance.
  
• Budgeting Software: Consider implementing budgeting software that allows employees to see how their departmental spending aligns with the overall budget. This transparency fosters a sense of ownership. When employees see the direct impact of their spending decisions, they’re more likely to be mindful of costs and make responsible resource allocation choices.  Budgeting software can also empower them to identify areas for potential savings and contribute to overall financial efficiency.

By leveraging technology to democratize access to financial data, you empower your employees and cultivate a culture of financial accountability that drives better decision-making and ultimately fuels the company’s financial success.

Celebrate Achievements and Recognize Effort

Lastly, celebrate!

Financial accountability isn’t just about hitting targets; it’s about creating a culture of continuous improvement and celebrating progress along the way.

 Here’s how to acknowledge both achievements and the ongoing journey towards financial responsibility:

• Milestone Celebrations: Reaching financial milestones is a cause for celebration! Publicly recognize and celebrate these achievements. This reinforces the importance of financial responsibility and motivates employees to strive for continued success. Company-wide announcements, team lunches, or bonus awards can all be effective ways to show appreciation.
• Effort and Improvement: The road to financial success isn’t always smooth. Recognize and reward employees who demonstrate a commitment to financial accountability, even if the outcome isn’t perfect. Perhaps an employee identified a cost-saving opportunity or went the extra mile to ensure responsible resource allocation. Praising such efforts reinforces the value of responsible financial behavior and creates a culture of learning from experiences.

By acknowledging both achievements and ongoing efforts, you foster a growth mindset within your organization. Employees feel valued for their contributions, regardless of the final outcome. This motivates them to continuously strive for financial responsibility and contribute to the company’s long-term financial success.

Start Building Financial Accountability

Financial accountability isn’t a magic trick; it’s a carefully crafted strategy for empowering your employees and fostering a culture of shared financial responsibility. By implementing the practices outlined above, you can create a winning formula for your organization:

1. Regularly Communicate Revenue & Retention Targets: Transparency fosters ownership and aligns individual efforts with overall goals.
2. Utilize Goal Tracking Methods: Equip employees with tools to see their progress and the company’s trajectory.
3. Align Compensation with Performance: Motivate employees by directly linking rewards to achieving financial goals.
4. Rely on RevOps as Data Storytellers: RevOps can translate complex data into a clear narrative, fostering understanding and trust.
5. Share Budget & Runway (if applicable): Openness builds trust and empowers employees to make informed decisions.
6. Leverage Technology for Visibility: Financial reporting tools and budgeting software democratize access to financial data.
7. Celebrate Achievements & Recognize Effort: Acknowledge milestones and celebrate the journey towards financial responsibility.

By embracing these practices, you can unlock the full potential of your workforce. Employees who understand the financial landscape, are equipped with the right tools, and feel valued for their contributions become powerful allies in driving your company’s financial success. 

So, take the first step today and start building a culture of financial accountability within your organization. The rewards will be well worth the investment.

To learn more about how QuotaPath builds financial accountability over earnings, attainment, and progress toward company targets, talk to our team today or start a free trial. 

The role of RevOps and the entire RevOps market has encountered explosive growth over the past couple of years.

In 2020, only 33% of companies had a RevOps function. Today, that number has increased to 48%, and Gartner predicts that 75% of the highest-growth companies will adopt a RevOps model by 2025.

Buyer preferences, behaviors, and rising expectations have driven this trend, making a self-directed and consistent experience throughout the buyer’s journey essential to revenue growth and retention.

RevOps has gained momentum as businesses see its effectiveness. For instance, Forrester research found that organizations that align the people, process, and technology involved in the demand engine experience 36% more revenue growth and up to 28% more profitability.

Also, 21% of companies that introduced a RevOps function saw greater alignment and productivity resulting in an increased operating margin. An additional 13% of businesses experienced better revenue growth after adopting a RevOps model.

The rise of the RevOps market was on full display last year. How has that high continued throughout 2024?

Read on to learn about RevOps jobs growth, salary, roles, technology, and other trends.

RevOps Jobs Growth

RevOps job growth over recent years is evident.

A recent study by the Revenue Operations Alliance found that 59.8% of organizations have only had a revenue operations function for one to two years. Our search on ZipRecruiter unearthed over 174,000 RevOps job postings. And the number will continue increasing as RevOps is now the fastest-growing job in America, according to Forbes.

The top RevOps job title is presently Revenue Operations Analyst per ZipRecruiter. Another popular role is Head of Revenue Operations in small or medium-sized companies, also known as Chief Revenue Officer at large enterprises, according to LinkedIn. These roles are often found in tech-centric geographic locations like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

RevOps Salary

As of May 30, 2024, the average annual salary for a RevOps role in the United States is $110,000 a year according to ZipRecruiter. The majority of RevOps salaries range from $85,000 to $128,000 annually across the United States. Note: the average pay range for RevOps roles varies little based on geographic location.

Betts reports a sustained rise in RevOps base salaries in 2023, following a 10% year-over-year increase observed in 2022. Betts also noted that a RevOps manager typically earns 20% more than a comparable sales operations manager role.

Below is a chart listing the top 10 cities for salaries above the national average identified by ZipRecruiter.

As the average salaries vary by as little as 10% between these locations, it was suggested that the best way to optimize your income is by considering a location with a lower cost of living.

RevOps Role

RevOps is responsible for aligning the entire revenue team, generating data, and creating visibility into crucial business metrics and processes. Their ultimate goal is driving efficiencies and predictable revenue growth.

In its earliest form, RevOps was intended to break down the silos between sales, marketing, and customer success for a more seamless customer journey and improved customer experience.

As the marketplace continues to evolve it has become a more structured process that changes as a company scales. Establishing and growing a RevOps practice is not a one-size-fits-all process and varies for each organization.

In small companies with less than 10 employees, you may or may not have a RevOps presence. However, by the time you achieve a 10-25% growth rate and approximately 20 employees, you should establish a RevOps role to guide you through this volatile period. This is when you build and refine processes while anticipating opportunities and challenges.

Once you achieve $1 million in revenue with sustained growth rates of 25% or more your RevOps function becomes more strategic. The focus shifts to product-market fit and scaling growth efficiently.

RevOps Market: Technology

As RevOps has grown in popularity, so has technology to support this role.

The RevOps platform market totaled US$ 3,652.3 million in 2023. This segment of the technology market grew at 15.2% CAGR from 2018 to 2022 and is expected to grow at 17.3% CAGR between 2023 and 2033.

This rate of growth is said to be driven by the need to streamline sales business processes. Data-driven collaboration combined with the pursuit of predictable business growth is expected to motivate the continued expansion of the RevOps platform market.

Top RevOps Tools include: 

• Sales process compliance and CRM data hygiene platforms like Weflow
• Revenue intelligence platforms like Gong
• Revenue forecasting platforms like InsightSquared
• Revenue attribution platforms like Dreamdata
• Go-to-market planning platforms like Fullcast.io
• ABM and buyer intent platforms like Demandbase
• Sales engagement platforms like Salesloft
• Data management platforms like Coefficient
• Sales compensation management platforms like QuotaPath

The increased adoption of these types of tools has resulted in greater sales productivity, internal customer satisfaction, and reduced go-to-market (GTM) strategy expenses.

Other RevOps Trends

As RevOps continues to grow it evolves in response to market changes. Here are some of the latest trends we’ve seen.

A Shift From Growth-At-All-Costs to Retention and Expansion

New business is tougher to acquire. To overcome this challenge, businesses are focusing on customer longevity, retention, cross-sells, and upsells to drive growth. “We focused on top of funnel in 2023. Today, we’re focusing more on identifying expansions and nailing renewals,” Jen Igartua said.

Increasing AI Use

RevOps analyzes a lot of data. AI delivers deeper insights and analytics than a human and in less time.

“At QuotaPath, we’ve used AI to rework our loss and churn reasons. Take all of the emails and notes from your reps across all your opportunities, load it into an AI tool, and it will tell you more about the biggest reasons for lost opportunities,” said VP of RevOps Ryan Milligan.

Cold Outreach is More Targeted

One way of boosting sales efficiency and effectiveness is by targeting prospects that match the ideal customer profile (ICP). Then communications are more relevant to recipients and elicit a better response rate. “Outbound is never dead, but good outbound is hard to keep alive,” Jeff Ignacio said.

Tech Stack ROI is Crucial

Tighter budgets mean every tech platform must prove its worth to remain in the stack. “If you claim your product enables leaders to be more productive, what is the time and dollar savings tied to that?” Daphne said.

Selling to Retainable Customers is a Priority

There’s been a mindset shift. Winning customers used to be the goal. Now, the priority is winning customers who are most likely to renew. Inspire this behavior by incentivizing it. “If you give BDRs $50 for every demo that occurs, give them another $25 if it’s an ICP demo,” Ryan said. “Reward higher commission rates for your sales team if it’s an ICP account.”

About QuotaPath

QuotaPath supports RevOps professionals and scaling revenue teams with resources and solutions that help them automate sales commissions, provide visibility into compensation, and motivate reps through forecasted earnings.

To learn more, chat with our team or try QuotaPath for yourself with a free 30-day trial.

Businesses strive for growth in all areas, and we often look at sales as the leading driver of growth. 

More sales = more success. 

It’s a good start, but sales data can tell you so much more about your business.

Sales data analysis can help you gain deeper insights, assess strategies, find weak points, and make improvements to your business operations. 

In this article, we’ve put together a list of reasons why you should utilize sales data analysis and the practical steps you can take to do so.

7 reasons why sales data analysis is vital for business success

We cannot emphasize enough that sales data can tell you a lot about your business—more than just how many products you’re selling.

Sales data analysis offers insights into a variety of business operations, some of which might surprise you.

So, let’s look at the benefits of sales data analysis and how you can achieve them.

1. Focusing on products and strategies that work

Sales data analysis can help you determine which products and sales strategies work best for your brand. 

You can identify:

• High-performing products

• Most effective sales and marketing channels

• Locations where certain products sell best

• Your target audience and their needs

• Which marketing campaigns drive the most engagement and sales

Sales data analysis can also help you identify weaknesses and roadblocks in your sales process. 

These weaknesses include:

• Unpopular products that you can cut from your line or work on improving

• Underperforming sales employees who might need extra training and guidance

• R&D that lacks innovation or awareness of customer needs

• A lack of cohesion and collaboration between departments 

• Gaps in your tech stack that you can fill with tools to streamline operations

An effective sales report can provide a comprehensive overview of these aspects, enabling you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your sales strategies accordingly.

How?

Creating successful sales strategies involves a general overview of what’s working and what isn’t. You’ll want to look for high and low points in your sales processes:

• Product performance: across demographics and locations

• Customer demographics: where to find your target audience

• Sales team performance: how successful your team is at selling

• Marketing campaign ROI: sales targets from marketing campaigns and which campaigns are hits and misses

• Sales channel data: which channels are popular vs. which few people use

2. Better customer relationships

Sales data contains powerful insights into your customers. 

These insights allow you to design products and services that meet your customers’ needs, streamline the buying process, improve your customer experience, predict future behavior, and create marketing campaigns that appeal to your audience.

You can also assess whether your customer-facing teams have all the tools they need to foster customer relationships. If your sales reps need access to customer data when making a sales call, for example, you can implement a preview dialer.

Happy customers become repeat customers and create up and cross-selling opportunities. They also become brand advocates, spreading awareness across review sites, social media, and word-of-mouth recommendations.

How?

For better customer insights, monitor sales data analytics like:

• Product performance across different demographics: age, gender, location, etc. This can help you focus your efforts on your target audience

• Churn rates: higher-than-average churn rates can indicate problems with your products or sales process

3. Improve marketing strategies 

Sales and marketing go hand in hand. Good products are easy to market, and good marketing generates more sales, which in turn means more money for good products and marketing.

Understanding sales data that affects customers can help you create better marketing strategies. 

How?

To understand which marketing strategies generate the best sales, look at:

• Sales channel metrics: depending on what kind of business you are (B2B, B2C, etc.), sales data analysis lets you see your most successful channels and determine a target audience for your marketing efforts 

• ROI: how much you spent on your marketing campaign vs. how many sales it brought in

• Product popularity: you can determine which products need a marketing boost and how certain campaigns might be affecting sales of certain products

• Customer sentiment: good marketing campaigns create online buzz and customer engagement, leading to better sales

4. Generate and convert more leads

Sales data analysis can help you generate and convert more leads. It can also help you hone your lead-nurturing process. 

Converting leads requires a deep understanding of your customers and their behaviors, which sales data analysis can help you achieve. 

For example, your lead conversion rates might be low due to inadequate pairing of leads with qualified sales reps. Looking at your numbers, you might see the opportunity to implement a skill-based routing system. 

How?

To generate, nurture, and convert more leads, look at sales data like:

• Lead generation: the number of leads you’re generating overall

• Lead conversion rates: the number of leads that are converted
• Average sales length cycle: how your sales cycle compares to industry benchmarks. Lengthy sales cycles are the norm in B2B sales, but B2C sales need to move faster

• Sales rep performance: are your team hitting KPIs? If not, you might have problems with products, productivity, or sales tools

5. Keep up with trends

Sales data analysis can keep you agile in a fast-moving market. 

Businesses often arrive late to the party. A trend reaches its height, and the business becomes aware of it and scrambles to put something together. By the time they’re ready to release a new product or marketing campaign, the trend has passed, and the business is left looking a bit washed up.

You never want to be the “How do you do, fellow kids?” brand. 

Keeping up with trends can help you stay relevant, adapt to changing customer needs, and identify gaps in the market. 

How?

To keep up with fast-moving trends, look at:

• Product performance: look for high-demand products or a sudden surge in popularity

• Social media data: analyze your audience’s posts and content to find patterns, trends, or gaps in customer needs that your brand could fill

• Competitor analysis: if your competitors are gaining market share in sales of certain products, that might indicate an emerging trend

You also need to ensure the accuracy and reliability of your data through robust data validation techniques. By validating your data regularly, you can trust that your analyses reflect the most current and accurate information, empowering you to make informed decisions and stay ahead of market shifts.

6. Improved employee satisfaction and productivity 

Sales data can tell you a lot about your employees, too. If your sales department has a high turnover, you might have problems. 

Perhaps your team members are struggling to connect with leads effectively, indicating a need for better training or tools. For instance, implementing cold calling software could streamline their outreach efforts and improve their success rates. 

Being aware of how your employees are doing and taking steps to address issues is vital to running a successful business. A happy, productive sales team will perform far better than an unengaged one where half the team is looking for other jobs. 

Utilizing these strategies to grow your business can lead to a significant improvement in team performance and customer satisfaction.

How?

To help you retain talent, you can monitor:

• Employee retention rates: monitor your retention compared to industry benchmarks

• Employee satisfaction score: conduct surveys and interviews

• Sales per team member: if a sales rep’s sales are suddenly declining, they might be disengaging from your company

7. Better financial management

Sales data analysis can help you manage your company’s finances better. 

Current sales data can tell you about performance, products, and sales reps—essentially, all the things we’ve discussed in this article. Understanding this data lets you find places to cut costs, increase spending, or streamline operations. 

For instance, by analyzing customer behavior and market demand trends, you can implement dynamic pricing strategies, adjusting prices in real-time to maximize revenue. Sales data analysis also allows you to predict future sales, making it easier to allocate resources going forward.

Additionally, analyzing payout trends can reveal insights into your financial health and aid in optimizing your budget allocation.

How?

You can make more accurate financial decisions by monitoring sales data like:

• Predicted profit vs. actual profit: are you hitting targets? If not, sales data helps you work out why

• Sales revenue analysis: products that sell well, channels that bring in the most sales, and overall profits

Some extra tips

Here are a couple of extra tips to help you get the most out of your sales data analysis.

Automate

Data analysis can be complicated and messy. The best way to collect, store, and analyze data is to utilize automation tools.

There are lots of tools online to help you manage sales data, from one-time purchases to SaaS providers. Practical tools like hardware and data warehousing are also important. 

Evaluate your needs and look for tools that specifically address those needs. Also, look for integrations with your existing tools to make the transition easier.

Make the data work for you

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your sales data analysis. Look at how certain variables affect areas of performance to help you make better decisions.

Does focusing sales and marketing strategies on a specific demographic increase or decrease sales? Does switching focus from B2C to solely B2B sales improve profits?

Sales data analysis can help you answer these questions. 

Collecting sales data

Let’s take a look at what types of sales metrics to track and why:

Revenue per Sales Rep – Helps assess individual performance and identify top-performing reps to replicate best practices.

Quota Attainment – Measures how well sales reps are hitting their targets, which is crucial for evaluating compensation plans and performance.

Sales Cycle Length – Tracks how long it takes to close a deal, helping optimize sales processes and improve efficiency.

Average Deal Size – Indicates revenue potential per sale and helps in forecasting and sales strategy adjustments.

Win Rate (Conversion Rate) – Shows the percentage of deals won versus total opportunities, useful for diagnosing pipeline health.

Lead-to-Close Ratio – Measures the efficiency of the sales funnel, highlighting areas where prospects drop off.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) – Helps determine how much is spent on acquiring each customer and whether sales strategies are cost-effective.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) – Predicts long-term revenue from a customer, ensuring sales efforts are focused on high-value clients.

Churn Rate – Indicates the percentage of customers lost over time, helping refine sales strategies to improve retention.

Sales Pipeline Velocity – Shows how quickly deals move through the pipeline, allowing teams to address bottlenecks.

Commission Payout Accuracy – Ensures sales reps are paid correctly, maintaining trust and motivation in compensation plans.

Product Mix Performance – Identifies which products or services contribute the most to revenue, aiding in sales prioritization.

Discount Utilization Rate – Tracks how often reps use discounts to close deals, ensuring pricing strategies remain profitable.

Sales Forecast Accuracy – Measures the reliability of sales projections to improve strategic decision-making.

Upsell & Cross-Sell Rate – Reveals additional revenue generated from existing customers, a key metric for maximizing profitability.

How to pick the right sales data to analyze

But what data you should select?

This will vary on the stage of your org, sales cycle, team set up and more, but here a few things to keep in mind.

• Choose metrics that directly impact revenue growth, customer retention, or efficiency improvements.
• Track data that can drive meaningful decisions, such as adjusting compensation plans or refining sales processes.
• Ensure the data is reliable and easily extracted from your CRM or sales tools.
• Prioritize metrics that reflect different stages of your sales process, from lead generation to closed deals.
• Balance between tracking overall sales trends and evaluating individual rep effectiveness.
• Collect data that helps understand customer behavior, such as buying patterns, churn risk, and upsell opportunities.
• Choose metrics that allow for benchmarking against past performance to measure improvement.
• Distinguish between process efficiency (speed of sales cycles) and effectiveness (win rates, revenue per rep).

How often should you be running sales data analysis?

The frequency of sales data analysis depends on the type of metrics tracked and business goals.

Daily or real-time tracking is essential for monitoring pipeline updates, rep performance, and lead movement to ensure sales teams stay proactive. Weekly reviews should focus on win/loss trends, quota attainment, and sales activity to identify early signs of success or challenges. Monthly analysis is crucial for evaluating revenue performance, deal velocity, and commission payout accuracy to maintain transparency and efficiency.

On a quarterly basis, businesses should assess compensation plan effectiveness, market trends, and customer retention to refine strategies.

Annually, a comprehensive review of sales processes, forecasting, and goal-setting helps ensure alignment with long-term business objectives. The right cadence balances proactive decision-making with strategic oversight, optimizing both short-term performance and long-term growth.

Why sales data analysis is vital for business success

Sales data analysis is a powerful tool for evaluating, improving, and growing your business. 

Sales data can tell you a lot about your business operations, offering surprising insights into both sales-specific and non-sales-specific processes. 

Utilize sales data analysis to better understand your audience, improve your sales processes, innovate your products, and support your sales employees. Sales data analysis can provide a holistic view of your organization and lead your business to greater success.