At Actabl, commissions didn’t start as Kenza Sebbar’s job.
When Revenue Operations finally formalized at the company, commission management “kind of fell onto” her plate. As she dug in, she realized what she had inherited wasn’t just a task—it was a multi-hour monthly nightmare.
Plans were complex. Payouts were manual. And the people doing the work weren’t even in Ops.
Kenza described the early days like a meme: commissions felt like staring at a whiteboard full of equations and hoping the math was right.
“The more I dug, the more I realized this was a multi-hour monthly, like, nightmare, really,” said Kenza.
That was the final straw. Either she would build “the biggest, most savvy and dynamic spreadsheet” and rebuild it every time the plan changed, or she’d bring in experts and software designed for this exact problem.
She chose the second path…specifically, the QuotaPath.
Actabl + QuotaPath
QuotaPath turned commissions from a multi-hour monthly process into a quick check at payroll time, while giving Finance audit-ready visibility and reps real-time clarity into their earnings.
“If you take the number of hours per month that me, my team members, or FP&A were spending on calculating commissions and adjust for our salaries, that offset the cost of QuotaPath,” said Kenza.
Below, we’ll go through Actabl’s buyer journey with QuotaPath and how it’s helped Kenza and her team in the time since.
When commissions depend on too many “if this, then that” rules
Once the pain was clear and the business case was taking shape, Kenza zoomed in on exactly what was broken.
Actabl’s commission plans weren’t simple “you sold this, you get paid that” models.
They were full of dependencies and conditions:
- Triggers that depended on other teams
- Tiered payouts when reps crossed certain thresholds
- Accelerators that kicked in mid-stream
Each cycle meant:
- Pulling data
- Massaging spreadsheets
- Duplicating files for each rep
- Fielding “Is this right?” questions from the sales team
“Very often it’s not ‘you sold this, great, money,’” said Kenza. “It’s what is the trigger? Is that dependent on another team? If you hit a certain level, now you get that. It’s a whole… you see that meme with all the equations? That’s kind of how I felt at first.”
Even after RevOps took ownership and improved the existing process, it was still fragile.
One plan change meant rebuilding logic. One missing detail could ripple into disputes and mistrust.
That’s when Actabl committed to an RFP for a commission automation platform.
Kicking Off a Rigorous RFP
With the problem defined, Kenza shifted into evaluation mode.
Actabl runs a standard, rigorous RFP process whenever it brings on new tooling.
For commissions, that meant:
- Starting with a shortlist of modern commission platforms
- Running structured demos
- Documenting requirements and user stories
- Scoring each vendor against those requirements
Kenza’s team evaluated multiple vendors, including:
- Spiff
- CaptivateIQ
- QuotaPath
- Other commission tools that met their initial criteria
“We have a pretty standard, rigorous RFP process, and we always try to start with a minimum of four vendors,” said Kenza. “We wrote a product requirement document with all our user stories, did demos with everybody, and graded each vendor against that.”
RevOps took the lead on the heavy lifting, but they didn’t evaluate in a silo. After narrowing down the list, they entered a “top two” phase with QuotaPath and CaptivateIQ to answer deeper questions about edge cases, implementation, and support.
Getting Sales, Finance, and RevOps Aligned on One Tool
A good commission tool has to work for every team that touches variable pay.
For Actabl, success meant uniting three critical stakeholders:
QuotaPath checked all three boxes. It streamlined Kenza’s monthly workflow, gave Finance the audit-ready trail they needed, and delivered clear, rep-friendly dashboards that answered the “What am I getting paid and why?” questions.
Why QuotaPath Won: UX + Support + a Clear post-sale plan
With several strong tools in the mix, what separated QuotaPath from the others?
Two things stood out to Kenza and Actabl’s stakeholders:
- An intuitive, rep-friendly experience
- A clear, concrete plan for what happens after the contract is signed
“We felt very confident that you guys would be the right partners because of the tool, the UX, and also the UI (how the team uses it), and because of the support you would provide to make sure we keep being successful,” said Kenza.
She had seen too many RFPs where the pre-sale pitch was polished but the post-sale experience was fuzzy.
“Sometimes the most important part of the RFP process is understanding what happens after you buy,” said Kenza. “Is it ‘Bye, good luck,’ or are you going to make sure I’m set up for success immediately and over time?”
QuotaPath’s team spent time walking Actabl through:
- How implementation would be phased
- Who would own what on each side
- How QuotaPath would support plan changes year over year
That clarity, and the willingness to dig into Actabl’s specific scenarios, were major factors in their decision.
Implementation: a Real Plan, Not Just Promises
Once Actabl selected QuotaPath, the next test was implementation.
Kenza appreciated that there was a tangible, phase-based plan from day one.
“One of the things that I really appreciated is there was a plan,” said Kenza. “It was very much like, this is phase one and these are all the things we’re doing, phase two… That sounds simplistic, but that doesn’t happen all the time when you purchase a tool.”
On weekly calls, they worked from a shared implementation checklist, so everyone knew what had been done and what came next.
Kenza was in a particularly tricky spot at the time:
- It was November 2023
- She still needed to ensure 2023 commissions were accurate
- She also had to build 2024 plans
QuotaPath’s CSM stepped in with tailored support.
“He really took my specific need and said, ‘Okay, let’s amend the plan to make sure that you are served,’” said Kenza. “That was really fantastic.”
Implementation involved setting Actabl up so Kenza could confidently handle both historical payouts and future plan changes.
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Design, track, and manage variable incentives with QuotaPath. Give your RevOps, finance, and sales teams transparency into sales compensation.
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Two Types of Rep Behavior and How Visibility Supports Both
With QuotaPath live, the next question was: how would reps actually use it?
What Kenza saw at Actabl were two clear personas:
- The “I trust you, just pay me” reps
- They almost never log in.
- They trust RevOps and just want the money to show up correctly.
- The “super users”
- They log in regularly.
- They use QuotaPath’s flag feature to ask questions about specific deals.
- They care deeply about how every opportunity maps to their paycheck.
“There are people who never log into it and just trust that I’ve done good by them,” said Kenza. “And then there are team members who are super users. They not only log in regularly but also use the flag feature a lot.”
That visibility directly reduced anxiety around two big fears for sales reps:
- “Are all my opportunities being counted?”
- “Are you calculating everything properly, including accelerators?”
“Bringing that visibility puts a lot of worries to rest,” said Kenza.
Handling Sensitive Data and Training Without Oversharing
Of course, commission data is sensitive, and that shapes how you can train and enable teams.
Kenza realized quickly that QuotaPath wasn’t like Salesforce or HubSpot, where she could just share her screen to a big group and click around live.
“This is sensitive information,” said Kenza. “I can’t get into the sales team meeting and share my screen and say, ‘I’m going to give you a QuotaPath training today.’”
Instead, she leaned on:
- The initial training recording from the implementation
- Short, 1:1 “office hours” style sessions with reps
Her approach was simple:
“I encourage them to drop 15 minutes on my calendar,” said Kenza. “I can give you the QuotaPath lowdown in probably under seven minutes, based on how you should be using it.”
Once reps got that short, focused walkthrough, they rarely needed another. From there, they used QuotaPath and the flag feature independently.
Ongoing Support: “I’m really hard to grab, and they still get me what I need.”
Implementation is one thing. Long-term support is another.
Kenza was clear that QuotaPath’s ongoing support has been a big part of the value.
On the day-to-day side, she regularly uses the in-app chat:
“There’s a team member of yours who very often gets assigned to me, and he is fantastic,” said Kenza. “He’s always answering me very quickly.”
Even when her attention bounces around:
“I’m really hard to grab, and my attention span is very low,” said Kenza. “If I navigate away from the QuotaPath window, he’ll send me a video, or let me know he looped in the dev team and put in a patch. He’s always helping me out.”
For bigger plan changes, especially when Actabl throws “big wrenches” into their commission structure, QuotaPath’s team jumps in live.
“Both years, we put pretty big wrenches in our commission plans,” said Kenza. “There are areas where I need to start from scratch. They just jumped on with me and said, ‘No worries. Let’s do a show and tell, and let me teach you how to do this and get it done for you at the same time.’”
Support has been collaborative and educational, which matters when RevOps is juggling scale, turnover, and new plan designs year after year.
How Kenza Pitches QuotaPath to Other RevOps Leaders
When people in Kenza’s communities ask about commission tools, she talks about headspace.
“I would say they need to be ready to only think about their commission on the day it’s due to submit to payroll, and then once a year when they’re planning for next year’s budget,” said Kenza. “These are the only two times I want to be thinking about commission. And thanks to QuotaPath, that is how it is for me.”
And yes, she recommends QuotaPath.
“It’s been great,” said Kenza. “I absolutely would recommend QuotaPath.”
To be like Kenza, book time with us here.
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