The coronavirus pandemic transitioned many industries to remote work. As a result, the usage of video software like Zoom and Microsoft Teams skyrocketed.

But even as companies have slowly returned to work over the past year, most have implemented hybrid models that encourage employees to take a few days to work from home.

So, as you continue to host meetings virtually with clients, know that a face-to-face request is 34 times more effective. Still, if you’re still struggling with establishing report with your clients, we’ve got some advice — and some virtual backgrounds — to help!

A virtual background can provide a sense of privacy and show a little brand loyalty and personality on a video conference. Plus, they’re great for hiding a messy office or kids popping their heads into your workspace every 5 minutes. Here’s a list of some dos and don’ts of virtual backgrounds for your sales calls.

The do’s of video conferencing backgrounds

• Do keep it simple.
• Do brand your background. Ask your in-house designer, or check out Canva to create one.
• Do use it to engage your audience. If you’re feeling fancy, use it to highlight a core value, upcoming feature, or a stat that speaks to your audience’s goals. Many companies use split-screen videos as part of their video conferencing tools, as they can be highly effective in comparing your content side-by-side. This, in turn, keeps your audience engaged and facilitates discussions.

The don’ts of video conferencing backgrounds

• Don’t use a distracting background.
• Don’t use a joke background during a serious meeting.
• Don’t use a moving or video background.
• Don’t wear the same color as your background.
• Don’t use a background if you move around a lot.

Although the don’ts aren’t appropriate for those important calls, they can be a fun, expressive way to engage with your internal team. Check out this great round-up of virtual backgrounds.

Here are some free video conferencing backgrounds to download now:

And for all those QuotaPath supporters out there who want to show a little extra love:

HigherPeople had a banner first year.

The talent development startup sprinted past its annual targets in 2022, many thanks to the referrals and word of mouth from CEO and Co-Founder Katy Stover’s professional network. 

But then 2023 planning began — and with it, a goal to double revenue.

Could they lean on Katy’s network to reach it? Sure, they could try.

But Katy and her team, a group of experts who excel in hiring strategies for early-stage startups, recognized the need for a legitimate sales practice.

“It was very clear that in order to grow and expand, we needed to have a true, dedicated salesperson, methodology, and process,” said Katy. “We could stay a small agency, but we would only get so far.”

What to look for in your first sales hire

As such, Katy and her team kicked off the process to bring on their first salesperson, an experienced leader that blends strategic know-how with a hunger to prospect and win business. 

The title? Head of Business Development. 

Katy and co. set out to find a seasoned sales professional capable of building a forecasting model and identifying buyer personas while firing off prospecting messages. A unicorn of sorts in the startup world. 

“We wanted a relationship seller who is strategic, analytical, has a deep understanding of buyer personas and pain points, with proven success in building a team and methodology from the ground up,” said Katy. 

Still, despite what some would consider a tall order of an experienced leader willing to take on outreach efforts, Katy and her team scored a hire quickly. In two months and rigorous rounds of negotiations, HigherPeople had an offer letter signed and returned.

Below, we asked Katy how she hired her first salesperson and how she created an attractive sales leadership compensation package to match. 

How did you start your process to hire your first sales leader? 

Katy: We did what we do with our clients by starting with a “search kickoff.” This is a document that outlines all the things we need: what we’re looking for as far as goals, KPIs, comps, target companies, and personas. Then we build a rubric to assess candidates and assessment criteria to match this rubric. Most of this happens in behavioral interviews but some of it gets covered in a case study.

Our interview process for this role started with a 30-minute interview with me, which often went over because of their questions (which is a good sign for a strategic role). Then they would speak with our Head of Operations. I told them it was a reverse interview so that they could assess our organization to see if they wanted to work here. Then, I would touch base with them again and follow up with a case study. The final step was a panel interview with our recruiting team to check for culture.

What did your case study entail? 

The case study is always the most telling part. It makes or breaks. You really see the difference between a junior-level and a senior-level candidate. We provided two prompts. The first asked them to walk us through how they would grow ARR from our current number to our target. 

When they presented, we assessed presentation skills, analytics, and how they broke down the math to get to the target. Candidates that did not do well gave high-level answers. Meanwhile, senior-level candidates asked for all the data and were very analytical about how to get to the numbers. 

We asked “how would you take this new product to market” for our second prompt with very little information. This one evaluates their startup scrappiness and how to leverage resources in the universe to gather research. 

How did you approach sales compensation for your first sales hire?

Strategic leadership roles are hard, but Sales is especially difficult because there’s so much nuance. We had to talk through who owns a deal, and what happens if this person starts the relationship, then leaves, or is fired. 

Our lawyer educated me through every question.

We also were flexible throughout the negotiation process. Where we landed was different than where we started as we talked with more people and iterated accordingly. 

We ended up with a commission structure that includes a 75% to-goal cliff based on a quarterly quota and a profit-sharing model if HigherPeople hits 100% of our annual target. This combines a short-term KPI with commissions and a long-term KPI in profit-sharing. 

How did you present your sales leadership compensation package to your final candidate?

We came up with three options, which we recommend for early-stage startups. Candidates love it because they feel like they are in control. It allows them to say they care most about equity or a high-base option. 

What did you learn from this hiring and comp planning process?

First, we learned to be nimble on the overall package. What we thought someone would be excited about ended up being different than what candidates really wanted.

Secondly, we learned people really want equity. If companies don’t want to do equity, profit sharing is a much better alternative. They see that money sooner and it’s a much lower-risk option for the business because you’re not giving any percentage away of your company. 

Third, to find the best people, you have to interview various levels of experience. This will help you learn what you want and need.

Lastly, what advice would give startups looking to make their first sales hire?

Titles: Startups are quick to say, “I need a CRO!” as their first hire. But you have to break this down. We went with “head of” because it encompasses someone who is a hunter and someone who is strategic. Early-stage companies sometimes inflate job titles and roles. This can hurt you. CROs don’t expect to be AEs, nor should they. So be careful about titles.

Compensation: Think about short-term vs. long-term incentives and how to capitalize on both without breaking the bank. If your most important goal is to close on a big deal this quarter, then don’t give equity. But if you want them to build a 10-person sales team and formal sales process, then give them short and long-term wins. 

KPIs: Set clear KPIs from day one. Make sure they understand the expectations of the day-to-day role. 

Candidate-driven process: Talk to your candidates. Text them. Be a resource and give feedback if you don’t move forward with them. I want people to come out a raving fan of my company and of me when they go through our interview process. 

The person we moved forward with had two other higher offers and yet he went with us because of our culture and how closely we worked together throughout the process. 

Be a kind, thoughtful human that people want to work with.

* * *

Thank you Katy for sharing your insights! To learn more about HigherPeople, reach out to their team today. 

About QuotaPath

QuotaPath supports growth-stage companies with automated commission tracking and sales compensation management. Sync your CRM and manage your entire sales compensation process within QuotaPath. Increase sales comp visibility to motivate and align your teams.  
To learn more, schedule a time with our team to chat or try QuotaPath for free for 30 days.

The question of who owns compensation planning has grown increasingly puzzling amid organizational restructuring.

Should Finance, Sales, RevOps, HR, or a mix of all four own it?

Turns out, this will depend entirely on the stage and setup of your organization. 

We found in our 2023 Sales Compensation Trends survey at early-stage companies, sales leadership most often owns the process. But as organizations grow, this responsibility shifts to RevOps teams.

Additionally, we found that reps’ trust oscillates based on who builds their compensation plans. For instance, our survey indicated that reps trust sales comp plans the most when built by sales leadership. RevOps-led plans have the second most trust, and Finance with the least.

Still, we believe RevOps should take the lead if your organization includes a RevOps department. RevOps knows the data, sales behaviors, motivators, and business context more than say, Finance. 

If you don’t have a RevOps department yet, then Sales should take the lead. 

But that’s not to say building comp plans should be done in a silo. The best comp plans feature collaboration from Sales and Finance, even HR, as the plan nears finalization.

Below, we outline how to involve each department. 

Involve HR in compensation planning

Your human resources department will likely have the least amount of knowledge when it comes to the intricate comp plan mechanics of your compensation structure. However, HR can play an impactful role in providing industry rates on OTEs and salary structures. 

“Ninety percent of the battles I’ve seen unfold during the comp plan design phase occur over leaders not believing how much companies are paying their reps,” said Kevin McKeown, CRO at Beekeeper, in 4 sales compensation best practices to help you for 2023.

It’s absolutely worth your time to bring HR into the conversation early on to ensure your sales compensation packages are competitive. From there, you can work backward in designating commission rates and quotas. 

Additional Reading: Why gathering rep feedback on sales compensation plans is a RevOps must

Get a pulse check from Finance 

Before you begin drafting your compensation design, consider having a philosophical conversation with your Finance leaders about what you hope to achieve with the new plans.

“I’m coming to the table with the behaviors I’m trying to motivate and some ideas about what I think could motivate those behaviors,” said Sales Consultant Caroline Tarpey, in How Sales and Finance can work better together this comp plan season. 

This step provides an immediate pulse check to see how feasible (or off base) your initial thoughts are. 

QuotaPath VP of Finance Ryan Macia agreed.

“I prefer when Sales comes to us with options and pre-proposals,” Ryan said. “I don’t like starting from scratch. If you can come to me with some concepts that you think will motivate the team, then we can determine if it will break the bottom line.”

But don’t lean too heavily on Finance’s initial inputs. 

“When the Finance team gets too involved, they tend to think about everything from just the cost perspective,” said Kevin. “Comp planning usually goes sideways when someone without a sales mindset is driving the process.”

So, have early conversations about what you’re aiming to achieve with Finance, then begin to shape your sales compensation strategy from there. 

Another way to work well with Finance throughout this process is to run your own pressure tests before handing proposals to them. If you can break the plan ahead of time, you’re saving both yours and Finance’s time. 

What about the entire commission process?

Once you have the plans in motion, which team owns the payout process, plan, and roster changes?

This will likely fall to RevOps, Finance, or a combination of both.

Most of our admin users who run QuotaPath have an Ops background, be it Sales, Finance, or RevOps. 

And at QuotaPath, our RevOps team owns the commission calculations and plan adjustments. All of which is made easier using our own commission tracking software. 

Then, Accounting takes it over for actual commission check payouts.

So, is the answer RevOps?

Yes — and.

If your company includes a RevOps department, RevOps (in close partnership with Sales) should own the comp plan design. 

As for who owns commissions once the plan is in play, we, too, think that RevOps should own the process up until payout. 

Need help with your compensation plan?

We’ve got free resources to help with compensation planning. Start by visiting Compensation Hub, an ungated library of 20 comp plan templates that you can customize and adjust to your business model. 

From there, automate your commission tracking, by saving your plan in QuotaPath and kicking off a free 30-day trial. 

Just want to learn more about automating sales compensation management? Chat with us by scheduling a time with our team. 

Whether you believe we are already in a recession or that one is approaching, the key barometer of economic health indicates that we’re headed for one in 2023. 

As a result, go-to-market (GTM) teams have begun adjusting their GTM strategies to meet buyers dealing with budget cuts, new pain points, and increasing concerns about unnecessary spending.

When shifting sales and overall GTM strategies, it’s important to update compensation plans to match. 

Not sure how to make your comp plan fit for a recession? We have some tips to help get you started.

Align comp plans to business goals

Start your design at the C-level and with your board. Identify three to five strategic objectives for the company over the next quarter or year.

“Then ask, can any of those priorities be reinforced with sales compensation design?” Mark Roberge, Managing Director at Stage 2 Capital, said.

Sometimes you can’t.

“But sometimes you can,” Mark said. “And if you can, you do it. In my experience, that’s the No. 1 tactical implementation that will drive the strategic objective. Much more than the CEO saying this is what we’re trying to do.”

Use the commission plan to drive the selling behaviors necessary to achieve the business goals.

And, most importantly, if you change your business goals, your compensation structures should reflect that.

Add multi-year accelerators

A multi-year accelerator rewards sellers with a higher commission rate on deals with contracts that exceed 12 months.

“Multi-year deals tend to be better for the company,” said Andrew de Geofroy, SVP, of Global Revenue Platform for Quantive. “With current economic conditions, predictable revenue growth is more important toward profitability.”

In our free library of comp plan templates Compensation Hub, there are two multi-year commission structures you can adjust and customize. 

These include Single Rate Commission with Contract Term Multiplier and the Commission with Multi-Year Accelerators plans. 

By offering higher payouts on contracts exceeding one year, your reps will feel more motivated to ask for longer-term deals instead of opting for a single year. This helps boost year-over-year consistency while increasing lifetime value and reducing the competitive threat.

Focus on ICP and SPIF accordingly

An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a detailed description of an account that can benefit most from your solution. It helps sellers recognize and focus on accounts with the highest lifetime value potential.

Although your sales compensation plan may be aligned with your business goals, sometimes a short-term reward like a SPIF is necessary to motivate a desired behavior of quota-carrying teams, like salespeople, customer service reps, and sales engineers.

Sales teams can provide SPIFs, or bonuses, in addition to their standard compensation for deals that meet ICP. For example, earn 10% on the deal and an extra $100 bonus if the customer counts as ICP.

Up your commission rate for expansions

Those who have bought your product are most likely to buy it again. 

Encourage your AMs or AEs, whoever gets attainment and commissions on expansions, to expand existing accounts with a higher commission rate than what you currently pay.

For example, most rates on expansions are less than the standard rate for new accounts, such as 3% on expansions versus 10% on new business.

Pressure test it first, but see if you can double the expansion rate to encourage reps to spend more time there. A few ways to pressure test are to:

•  Run sensitivity analysis on each component test against variables such as Quota to OTE, actual commission rates, and multipliers.
•  Run scenarios based on next year’s revenue assumptions
• Apply last year’s numbers

Adjust OTEs to realistic, attainable numbers

On-target earnings (OTEs) represent the total amount of money, including base salary plus commissions, a sales rep or account executive (AE) can earn in a 12-month period if they hit 100 percent of their quota.

This figure has become more important for top talent attraction and acquisition. The higher the OTE, the greater the chance a recruit accepts the offer over another.

But one thing to remember is that OTEs are not guaranteed. It’s important to ensure they are realistic or attainable. Otherwise, you risk high rep turnover, which can be quite costly.

A great way to determine if your OTE is realistic, attainable, and competitive with industry rates is to calculate the Quota:OTE ratio using our free calculator.  Use the calculator to determine if your reps are paid well and pay for their role in performance. 

Calculate OTE:Quota ratios

Use this free calculator to ensure your reps’ on-target earnings and quotas mirror what they’re bringing in for the business.

Try it now

Make your comp plan fit for a recession

Regardless of what you believe about the approach or the presence of a recession, it’s important to adapt to changing market conditions.

Review your GTM strategy and make changes where necessary to put your organization in the best possible position. Evaluate your compensation strategy and make sure it aligns with those adjustments. 

Also, remember that as critical as it is to change as the market shifts, save major compensation adjustments for the end of the quarter. Changing partway through a period can be too disruptive and damage trust amongst your sellers. We are in this together.

If you need more help adjusting your comp plan, leverage one of our many comp plans in our free Compensation Hub or book a time with Graham Collins, our Chief of Staff and resident sales nerd.

This is a guest post written by RevPartners, a management and consulting firm that designs and executes revenue engines to supercharge their customers’ growth with services such as HubSpot Onboarding, RevOps as Service, and SEO/PPC. The RevPartners team orchestrates, optimizes, and reports on their client’s marketing, sales, and operations processes through automation and tools. RevPartners’ mission is to democratize Revenue Operations as a Service, empowering the 99% to experience the benefit of RevOps. 

Keep it simple

Many people are drawn to commission-based (or variable pay) careers. The thought of being in control of how much you can earn based on your own hustle level seems like the ultimate motivator. The more you sell, the more you earn. Simple.

Unfortunately, “simple” is often out of style. Many companies today have found ways to take the relatively basic concept of “sell more = earn more”, and muck it up beyond all recognition.  

Here’s a collection of some of the worst comp plans around with the trigger warning that if you are a fan of common sense, you are about to be highly offended.

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad sales compensation plans   

Commission floors/cliffs

What is this?

Imagine you’re in school taking a test and you answered 6 out of 10 questions correctly. What grade would you expect? A 60%, obviously. But what if the teacher had some bizarre rule where you had to achieve a score of at least 70% on an exam, or else you automatically received a 0%. Now you have a taste of what a sales commission floor (or cliff) is.

An official definition is: when a sales rep is required to hit a minimum target to earn any commission.     

Why is it bad?

A few reasons…

1. When a company chooses punishment as a motivating factor they will experience a high rate of churn.

2. It can lead to sales reps just trying to reach the minimum target as opposed to hitting 100%.

3. It encourages “sandbagging”. In other words, when it’s near the end of a monthly or quarterly quota, and a sales rep knows that a sale won’t help them hit their numbers, they’ll just hang onto the sale so that it can help them for the next sales cycle.

Can this type of plan ever be ok to use?

Plans with commission floors work best for account management/account renewal roles as well as sales executives. For AEs, however, we recommend staying away. 

Non-standardized plans

What is this?

Imagine, again, that you’re back in school and for some of the students in your history class the lowest ‘A’ cut-off is 90%, but for other students the lowest ‘A’ cut-off is 80%.  Same grade level, same class, different grade structure. Welcome to how it feels in the world of non-standardized commission plans.

An official definition: when people in the same company, working in the same role have different quotas, different on-target earnings (OTEs), and different commission structures.

Why is it bad?

It fails to foster an equitable work environment.

Can this type of plan ever be ok to use?

Because some sales reps will be brand new, and some will have a decade of experience, it’s expected that some OTEs will be higher than others. The fix for this is to create different “levels” or “tiers” such as junior and senior account executives. While plans would be standardized within a given level, they could differ from one level to another.

Ever-changing plans

What is this

I’m really feeling these school examples. Imagine a class where the policies, procedures, and expectations of the teacher changed every month. It would be confusing. A comp plan structure that is constantly being changed would feel the same way.

An official definition: when a comp plan is changed every quarter or month.

Why is it bad?

Employee morale and confidence drop when plan structures are frequently changed. This drop is sharper the more often it’s done (i.e. quarterly changes produce less confidence than yearly ones).

Can this type of plan ever be ok to use?

Fun holidays or monthly contests, in the form of SPIFs, can provide brief alterations to a plan’s structure without changing the whole thing. But, especially in a volatile market, you may need to adjust a plan mid-way through the year. If this is the case, be sure to communicate with your reps, gather feedback, and roll changes out following this example compensation communication plan. 

Unattainable OTEs 

What is this?

It’s the first day of school and your science teacher announces that anyone who earns 100% for the first quarter gets a free homework pass for the rest of the year. You’re pumped, this is great news!  

Then, after talking to some former students of this teacher, you find out that only 2 students in the last 10 years have actually accomplished this feat. That punch in the stomach is what it feels like when you start working for a company only to realize that the OTE you were so excited about is a pie-in-the-sky fantasy.

An official definition:  when a company advertises an impressive on-target earnings potential, usually in an effort to draw high-talent candidates, that is not realistically achievable. An unobtainable OTE is often the result of a sales quota being too high, a disproportionate base salary to variable pay mix, an inferior product, and/or a lack of quality sales training.

Calculate OTE:Quota ratios

Use this free calculator to ensure your reps’ on-target earnings and quotas mirror what they’re bringing in for the business.

Try it now

Why is it bad?

It’s deceitful and kills employee motivation. While it’s true that people enjoy the feeling of accomplishing difficult tasks, no one enjoys putting in maximum effort for something that’s borderline impossible.

Can this type of plan ever be ok to use?

Not generally. It’s more than fine to advertise very high OTEs if they are actually attainable, but the employer should be honest during the interview process regarding what their average rep earns.

The never-ending story  

What is this?

When a teacher passes out a syllabus on the first day of class, it’s usually a page long with a few, key highlights. We’ve all had the experience, though, of a teacher who found it necessary to create a 24-page document highlighting how every minute of every day will go. If you’ve experienced this, then it’s not hard to imagine why a comp plan that is 40+ pages long is a terrible idea.

An official definition: A very long, overly-detailed explanation (including all exceptions and charts) of how every single component in a comp plan will work.  

Why is it bad?

A good comp plan will lay out what behaviors you want from your reps. If your comp plan is too long, then it’s too complicated to understand exactly what’s expected. Result: it likely won’t work.  

Can this type of plan ever be ok to use?

If the actual basis of the comp plan is solid and can be reduced to about a 3-page explanation and just a few examples, then yes.

Capped commission  

What is this?

Last bad comp plan, last (bad) school analogy.  

What if a teacher told a young student that each time they read a book, they would learn new things; however, this rule would only apply to the first 10 books they read. They could read 50 books, but books 11-50 would yield no new gains in knowledge. That young student would have little motivation to read more than 10 books. That’s a glimpse into the concept behind capped commissions.

An official definition:  when there is a ceiling to what you can earn when you generate revenue over a certain point. 

Why is it bad?

It’s demotivating and stunts the growth of sales reps. This may be the only comp plan that has no redeeming value.  

Bottom line: there is no debate between capped vs. uncapped commissions. Commissions should always be uncapped. 

Can this type of plan ever be ok to use?

No.  Just…no.

How to get comp planning right

Bad comp plans are a reality, but they don’t have to be.  

Knowing what not to do is a good first step toward building a simple, fair, and logical comp plan.  For comp plan templates that you can customize to align with your business model, visit QuotaPath’s free resources, Compensation Hub. Find a plan you like, then save it, and start a free trial in QuotaPath to see it automated. 

Once that comp plan is in place, QuotaPath’s seamless HubSpot integration will automate commissions and help your RevOps processes.  

To learn more about RevPartners, visit revpartners.io.

This specialist sales job combines business studies, tech knowledge, and customer service. The result is a dynamic profession in technical sales that’s as demanding as it is rewarding. Interested in mixing a love of applied science, computer, and automation with the more people-driven side of the business? Then a career in tech sales as a sales engineer could be just the ticket.

What is a sales engineer?

Sales engineers are essentially specialists focused on selling complex technology or advanced scientific products and services. Though they must be skilled at the actual act of selling, sales engineers also put an enormous amount of effort into product education. This may include memorizing a laundry list of specifications or studying the ins and outs of cutting-edge concepts. The goal is a level of proficiency that makes it easy to explain the benefits to potential clients.

Companies often choose to take a team approach to technical sales. In those cases, a sales engineer zeroes in on the tech aspects of the sale, while a more generalized salesperson oversees the overall account.

What makes a good sales engineer?

A career in SaaS sales is exciting, but it can also be stressful. In addition to the ever-present need to meet sales quotas, there’s the pressing desire to generate deals and bring home a hefty commission. Being a sales engineer requires:

• An adaptive personality: In sales, you never know what the next day might bring. An ability to roll with the punches is a valuable skill to have.
• Patience: Sometimes prospects will stand you up. Sometimes you’ll lose a major deal. It’s good to be ambitious, but learning when to take a deep breath and wait it out is also important.
• People skills: Can you listen as much as you talk? Are you able to make people comfortable quickly, so they’re ready to open up and spend? Do you come across as trustworthy? All these characteristics could influence whether you make a sale or not.
• Nerves of steel: Sales engineers need to be comfortable speaking in front of people. This may include presenting a product to a crowd.
• In-depth product knowledge: It’s not enough to just memorize marketing materials. Sales engineers also must be able to offer accurate answers to any questions customers may have.
• Sales knowledge: Not only must sales engineers present key information clearly, they almost use that info to help drive sales. That requires familiarity with the entire sales process from awareness to closing.

What does a sales engineer do

The fluid nature of sales careers means there really is no “typical day” for sales engineers. That said, there are some job responsibilities that are fairly common.

Research & development

While sales engineers are hired to help sell, their technical expertise makes them the go-to person for all kinds of tech issues. They could be called in to help at every level of the research, development, manufacturing, and marketing processes. This includes assisting with a competitive analysis to see how proprietary models stack up against other industry players.

Technical presentations

This is the tech segment of the sales pitch. There is often a verbal presentation combined with visual support such as graphs, blueprints, spec sheets, etc.

Product demonstrations

Some technical and scientific concepts have to be seen to be understood. Sales engineers may do a product demo while describing how that product could add value or otherwise benefit the client.

Marketing

Sales copy must be accurate. Sales engineers help by fact-checking freelance content and working alongside the marketing team to develop unique selling propositions (USPs). They may even write white papers or blogs to offer a professional perspective on tech topics.

Q & A

When prospects have questions, sales engineers deliver the answers. These questions are often general in nature. But they still may need to call on their knowledge and experience to explain how products benefit a specific client. This could happen during the sales process or they may offer support to existing customers as well.

Chit chat

It might not seem like it from the outside, but all the small talk that comes with a sales job is important. Conversations are how you establish a rapport and offer clients insight that proves your worth and encourages conversion.

Special events

From trade shows and conventions to press conferences and product launches, it’s important that sales events go off without a hitch. Sales engineers help by sharing information and running demos.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average sales engineer OTE (on-target earnings) in the United States in 2019 was $103,900 per year. This figure includes the base salary of $63,875 according to Adzuna. This is good news for anyone interested in exploring a career in sales engineering. Even better, the field is projected to grow about 6% between 2018 and 2028 (about on par with the average occupational growth rate).

Do sales engineers normally make commissions?

Sales engineers often receive commissions, especially in SaaS, but their compensation structure differs from traditional sales reps.

Their pay typically includes:

Base Salary – Sales engineers (SEs) usually have a higher base salary than account executives (AEs) because their role requires technical expertise and support rather than direct selling.

Bonuses or Performance-Based Incentives – Instead of a percentage-based commission, many SEs earn performance bonuses tied to deal support, customer demos, or team revenue targets.

Team-Based Commission – Some companies structure SE commissions as a shared percentage of deals closed by the sales team they support.

Deal Participation – If an SE is heavily involved in complex enterprise deals, they may receive a fixed commission per deal or a percentage of total revenue influenced.

Quota-Based Structure – In some cases, SEs have individual quotas (e.g., pre-sales demo success rate, proof-of-concept completions) that impact their variable compensation.

Free Sales Commission Calculator Template

A free spreadsheet to simplify the commission tracking process. Track what you or your team have earned in 4 inputs.

Download Now

Sales engineer job responsibilities

A Sales Engineer (SE) is a hybrid role that combines technical expertise with sales acumen to help businesses sell complex products and solutions. Their key responsibilities include:

1. Pre-Sales Support: Work with account executives to qualify prospects and understand customer needs.
2. Technical Demonstrations: Conduct product demos, proof-of-concept (PoC) presentations, and technical deep dives.
3. Solution Customization: Tailor solutions to meet specific customer requirements, addressing technical challenges.
4. Product Knowledge & Training: Stay updated on product capabilities and train both customers and internal sales teams.
5. Collaboration with Product & Engineering Teams: Provide feedback on product enhancements based on customer needs.
6. Proposal & RFP Support: Assist in responding to requests for proposals (RFPs) and creating detailed technical proposals.
7. Post-Sales Handoff: Ensure a smooth transition from sales to implementation, helping with onboarding if needed.

How to become a sales engineer

To become a Sales Engineer (SE), start by earning a relevant degree in engineering, computer science, or a technical field, though some SEs come from business backgrounds with strong technical expertise.

Hands-on experience in technical roles such as technical support, product management, or software development can help build a deep understanding of industry-specific solutions. Since SEs bridge the gap between sales and technology, strong communication and sales skills are essential.

Learning how to translate complex technical concepts into business value through presentations, demos, and customer conversations is key. Familiarity with CRM platforms like HubSpot or Salesforce and sales automation tools will also be beneficial.

While not required, obtaining industry certifications such as AWS Solutions Architect, Cisco CCNA, or Google Cloud certifications can improve credibility and career prospects. Many SEs start in entry-level roles like Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) or Solution Consultants before transitioning into a full SE position. By developing both technical expertise and sales acumen, aspiring sales engineers can position themselves for success in this highly sought-after role.

What is the sales engineer career track?

A job as a sales engineer starts in college. Many employers look for applicants who are graduates of engineering programs. A bachelor’s degree is important to some recruiters; others are more interested in an applicant’s technical training.

Like most professions, sales jobs have a certain trajectory that takes newbies up the career ladder one rung at a time. For a sales engineer, the starting line could be an Associate Sales Engineer position or ASE. These positions typically report to a more senior sales engineer and/or as part of a large corporate sales department. Sometimes, they’re the sole SE at a smaller company.

Next up is a promotion to a Corporate Sales Engineer (CSE) position. With the new job title comes a new tier of clients and extra job duties. CSEs handle more valuable accounts and may be responsible for increasingly complex tasks. A CSE may be a team leader. They may also work under a Senior CSE who serves as the point person for a large account.

One of the most attractive aspects of a career as a sales engineer is that there are countless opportunities outside the traditional trajectory. For example, sales engineers may freelance in product development or focus on customer service. They may also devote their entire career to research used to power other aspects of the sales process.

So, what is a sales engineer? Sales engineers are problem solvers, but they’re also expert communicators. If you’re looking to build a better sales team, consider bringing on an SE.

For more ways to make sales reps’ lives easier, automate commission tracking and sales compensation, and start QuotaPath’s free 30-day trial.

Running an effective sales division requires organization. Let your reps operate completely independently, and you’ve all but guaranteed chaos. Multiple reps pitching the same prospect, and high-potential clients being ignored — and those are just two disastrous scenarios; there are plenty of others.

To ensure efficiency and set your team up for success, get strategic about managing sales territories.

Here are the four best ways to divide sales territories and why making a plan matters.

What is a sales territory?

A sales territory is a defined area in which a single salesperson or group of salespeople work. That defined area can take on different shapes and forms. As you’ll see below, not all sales territories fit a neat geographic structure. Depending on the size of the territory, there may be one person handling all the area’s clients. If it’s a large territory, there may be several salespeople as well as a sales manager sharing the responsibility.

Historically, sales territories tended to follow established geographical shapes. Sales reps might have worked in certain states or known that they “own” the area south of a particular point. Today, territory management has evolved and become more complex. It may be harder to create balanced territories, but the results are worth the investment.

Why sales territories are useful

As companies grow, they need to divide up accounts in a manageable way. Sales territories provide clear-cut boundaries, so there’s no confusion about which sales rep works with which client. This is crucial for several reasons:

• To prevent under-servicing. When a salesperson is stretched too thin, client relations suffer. Orders slip through the cracks, there may not be time to follow up on leads, and calls go unreturned. Under-servicing can have a snowball effect, and the more reps make mistakes, the further behind they fall.
• To prevent over-servicing. While clients don’t like being ignored, they don’t like being pestered either. A sales rep who relies on just a few accounts may have to be very aggressive just to make a livable commission.
• To keep talented salespeople happy. It’s an awful feeling to fall short of your sales goals. Even worse is when that happens because you weren’t given the opportunity to succeed. Balanced sales territories give everyone a chance to maximize their compensation.
• To motivate and boost morale. Giving a sales rep their own territory establishes ownership; they’re in charge of their piece of the pie. It’s their responsibility to make sales happen. They have a quota to meet and leads to generate and nurture. They know they’ll have to explain their progress to the higher-ups, and that’s invigorating.

Four ways to divide sales territories

There are countless ways to oversee sales territory alignment, but these are the four most common.

1. Geographically

One of the most popular ways to structure a sales territory plan is to divide up accounts according to geographic location. This could be as simple as setting boundaries to preexisting criteria, such as zip codes or states. Using this method makes it easy to define the exact parameters of each territory, and it’s equally easy to make changes.

On the other hand, geographically delimited territories are tough to make equal. One area may include a bustling industrial center, while the other could be largely residential. California has 53 Fortune 500 companies, Kentucky has 1. This kind of imbalance could be frustrating for sales reps and clients alike. You end up with some reps racking up huge commissions but also dealing with enormous amounts of stress. Conversely, their colleagues who got the shorter end of the stick can’t make ends meet, which breeds resentment and discord.

Geographic territory planning could create travel-related issues for outside sales teams. Depending on where your HQ is located, some reps may have to commute much further than others. That means some of your team will automatically be required to invest more time.

2. Company size

The second option is to assign sales territories based on company size. Rather than looking at the big picture and slicing up the map, reps are paired up with specific accounts. How that matching process works depends on a number of factors, but one perk of this approach is that it allows for seniority. Senior reps who have proven track records get the larger accounts and junior reps get their feet wet working with smaller clients.

Dividing up territories according to company size also allows for predictability of contract size and a lot of segmentation. Categorizing accounts by size, such as global enterprise, mid-sized business and small business, prevents coverage gaps. It also makes it easier to assign the right rep to the right account.

Of course, all this goes out the window if a company suddenly changes size. Organizations that close a branch or two or acquire another business may shrink or expand practically overnight. When that happens, your territories will need to be adjusted accordingly. Both the initial segmentation and future changes are only as accurate as the data you source.

It can be difficult to find reliable information about company sizes, and you may find yourself relying on educated guesses. Using sales history to predict future potential is a smart way to go, but you’re still operating on conjecture rather than data.

3. Industry

When you organize sales territories according to industry, you empower sales reps to specialize in a particular niche. This gives them the ability to study industry-relevant topics and, more easily, establish and build a rapport with their clients. The sales plan for that area can ditch more generic messaging and tailor marketing materials and pitches to the industry.

This angle becomes problematic when there are companies that span several industries. For example, a technology firm with both agriculture and educational applications may need reps for both divisions. Another issue: some industries are more or less likely to buy, creating unpredictable territorial inequities.

4. Alphabetical

Organizing territories alphabetically splits the difference between assigning territories totally at random and having a strategic territory plan. Go this route and everyone gets an opportunity to work with businesses of all sizes and across all industries and locations. If a client changes its name, it’s easy to tweak your territory alignment. Other changes, such as company size or physical relocation of their brick-and-mortar store, don’t matter.

But as easy as alphabetizing territories can be, it’s a pretty uninspired system. You may end up with sales reps in charge of accounts they aren’t prepared to tackle. Some salespeople may have fifty huge accounts with endless potential. Others could be stuck with five tiny companies just because their names all start with the letter “J.”

If you do decide to divide up your sales territories according to the alphabet, establish some ground rules. Do articles like “The” count? Everyone needs to know whether “The Eastman Kodak Company” will be filed under “T” or “E.”

Proper sales territory management can be a vital part of boosting morale. It can also help increase your customer base and raise customer satisfaction. To keep your business on track, consider using commission tracking software to see where sales are coming from. Finding data-backed ways to determine sales targets and allocate your resources could be just what you need to optimize performance. Sign up for QuotaPath for free today.

Most sales organizations provide internal mentorship programs that involve a senior rep supporting new rep development.

In theory, it’s a great idea.

The mentee learns the ropes from a proven rep within the company and has a go-to, trusted resource for help.

The mentors, on the other hand, get to flex their budding leadership skills and gain extra visibility when their mentees excel. Plus, sales managers and directors benefit as they have another shoulder to lean on to help ramp up new team members.

Sounds like a win-win-win, right? 

Not so fast. 

Some reps and sales leaders feel the mentor gets the shortest straw since it’s their time that’s getting pulled away. 

This raises the question: 

Should we compensate sales mentors for their time?

We ran a poll on LinkedIn, and the majority voted hard in favor of compensating mentors.

“As an individual contributor, I’ve always been willing to help without getting paid. But I will give my mentee a lot more attention if I can get something out of it as well,” said Byron Sierra-Mattos. 

In Byron’s previous sales roles as a mentor, he’d shadow sales calls with a new rep and offer feedback. Then, as the mentee began closing deals, Byron would earn a percentage of the deals for a designated timeframe. 

Alexine Mudawar, CEO of Women in Sales, agreed. For internal sales mentorship programs, creating sales comp with set milestones for mentors could be a nice setup.

However, for mentorship outside of organizations, she disagreed.

“I would never accept compensation externally for mentorship,” Alexine said. “Career coaching I would — but that would be different!”

Jason Conrey, Head of Sales at ElectroNeek, also believes sales mentors should receive additional sales compensation.

“Pay them,” Jason said. “As someone who heads a sales organization, when I leverage mentors for reps it takes a bit of work off of my plate and allows me to focus on other areas, while in parallel, it consumes the bandwidth of the mentor which could be the time they’d apply to further driving their own numbers.”

Factors to consider

If you don’t compensate your mentors but are now thinking about it, here are some points to consider:

What is the ask and time commitment of the mentor? For example, does your mentor sit on calls with the new rep and offer feedback? Or, is the mentee listening in to live demos? The latter requires no additional effort from the mentor as they would have conducted the call regardless. 

Compensation structure: What percentage of the mentor’s compensation plan is tied to variable pay? If their pay mix weighs toward variable pay (60:40) versus base pay, and their time is now shared mentoring a new rep, this may call for additional compensation. 

How to build a comp plan with sales mentor bonuses

We typically see four methods to compensate sales mentors.

1. Commission percentage: This is what Byron had in previous roles. When his mentee closed a deal within a specific length of time, Byron earned a small percentage of commission from the total contract value. The commission percentage model can be easily set up and executed from a commission tracking perspective and could be implemented in your comp plans similar to a SPIF.
   
2. Milestone bonuses: You could also set pre-determined bonus amounts, or milestone bonuses, that the mentor receives as the mentee progresses through larger onboarding accomplishments. Alexine mentioned this structure above. 
   
   For example, if the mentee books three demos, the mentor might receive $250. Or, if the mentee closes a deal within the first 60 days, then the mentor receives $500.
   
   Like the commission percentage model, you could set up the milestone bonuses like a SPIF throughout the year as your mentors take on new mentees.

3. Shared quota attainment: In situations where the mentor takes an active role in supporting the mentee in closing deals, you could consider retiring quota from the same deal for both the mentor and the mentee. Is this a logistical nightmare? Yes, it’s not easy. That, and your mentor might slack or sandbag a bit knowing they can hit their quota by using the mentee’s book of business to get there.
   
4. Create a senior AE role: The easiest and most effective way to compensate sales mentors is to design a senior AE role with a higher base salary that includes mentoring as part of their job description. This creates a clear career path with differentiated duties between your sale rep levels.
   
   You can use these compensation plan templates to build out base and variable structures appropriate for a senior role. 

So, there you have it. 

Still thinking your sales mentors should do it for the visibility and experience and not the money? 

We leave you with one more point from Jason.

“‘Visibility’ is an absolute joke to most successful AEs,” Jason said. “It’s important but leaders stand out based on other traits and results. My progress from AE to leadership was faster than the majority and my visibility has been high at every stop in my journey but I never did anything to be ‘visible.’”

“Visibility never paid a single bill, but bonus money sure as heck bought me a wake surf boat.”

About QuotaPath

To learn more about QuotaPath’s sales compensation automation and management software, book a time with our team. In the meantime, check out our free resource, Compensation Hub to guide your comp plan design process. This ungated library includes 20 adjustable free comp plan templates to run and test scenarios. Save a plan in Compensation Hub and see it live in QuotaPath for a free 30-day trial. 

*okay, so obviously I can’t GUARANTEE you hit your quota as a sales rep, but if you use these tips, you’ll crush your sales quota.

Understand your sales quota

I know this one sounds simple but without knowing what you’re expected to sell, it’s impossible to know whether you’re doing a good job. There are lots of different types of quotas. Traditional quotas require a sales rep to sell a certain amount of their product or service per month/quarter/year. There are activity quotas that require a sales rep to do an activity. This means the rep is supposed to make a certain number of calls, emails, or something else. A team-based quota requires your entire sales team (you and your team members) to sell a certain amount. Your whole team will get paid based on whether the sales team meets the quota.

If you’re lucky, your quota is VERY straightforward; something like $30,000 of new business revenue per month. Maybe it’s based on top-line profit for the company. However, a lot of companies have complex quotas that require upsells, renewals, new business, or meetings set. Ensure you have a good understanding of exactly what you’re expected to do first and foremost.

Keep yourself organized

Look, no one likes keeping their CRM up to date. It’s a chore that sales reps feel are busywork required by their manager/sales ops but I promise it’s worth it. If you carefully record all conversations you have with your prospects you’re more likely to close the deal — now or in the future. When a prospect tells you that they’ll be making a buying decision in 6 months, chances are you’re going to forget about them. If you use a CRM to remind yourself where they saw value initially, you’ve set yourself up to close that deal. I promise you that your CRM has a better memory than you do.

Ask for referrals

Many new business sales reps close a deal, hand it off to their account manager and move on to the next one. I always make an effort to follow up with the client 2 months after onboarding. First I check to ensure they are seeing value out of what I sold them. If they aren’t, I try to remedy the situation. If they are, I go through their LinkedIn and see which of their connections would benefit from what I’m selling. Then I ask if I can mention them or if the client themselves will make the introduction. I’ve closed countless deals this way.

Track your goals

Numerous studies have found that the more a rep measures their progress toward a goal, the more likely that rep is to achieve it. Want to lose weight? Get a scale in your bathroom, weigh yourself every day, and write it down. The same goals for your quota. If you track your progress every day, you’ll be focused on doing the right things to get there. P.S. this is where QuotaPath comes in handy!

Don’t get lazy

Have you ever been in a sales slump and said “I don’t understand what’s happening! I’m doing the same thing I’ve always done and not getting the same results!” Yeah, me too. Then I listened to my most recent demo vs. an old demo… it’s night and day. I thought I was doing the same things on both demos, but instead I hadn’t done the research on the client. I wasn’t asking closing questions, and I was letting them lead the demo… all the things I know not to do. So I put a post-it on my monitor that said “DON’T BE LAZY”. Every time I saw it, I remembered to do the things that win deals.

ABP: Always be prospecting

Yeah, I stole this from the most hackneyed sales scene of all time. Don’t let it distract from the message. If you’re not trying to add new deals into your pipeline all the time, your pipeline is going to dry up. It’s hard to hit quota with a dry pipeline. Set aside time every day to new opportunity generation. If that means cold calling, pick up the phone. If that means connecting with prospects on LinkedIn, go add them! Additionally LinkedIn prospectors and marketers, can use LinkedHelper software to automate the prospecting and engage with clients on the platform.

Try new things

This might seem a bit contradictory to a previous point about doing the same things on every demo, but it’s not. What I mean is that you need to be constantly experimenting in order to get better. Don’t entirely change your demo or cold call pitch immediately, make small changes slowly. Try calling during lunchtime one day per week to see if it improves your connect rate. Experiment with combining your discovery call and demo into one long call. Try speaking in a different accent! Okay, don’t do that one.

Now that you have a few tips and techniques, get out there and crush your sales quota! Do you need a calculator to help track your quota or commissions? You can use QuotaPath for free.

This is a guest blog from our friends at Dialpad.

Are you looking at developing and modernizing your business with the use of sales dashboards? You can use many different types of dashboards, depending on what data you want to show. We have found 10 of the most useful dashboards you and your team should familiarize yourselves with.

What is a Sales Dashboard?

A sales dashboard is a visual tool that helps you keep track of your data. Whether you are looking at the average time it takes to close a deal or how often your sales team is likely to queue a call, a dashboard can help. Data and analytics can be confusing. But a sales dashboard will show your data in a simple way that is easy to understand.

As a sales manager, you can use a sales dashboard to monitor the performance of your sales team. With the right dashboard, you can create a visual representation of your key sales metrics. Sales dashboards can also be helpful for teams to track their own progress.

10 Sales Dashboards To Familiarise Yourself With

1. Win/Loss Dashboard

A Win/Loss Dashboard shows the overall deals that were closed within a certain period of time. It also shows losses and open or pending sales. These dashboards are useful for tracking sales as they show strengths, as well as areas with room for improvement.

These dashboards are also useful for sales managers as they can track the performance of individuals within their team. Team performance can also be compared to previous periods to measure overall performance.

Why is a win/loss dashboard useful?

A win/loss dashboard is useful because it provides clear visibility into sales performance, showing which deals were won, lost, or are still pending within a specific timeframe. This helps sales managers identify patterns, strengths, and areas for improvement, allowing them to adjust strategies and coaching efforts accordingly. Additionally, it enables historical comparisons, helping teams track progress over time and refine their sales approach to improve win rates.

2. Sales Activities Dashboard

The Sales Activities Dashboard will help you learn more about what your employees do during the workday. This dashboard uses charts to show which sales activities are undertaken by each team member.

For example, if your company uses VoIP calling for its sales calls, you can analyze data, such as the duration of calls and the number of phone calls made to secure a sale. Using your dashboard, you can see which employees are more productive and how sales relate to the activities they are doing.

Why is a sales activity dashboard useful?

A sales activities dashboard is useful because it provides insight into how sales reps spend their time and which activities drive results. By tracking metrics like call volume, meeting frequency, and deal progress, managers can identify top performers, uncover productivity trends, and optimize sales strategies. This data-driven approach helps improve efficiency, coaching, and overall sales performance.

3. Time-Tracking Sales Dashboard

This dashboard is another way to track your sales team’s activities. But the Time-Tracking Sales Dashboard looks specifically at how much time is spent on each activity. This can be useful when looking for ways to increase productivity. If too much time is regularly spent on certain activities, you can look into ways to streamline that process.

Time-tracking can also be used to work out how much time is spent on individual clients. For example, to give a more accurate bill to clients who are charged by the hour.

Why is a time tracking sales dashboard useful?

A time-tracking sales dashboard is useful because it provides visibility into how much time reps spend on different sales activities, helping identify inefficiencies and opportunities for streamlining processes. By analyzing time allocation, managers can optimize workflows, improve productivity, and ensure reps focus on high-impact tasks. Additionally, it enables more accurate client billing for businesses that charge by the hour.

4. Product Performance Dashboard

A Product Performance Dashboard looks at the sales of individual products. This is very useful for keeping track of sales so you can create a realistic inventory projection. It should be easy for both your buyers and sales team to use and keep your business running smoothly

If sales have declined, a Product Performance Dashboard can help your team decide which lines to discontinue. It can also help build a bigger picture of trends in different periods. This keeps your business one step ahead with ordering in the future. This prevents surplus stock, selling out of stock too quickly, or bringing in new lines that will not sell.

Why is a product performance dashboard useful?

A product performance dashboard is useful because it tracks the sales of individual products, helping businesses manage inventory and make informed purchasing decisions. By analyzing trends over time, companies can identify which products to discontinue, adjust stock levels to prevent shortages or surpluses, and optimize sales strategies. This ensures smoother operations, better forecasting, and improved profitability.

5. Deal Performance Dashboard

If you want to focus your dashboard on sales forecasts, you need to look into Deal Performance Dashboards. These dashboards use data from previously closed deals and current ongoing deals to predict sales for the upcoming year.

This dashboard is also suitable for analyzing the different stages of the deal process. You can track changes to ongoing deals, as well as how many deals each of your sales team has closed in each period.

Why is a deal performance dashboard useful?

A deal performance dashboard is useful because it analyzes past and current deals to forecast future sales, helping businesses set realistic revenue goals. It also tracks deal progression through different sales stages, allowing sales managers to monitor performance trends, identify bottlenecks, and optimize sales strategies. This ensures better pipeline management and more accurate sales planning.

6. Sales Manager Dashboard

This is the dashboard that every sales manager should familiarize themselves with. With this, they can look at day-to-day sales performances, or monitor them weekly, monthly, and yearly. They can use this information to manage their teams more effectively.

A Sales Manager Dashboard ensures that managers can keep track of targets. They can see how their team is progressing and make adjustments if they are not. Larger companies can also track their sales regionally. Being able to analyze regional sales gives managers the ability to measure performance better.

Why is a sales manager dashboard useful?

A sales manager dashboard is useful because it provides a clear view of sales performance over different time periods, helping managers track targets and adjust strategies as needed. It also enables regional sales analysis, ensuring better team management and performance measurement.

7. Sales KPI Dashboard

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are goals set by a company to measure its performance. But if you want a clear, concise way to analyze your KPIs with your team, you should create a Sales KPI Dashboard.

The Sales KPI Dashboard should be accessible to the whole team so that they can keep track of their own progress. You can use it during meetings to show areas to work on, give feedback, and help with training.

Why is a sales KPI dashboard useful?

A sales KPI dashboard is useful because it provides a clear, real-time view of key performance metrics, helping teams track progress toward goals. It also facilitates data-driven coaching and feedback, ensuring continuous improvement and alignment with company objectives.

8. Sales Cycle Length Dashboar

A Sales Cycle Length Dashboard is used to monitor how long sales take, from identifying a lead to closing the deal. This dashboard is ideal for teams looking to shorten their sales cycles. You can also look at average sales cycle lengths over certain periods. 

Your team can monitor exactly which parts of the sales are more time-consuming and which parts can be easily streamlined. You can also analyze individual team members to see if they have found a better process that the whole team can utilize.

Why is a sales cycle length dashboard useful?

A sales cycle length dashboard is useful because it tracks how long deals take to close, helping teams identify bottlenecks and streamline processes. It also allows managers to analyze trends and optimize strategies for a more efficient sales cycle.

9. Sales Conversion Rate Dashboard

A team’s sales conversion rate is how well it converts leads into paying customers. Your sales team may be getting a lot of leads but struggling to follow them through to close a deal. Alternatively, you may be getting fewer high-quality leads with a higher conversion rate.

If you are keen to increase your sales rates, this is the dashboard for you. It can highlight your lead-to-sales ratios, as well as loss rates. A Sales Conversion Rate Dashboard will give you a clearer look at the bigger picture.

How is a sales conversion rate dashboard useful?

A sales conversion rate dashboard is useful because it measures how effectively leads are converted into customers, helping teams identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to improve sales processes.

10. Sales Opportunity Dashboard

If you are looking to expand your business and build on your sales, you need to look at the Sales Opportunity Dashboard. You can monitor how new customers and sales channels will increase your revenue, as well as identify challenges.

For example, is your sales team using all the resources available to them? A potential customer may have a query a call operator can’t answer. Are they using call transferring to redirect the customer to a colleague who will be able to help? Or do they regularly keep customers on hold while they look for answers?

Why is a sales opportunity dashboard useful?

A sales opportunity dashboard is useful because it tracks potential revenue growth by analyzing new customers, sales channels, and team effectiveness in handling opportunities. It helps identify gaps in the sales process, ensuring teams maximize available resources and improve customer interactions to close more deals.

How to Create Your Sales Dashboard

• Establish why you want to create a sales dashboard: Are you making it to track sales, monitor employees, or is there a specific problem you want to address?
• Decide what sales metrics you will be tracking: There’s no one-size-fits-all dashboard, so you need to know exactly what data you want to show.
• Choose your dashboard: There are many dashboards to choose from, so make sure you are choosing the correct one for your purpose.
• Decide how you want to use the sales dashboard: Your dashboard will be different depending on what it will be used for, who will be using it and what period it covers. You may want to simplify it if your whole sales team needs to use it.
• Choose a sales provider (or do it yourself): If you have the know-how, you could create your dashboard yourself using Excel. But if you don’t have the technical skills to make one yourself, there are many sales tools to choose from

Some examples of popular sales data software providers are Klipfolio, Zoho Reports, Hubspot CRM, and Salesforce.

• Create your reports: If you are using a sales provider, you just need to input the information, and everything will be put together for you. But you will still need to choose how you want your sales dashboard to be laid out. If you are creating it yourself, you will need to create your own charts and graphs.
• Keep it simple: This is not the time for overdesigning. Choose a clear layout that is easy to read. You need to think about how the sales dashboard will be accessed. Will employees use their phones, laptops, or desktop computers? Can the sales report be seen clearly on small and larger screens?

Metrics to Include in Your Sales Dashboard

A well-designed sales dashboard provides a clear snapshot of your team’s performance, helping you track progress, identify opportunities, and optimize sales strategies. Below are key metrics to include and why they matter.

Win Rate: The percentage of closed deals compared to total opportunities. A high win rate indicates strong sales execution, while a low rate may signal issues in qualification or closing techniques.

Sales Conversion Rate: The percentage of leads that convert into paying customers. This helps measure lead quality and the effectiveness of your sales process.

Quota Attainment: The percentage of quota achieved by individual reps or teams. This metric shows how well sales targets are set and whether reps need additional support or incentives.

Average Deal Size: The average revenue per closed deal. Tracking this helps businesses optimize pricing strategies and identify trends in customer purchasing behavior.

Sales Cycle Length: The average time it takes to move a lead from initial contact to closed deal. Shorter sales cycles generally indicate a more efficient sales process.

Pipeline Value: The total value of all deals in the pipeline. This provides insight into potential future revenue and helps with forecasting.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The total cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing and sales expenses. Lowering CAC while maintaining high conversion rates improves profitability.

Churn Rate: The percentage of customers who stop doing business with you over a given period. High churn indicates potential issues with customer satisfaction or product fit.

Lead Response Time: The average time it takes for sales reps to follow up with a lead.

Sales Dashboard Examples

The following our sales dashboard examples available in QuotaPath and through our key integrations.

Your Sales Dashboard

Sales dashboards are a visual tool to enhance your business. It’s not just about data. Dashboards assist with employee communication, reaching targets, and finding problems as they arise. You should be asking yourself exactly what you want from your sales dashboard.

Keep your dashboard simple, clean, and clear. It should be easy to read and interpret by anyone on your sales team. Don’t worry about pretty colors and overcomplicated graphs. Make it accessible to everyone.

The most important thing to think about when creating your sales dashboard should be whether it is user-friendly. A sales dashboard is an example of modern data architecture, meaning it should be designed and structured well. It should be a reliable way to access and process data. 

About the author: Jenna Bunnell, Senior Manager, Content Marketing, Dialpad

Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, a call recording software and AI-incorporated cloud-hosted unified communications system that provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. Check out her LinkedIn profile.

Every sales team either just wrapped up rolling out a new sales compensation plan or is about to.

That means meetings — and lots of them — to ensure every commissionable rep understands the circumstances of when they are paid, how they earn variable pay, what happens if a contract cancels, and more.

You have to inform leadership. Then leadership typically holds a meeting with the entire sales organization, and individual one-on-ones follow. (For 10 best practices and a complete example compensation communication plan, check out this blog.)

The final step involves putting a formal document in place that outlines the compensation policy and includes signatures of acknowledgment from the rep and the organization.

Get your AE compensation policy template

We’ve seen this legal document called both a commission agreement and a compensation policy. And, it serves to protect the company and the commissionable employee from potential compensation disputes in the future.

In fact, in some states, having a commission agreement in place is mandated by law. See: California and New York. 

However, for those who fall outside of those states, we consider this a must-have comp plan best practice as it deepens understanding of your compensation structure and provides a point of reference should questions arise. 

Below is an outline of a commission agreement.

How to write a compensation policy

Every commission agreement should include a detailed breakdown of the following: 

• On-target earnings (OTE)
• Quota frequency, quota, and on-target commissions
• A commission table with commission rates tied to progress toward quota
• Additional comp plan mechanics that impact commissions rates (such as accelerators and decelerators)
• Payment terms that include when your org. pays commissions
• SPIFs 
• Clawback language
• Dispute resolution
• Accrual and payout
• Signature 

Write your own, or feel free to download our free AE compensation policy template. 

For other compensation resources, visit Compensation Hub for free comp plan templates, or discover our sales compensation calculator and more on our Resources page. 

About QuotaPath

QuotaPath automates commission tracking and sales compensation management for scaling GTM teams. Integrate your CRM for real-time, accurate, and transparent commission payouts and communications. Align your teams with a compensation source of truth and motivate your reps by showing how their pipeline translates to earnings.  

This is a guest blog written by SetSail CMO Peter Mollins.

It’s impossible to lead a high-performance team without trust. 

And to build trust, you need transparency – openness, honesty, and two-way communication.

Transparency is one of the most critical factors employees consider when assessing whether they should stay at a job, or take a job, to begin with. 

Why is transparency important for sales teams?

According to the Society for Human Resources Management, one out of five workers said they can’t always trust what their supervisor tells them.

Another study showed people who believe their leaders are transparent feel nearly four times as high a sense of belonging with their teams and report more than six times as high satisfaction with their work environment. 

It’s not just about keeping your sales team happy – it’s about creating a place they feel they can do their best work. Companies with engaged employees are 23% more profitable.

So many leaders talk about transparency, but how do you put it into practice as a revenue leader? 

It starts with thinking about transparency as a behavior, not just a value. Here are six actionable ways to inject a healthy dose of transparency into your sales enablement strategy:

How do you build transparency in a sales team?

• Show the whole sales team what the high performers do 
• Show every sales rep how they measure up 
• Don’t make sales compensation and commission a secret 
• Help your team learn from losses – not just wins 
• Make it easy to ask questions and get answers
• Communicate clear expectations from every coaching interaction 

#1: Show the whole sales team what the high performers do 

The high performers aren’t just arbitrary favorites. They’re on the top of the sales leaderboards for a reason. 

They do the right actions at the right times and achieve revenue outcomes. 

In large sales teams, the average performing rep likely has the drive to get better – they may simply not know what to do. They probably don’t have visibility into the high performer’s process. But by providing transparency into top-performing actions and empowering your middle performers to raise the bar, you’ll have a huge impact on the bottom line.

How your top reps close revenue shouldn’t be a secret. It’s critical to centralize your sales activity data, study what’s working, and give your entire team a transparent view of what they should be doing to hit their targets. 

#2: Show every sales rep how they measure up 

Every rep should know where they fall on the performance scale – and why. 

That’s how you can get every rep thinking about what they need to change in order to rise in the ranks. 

Your goal should be to show each rep where they stand today, and pair it with information on how they can do more of the right things – not just “more” in general. It’s not an email-sending competition – it’s a revenue-closing competition. 

#3: Don’t make sales compensation and commission a secret 

Make it easier for your reps to calculate how winning will affect their paycheck.

When they can quickly pull up a dashboard that shows how the latest deal impacts their commission, you’re giving them a new level of insight into what’s possible. 

They can track deals in the pipeline and instantly see what it could translate to for them – plus see how their quota is projected compared to others. 

According to Visier’s Pay Transparency report, 79% of all survey respondents want some form of company-wide pay transparency. In fact, 68% of employees would switch jobs for greater pay transparency, even if compensation was the same.

While sales teams have typically had a higher level of pay transparency than other parts of an organization, making compensation easy to view and understand is a major way to build trust.  

#4: Help your team learn from losses – not just wins 

As a revenue leader, it’s tempting to drill down into the details of every big win. After all, it’s a major high point when someone on your team reels in a huge deal. 

About 41% of sales teams reported their win rate was between 1-40% in 2022. 

That means if you only focus on your wins, you’re missing out on 60% or more of your sales data. And this data could tell you a lot about how to get better. 

Questions you can ask: 

• Is there anything we can do now to help us close this deal in the future?
• What could we have done differently in each step of the process? 
• If we lost to a competitor, what did they offer that we didn’t or couldn’t? 

Here’s the most important part of all: empower your reps to come up with real answers to these questions, and reward them with positive feedback when they do. 

A high-level, “we’ll get ‘em next time!” isn’t going to help you be more effective. What you want is a substantive perspective from your reps and an accurate analysis of your data. 

By getting to this level of transparency about your losses, you’re encouraging your team to focus on what you can control to get better results.

#5: Make it easy to ask questions and get answers 

Transparency doesn’t have to be complex – it’s as simple as giving every individual a sensible, safe way to ask questions, and making information easily accessible. 

One in five sales reps believes they don’t have the right resources to keep their sales process on track. So just making sure your reps don’t feel this way can go a long way. 

And transparency needs to go both ways. Allow your reps to provide feedback or inquire about a topic. Then immediately supplying helpful answers. That’s how you maintain the trust you’ve built and keep motivation high. 

#6: Communicate clear expectations from every coaching interaction 

Fifty-nine percent of companies say the biggest barrier to effective sales training is reps not being held accountable for applying the skills they’ve learned. 

Don’t let this hold your organization back. It’s up to you as a revenue leader to set clear expectations on how you want your sales team to implement the techniques you’ve shared.

Be 100 percent transparent with the changes you expect, and what you want your reps to do with the information. 

Get a transparent view of your sales activity data

Are you able to track who’s doing what, and report on it accurately? Use SetSail to connect your entire go-to-market tech stack and automatically update your CRM with complete, accurate sales activity data. 

It’s the starting point for insights into what’s working in your sales process – insights you’ll want to share with your team. Get a quick demo to see if SetSail is a good fit for your revenue operations workflow.

Peter Mollins Bio 

Peter Mollins is CMO of SetSail. With over 20 years of B2B marketing experience in Europe and North America, Peter has helped fast-growth companies like iMediation, KnowledgeTree, and Spreedly expand their revenue and market leadership. He previously led product marketing for the Borland portfolio at Micro Focus and began his career with Netscape in Paris. He holds a master’s in international management from Thunderbird.