Your sales compensation plan is all set up, you have balanced a plan that is attainable yet challenging. It’s lucrative for the reps and profitable for the company. It has some accelerators, it encourages consistency; it’s your magnum opus. And then the unthinkable happens: one of your middle-of-the-road reps closes a bluebird sales deal. 

Wait, this is an article about sales compensation, not birdwatching. What do you mean, a bluebird deal?

What is a bluebird in sales? A bluebird is a deal that is substantially larger than your average deal or one that closes much quicker than your standard deal. Many organizations consider a bluebird deal as one opportunity when the contract value is greater than a rep’s quota.

What do you do? Your first instinct might be to panic. You have never written a commission check this big in your entire sales career! What happens if this bluebird deal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Where is that large automobile? Wait, no, that’s Talking Heads. Anyway, here’s what you should do. 

Step 1: Celebrate the bluebird deal

Your rep sold the biggest deal in company history. The very first thing you do? Scream it from the rooftops. Celebrate your rep. Send out an organization-wide email about how this is an incredible achievement for your rep, their manager, the sales engineer who helped close it, and the SDR who sourced the deal. Your VP of Finance might be wringing their hands, but now is not the time. If you want to close more of these gigantic deals (hint: you do), then you need to signal to your team that this is a good thing.

Step 2: Pay your rep on the bluebird sales deal (with a smile on your face)

Okay, now is when the rubber hits the road for you. Pay your rep. Pay them accordingly to their commission plan. If you try anything funny, you’re going to have issues. Don’t try to reduce their sales commission rates. Don’t try to cap their commission. If you ask a room full of salespeople if they’ve ever had someone mess with their commission, you’re likely to have at least a dozen hands go up. And if you ask them about that experience, at least one of them will probably say they quit because of it. They probably posted a scathing LinkedIn post about it, too. Losing a top rep purely because you didn’t want to pay a commission that they earned is a very expensive (and unethical) mistake. Pay them on the bluebird sales deal.

Step 3: Modify commission payment terms if needed

There is one nuance to bluebird deals: timing of commission payouts. If you normally pay your reps after the customer has been fully onboarded, then this probably won’t be an issue for you. However, if you’re like most companies and don’t wait until onboarding is complete, it can get a little more complicated. Essentially, you don’t want to pay out on this bluebird sales deal only for the deal to evaporate. Then you’d be stuck trying to clawback a gigantic commission check, or worse your rep quits and you have to kiss that commission check goodbye. 

So, explain the extenuating circumstances to your rep. Consider giving them a portion of the commission at the typical cadence and pay the rest out on a set schedule. If you typically pay out after the deal is closed, you pay out 25% of the commission on the next pay period and the other 75% once the customer has paid their invoice. Or, if you usually pay commissions after the first month’s invoice is paid, pay out equal installments over the first 3 invoices. 

Step 4: Evaluate your comp plan for next time

You might think this was a black swan event. And, it very well might be. But that’s not a good reason to skip planning for the next time it happens. You want to avoid discouraging people from closing these bluebird deals. After all, they can affect an entire sales team quota. We don’t recommend limiting the commission they earn on these deals. However, you might want to consider reducing the accelerators once someone hits above 300% of quota. Maybe you actually write the modified commission payment terms into the compensation document.

There you have it! Congratulations on your bluebird deal. Now you know how to handle it in a professional and expert way.

Also, if you are looking to calculate commission on this bluebird deal – or any deal for that matter – you should be using ​​QuotaPath. QuotaPath is a tool designed to help automate the commission tracking process for you, your finance team, and (maybe most importantly) your sales reps. 

The blog below includes 10 best practices and an example compensation communication plan to follow when deploying new plans and adjustments.

It’s mid-year. The sales team has been hitting their goals. Well, until the company rolled out the new compensation plan designed to reward reps for selling new product lines to different market segments. The reps didn’t even realize that the new compensation plan design went into effect as leaders only briefly mentioned the changes during a recent meeting.

But, as reps received their first paycheck on the new plan, the amount on their checks failed to match their expectations. Many reps anticipated commission checks based on the accelerators from the previous plan and at a higher commission rate.

Instead, they saw lower earnings per deal since the new plan doesn’t include the same tiered commission structure. 

Reps felt blind-sided, disappointed, and suspicious. They wondered why there wasn’t more of an announcement or, better yet, a dedicated training. This is their paycheck, after all.

Left unchecked, this sort of experience leads to frustration, uncertainty, and poor morale. 

Some reps even quit over miscommunication of comp plans.

That’s why it’s essential that leadership formulates a sales compensation communication plan when altering the comp plan or changing quotas. 

The plan needs to:

• Include sales-leader-driven workshops to review any changes or adjustments to the plan
• Explain the why behind the changes and the math
• Share how the company will support the team with the new objectives
• Create a safe space for the team to ask questions

To start, read on. 

10 things every sales compensation communication plan should include

1. Use consistent messaging each time you share the plan. This helps avoid confusion and misunderstandings.

2. Leverage various methods to communicate the new plan. This is important because everyone learns differently. You might circulate written documents, a video explaining the plan, example calculations, group presentations, and 1:1 discussions. This increases the odds of understanding the plan and its ramifications for the individual. Plus, the group and individual discussions provide opportunities for reps to ask questions with immediate answers.

3. Start broad and become more detailed. For example, when sharing a new plan with the entire sales organization the messaging will be more general. But as sales leaders present it to a specific sales team, or 1:1 with an individual, the messaging becomes more detailed and specific to the individuals involved.

4. Create a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document. Distribute it alongside the plan documents. Proactively answering these questions saves time and boosts plan understanding more rapidly.

5. Provide calculation examples based on various scenarios. You can incorporate this into the actual plan documents or by providing the sales team with forecasting software that calculates commission amounts for any deal in the pipeline. Offering such a tool answers a multitude of questions and provides clarity around how the new plan impacts everyone’s income potential.

6. Explain why the plan is changing and how the company will back the reps through these changes. When your team understands this it makes it easier to accept the change. When reps know why leadership adjusted a plan and how new resources and enablement will support them, enthusiasm and acceptance will follow.

7. Share the benefits of the new plan. Team members want to understand why they should be excited about the new comp plan and how they can optimize their income on it. 

8. Plan documentation should be just the right length. Avoid lengthy comp plan documentation that buries details in a manuscript. But make sure to cover all of the important details. Proper documentation will cover the key points clearly and concisely.

9. Skip the legalese. Don’t get too technical or use a lot of confusing jargon in the plan documentation. It needs to be straightforward and easy to understand. Otherwise, reps may think you are trying to hide something, which decreases their trust in the plan and management.

10. Clearly define how performance ties to reward. You can accomplish this by explaining how you will measure performance, weighted factors, and how to calculate earnings.

An example compensation communication plan

As part of our sales compensation best practices, below we’ve provided a communication plan to adopt and modify.

Step 1 – Educate management

Before rolling out the new comp plan, introduce the plan to all levels of management. Explain all of the elements, why they made the changes, how it impacts the salesforce and whom, and in what ways. Highlight the benefits of the new plan and how to optimize commissions on the new plan. Share plan documents, FAQs, videos, what-if calculators, promo video templates, and any other plan launch materials.

Step 2 – High-level review of the new plan and the roll-out process

Senior management from the salse organization, such as the VP of Sales, should review with the team a high-level review. The strategy is to energize and engage the entire sales organization as they launch the new comp plan. Following the session, send an email to everyone in the sales organization recapping the discussion along with a video reviewing the plan highlights and roll-out process.

Step 3 – More detailed review of the new plan

Next, sales managers should present a detailed review of the plan to their teams. Explain the plan in terms of how it impacts both the team and individual contributors. Distribute detailed plan documents, FAQs, videos, what-if calculators, and other plan launch materials to sales team members for their review.

Step 4 – One-on-one plan review

Then, sales managers meet with each rep on their team to review how the new plan impacts the specific individual. This gives reps the chance to privately ask their questions or raise concerns over the new sales compensation plan. Reps are also provided with the option to present any additional questions via email, private chat, or phone as needed.

Step 5 – Plan verification

Lastly, ask for reps to show they understand their plans by signing off on them. This marks an essential step in creating alignment and transparency across the comp planning process. Leadership should introduce plan verification or re-verification anytime they issue a change to the compensation plan. Complete this by using DocuSign, via email, in person, or by leveraging our in-app Plan Verification feature.

Compensation communication plans are critical

It is essential to create a compensation communication plan when designing or altering sales comp plans. The best plan won’t motivate reps or drive desired behaviors if they don’t understand how the plan works. Failing to effectively communicate plan changes and how reps can optimize their income under the new plan, leads to frustration, loss of trust, demotivation, and reps who choose to quit.

To see QuotaPath’s Plan Verification feature and streamline your compensation communication plan, schedule a custom demo with our team. 

Interested in some of our other free resources? Check them out:

• Sales compensation calculator
• Sales commission plan template + commission tracker
• Quota:OTE Ratio Calculator
• Sales Funnel Calculator
  

On Sales Nerds Live Ep. 3, our host and QuotaPath Sales Nerd, Graham Collins welcomed Carabiner Group Account Executive Amelia Taylor to the show!

Amelia recently earned the title “Cold Calling Champion” after winning several LinkedIn Live cold calling competitions put on by RevGenius.

Watch the 35-minute episode below and pay attention to Amelia’s most successful cold-calling greeting, social selling tactics, and how to do “dark social” right. Scroll down for other key takes from episode 3!

About Amelia: A former real estate agent, Amelia today sells and supports the RevOps services of the Carabiner Group. The mom of two lives in Florida and loves to write. She’s also currently reading Jeff Bezos’s book, “Invent & Wander.”

3 key takeaways from Sales Nerds Live! Ep. 3

The cold calling greeting that works for someone else may not work for you

Put down your sales pitch examples pdf! What works well for someone else may not work for you, so you’ll have to experiment with messaging and build a natural flow.

Amelia, for instance, found success asking, “How are you?” after stuttering through the greeting, “May I make a suggestion?” (a line that worked well for a coworker).

It’s human nature for the person on the other line to ask you the question in return, and Amelia uses this as an opportunity to have an honest conversation.

“I answer honestly and transparently about how my day is going,” Amelia said. “If I breakdown my barriers, they’ll break down theirs.”

Then she’ll pivot the conversation by saying, “I have an idea for you.”

Social selling needs to be strategic

Graham mentioned that the social selling tactics he sees entail automated canned messaging after accepting a connection request.

“You have to be extremely strategic,” Amelia said. “Narrow your social efforts to ideal customer profiles based on what funding round they’re on, what industry, and role at the company.”

Use social to build out your champions’ relationships.

Dark social involves a more indirect approach

“It’s not that dark,” Amelia joked.

Dark social means showing up in the online places, communities, and apps where your buyers collaborate with their peers.

“It’s an underground way to find your buyers, but it’s easier than other outbound efforts because they’re already there,” Amelia said.

The key, Amelia said, is to offer resources and deliver value without directly pitching your product. Instead, provide blogs, recommend contacts or solutions at other companies, and establish trust.

For sales tips on follow-ups, getting a quick “huddle” meeting over social, and other selling best practices, watch the entire episode.

And, to see previous and future Sales Nerds Live! episodes check out our page here or our LinkedIn. Want to be a guest? E-mail kelly@quotapath.com.

Right now, tech companies are going through mass layoffs due to the emerging recession. However, maximizing your business’ return on investments is the best way to retain a talented sales team and deepen profits. According to TechRepublic, technology, like commission tracking software, can play a key role in helping executives optimize risk and follow through on business strategy adjustments. 

For instance, data science platforms can strengthen automation, connect disparate tech stacks, and detect both risks and opportunities via machine learning. 

And while the commissions software space is but a fraction of the size of big data, the role this technology can play in bolstering sales, increasing bottom lines, and even retaining talent hasn’t gone unnoticed.

The industry has caught on, and a rise in commissions management solutions has hit the market in the past 5 years. (QuotaPath included!)

Commissions continue to motivate sales teams in the midst of a looming economy

As sales commission tracking tools continue to become more popular, GTM teams have started realizing that the commission formula in Excel is no longer viable or scalable.

Leaders seek efficient and accurate commission management solutions that align departments and provide instant access to information for anyone who touches the compensation process. Transparency into how, when, and what reps get paid on is not only a must-have but a motivator.

A commission tool like QuotaPath, for example, allows sellers to see progress toward quota and their variable pay in real-time. With a forecasting toggle feature, the commission payment software also shows reps, leaders, and finance how the existing pipeline impacts projected annual recurring revenue and earnings goals.

But, we recognize that we’re not alone in the market.

So, as you’re evaluating which commissions management services platform to use, consider the following. 

Tool Accessibility

Do you want compensation plan software that will allow you to add plans and adjustments as you scale? 

QuotaPath makes it easy to quickly add new members of the team, build out new comp plans, and drop in changes all one your own. But should you need us, we’re quick to respond.

Forecast earnings/attainments 

Does the platform provide executive- and rep-level reporting on pipeline forecast and quota attainment?

Find a tool that automatically generates accurate forecasts based on your CRM so that business leaders can understand their sales team’s projections. 

ASC-606 Compliant

Is it compliant with ASC 606 regulations? 

This is new to the SaaS world, and if you’re not careful, it could be something you overlook when looking for commission tracking software. This new regulation requires revenue recognition standards for all businesses that enter into contracts. QuotaPath has the power to provide accounting teams with the ability to recognize commission expenses immediately. 

Fast time-to-value

How long will it take your team to get your system up and running? When will your team be trained on it, and how soon can it run commissions for you?

Here, we provide the fastest onboarding process in the biz without sacrificing quality. 

Trusted data and math

Can you trust the info is correct and up-to-date?

Send us your comp plans and we’ll run commissions for you. Check our math.

Our native integrations (truly native, meaning no manual refreshes or nightly updates) pull data automatically from your CRM. As long as that data is correct, so is QuotaPath’s. Automate Salesforce commissions, HubSpot commission tracking, integrate with Close, Maxio, you name it.

Partner relationship

How difficult will it be to get in touch with your vendor after signing on the dotted line? 

We’ve heard horror stories of customers falling through the onboarding cracks at competitors. Or that they were unable to get ahold of anyone when they needed help adding a new plan, running a payout, or making a comp plan adjustment. Our response time is less than 90 seconds. Time us! We also offer sales compensation consulting at no additional cost to double-check your comp plan designs.

No minimum user limit

300 reps? Great. 4 reps? Also great.

QuotaPath doesn’t require a minimum number of users. Whether you’re a multi-continental, multi-product, multi-industry sales organization, or a startup with your first 2 reps, we got you.

Rep motivation

Find a solution that Finance, RevOps, and especially your Reps will love to use.

We created QuotaPath to help reps better understand their comp plans and when and how they get paid. Our user interface is easy to navigate so they can see their goals, accelerators, and bonuses, and how close they are to hitting those milestones. 

In-app communication

Can teams collaborate within the platform?

In early 2022, QuotaPath released Deal Flagging. This feature allows users to dispute any discrepancies that would immediately be escalated to an admin. Finance and Accounting can then address any questions within QuotaPath.

User Experience 

Think about how easy the solution would be to show someone on your team.

Our Director of Product said, “Our entire UX approach and philosophy focus on the idea that whatever we’re building shouldn’t require lots of training. We want our users to log in for the first time and already have a general understanding of how to use it.” 

Transparent pricing

How much does it cost and how easily can you find that out? We list our pricing upfront and directly on our website.

Let’s see if we’re a fit! Schedule time with our team, or get started with our free commission tracking software by signing up here.

If not, take this checklist to your next demo to make sure you’re getting exactly what you need. 

Big news! As of today, QuotaPath offers a native Copper CRM integration.

That’s right, the CRM applauded for its seamless experience and full functionality with Google Workspace has a new commission tool to offer its 30,000+ customers with QuotaPath. 

“A collaboration with Copper was a no-brainer given our shared focus on SMB/mid-market and product philosophies of simplicity and ease-of-use,” said QuotaPath Co-Founder Cole Evetts. “Now we can provide a solution to their customers for a problem every growth team experiences: automating commissions.”

With this integration, Copper users can feed deal data directly into QuotaPath to deliver revenue teams immediate access to their existing and future earnings, total annual recurring revenue, and attainment progress.

“We’re thrilled to announce our new QuotaPath integration and we’re excited for the efficiency and time savings it will offer Copper customers,” said Copper CEO Dennis Fois. “Managing sales commissions can be a manual and painful process, and this integration will bring greater visibility, ease, and organization to our sales, operations, and finance users.” 

Customers of both platforms are also eager.

“QuotaPath has been a great platform for our sales team, providing visibility and accuracy into our sales commissions and compensation process,” said PlaybookUX Co-Founder and CEO Lindsey Allard. “We are excited to use this integration, as it will save us even more time by providing a seamless experience between QuotaPath and our sales data in Copper CRM.”

Learn more about our latest **real-time integration below.

Ease of implementation

Both Copper and QuotaPath, two platforms that pride themselves on usability, can be implemented easily — hello, onboarded in less than 30 days! So, of course, when we built the integration, we made sure the sync would be just as simple (if not more).

How QuotaPath’s Native Copper integration works

• Connect to your source data
• Identify which records count toward earnings
• Map sales compensation plans with Copper
• CRM data from designated fields
• Define Deal stages to pull from Copper
• Preview mapping and input additional filters

Try the Copper integration with QuotaPath

Ready to automate sales commissions with compensation management software that users love to use? Wonderful, we’re ready to help!

Make your work-life easier by letting Copper and QuotaPath do the heavy lifting. Book a time with one of our friendly team members to learn more. In fact, once you schedule it, send your comp plan over and we’ll build it out in QuotaPath.

Not a Copper user? You should be! Their full CRM functionality directly in Gmail means no toggling between the two platforms, and we love their customer-relationship-first approach. To try Copper for free for 14 days, sign up here. 

About QuotaPath

QuotaPath automates the sales compensation process for scaling revenue teams. Our team of sales leaders and technology experts offers ​​sales compensation consulting to design plans that drive the right behaviors. Then, we help your team map these out in our platform to automate the entire process. With QuotaPath, give your reps and revenue leaders a tool to forecast commissions and attainment. Let them see real-time commission progress and calculations. Free your finance team from having to build out formulas and offer them a seamless pay approval experience for commissions. 

About Copper

Copper is the CRM of choice for Google Workspace businesses. Copper arms its users with collaboration tools and provides a user-friendly experience to help teams and businesses build long-lasting relationships. It is used across finance, marketing, and sales, automating tasks and statuses for today’s digital-first employees at small-to-medium size companies. Copper is Recommended for Google Workspace, and is used by over 30,000 paid businesses in more than 100 countries..=

** When we say “real-time” integration we mean it. No nightly refreshes. No delays. Enjoy instant access to your earnings potential!

Can you run QuickBooks commission tracking? Below, we introduce QuickBooks and its capabilities. But most importantly, we share how to use QuickBooks with QuotaPath’s commissions management solutions.

First, what does QuickBooks do? 

Launched in 1983, QuickBooks supports accounting and finance teams by automating processes, managing products and projects, and streamlining workflows. 

While initially set out to support the small and medium business sector, QuickBooks has scaled to support large enterprises, too. 

Speaking of enterprises, Intuit founded QuickBooks. This seats the fintech platform next to Intuit’s family of brands which includes TurboTax, Mint, Credit Karma, and Mail Chimp. The enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform can facilitate inventory tracking, invoicing, bill management, bookkeeping, timesheets, and lots more. Basically, all of the responsibilities of a standard accounting team can get a leg up with QuickBooks. 

However, one key accounting function that QuickBooks cannot do independently is automated sales commissions.

And that, my friends, is where we, another “Q” company, come into play.

Plus, you can log in to our free commission tracking software and work with a commission plan template, customize your own, or partner with us to design one aligned to your business model.

Build a Sales Funnel

Use our free sales funnel resource to see how many meetings your team needs to book to hit quota.

Calculate Now

Automating compensation

But that’s only the beginning. Our consultative comp planning efforts prepare your team for the actual automation of sales commission tracking and payments. 

Once your plans are ready, our team works with yours to build them out in QuotaPath. Through real-time integrations, our platform generates accurate and up-to-date deal and commission data. This enables users to quickly generate a sales commission report and get immediate insights into existing and forecasted earnings and attainment. 

Leaders can make adjustments easily to comp plans or users throughout the year, thanks to our system’s usability. And, thanks to the high backend technical work, our platform can manage almost any comp plan, regardless of its complexities.

Interested in connecting this platform with QuickBooks? See below!

Using QuotaPath with QuickBooks

Fans of both QuotaPath and QuickBooks can soon connect the two platforms for payouts eligibility.

This means that teams can configure commission payments based on variables set forth by the compensation plan.

Let’s say your plan pays 10% when the deal closes and the other 90 when the invoice comes in. QuotaPath can automate commission payouts accordingly. 

And, because we love transparency, those earning the commissions can go in as well to see when they get paid and how much.

Learn more about QuotaPath’s QuickBooks commission tracking

To learn more about QuotaPath’s commissions management services and compensation plan software, book a time with our team. Send over your comp plan ahead of the call, and we can build it out within the app for you.

For our QuickBooks fans, we’ll show you how QuotaPath will run QuickBooks commission tracking to ensure no commission check is inaccurate again.

QuotaPath’s Senior Director of RevOps Ryan Milligan originally published a version of “How to design sales compensation plans” with Pavilion. 

A good compensation plan is like anything in business: If you set it up in the right way, you’ll get results. This might sound counterintuitive, but the salary isn’t everything when it comes to building a productive sales team. Your approach to design sales compensation plans can increase revenue, decrease churn, and drive change with your customers. 

Competition is fierce for talent. There’s been up to a 15% bump in sales comp in the last year alone for sales positions. Companies aren’t getting much of a discount for hiring people who don’t work in New York or San Francisco. For companies that want to scale up rapidly, it’s important to meet salary expectations. 

Below, we’ll guide you through how to get there — from developing a business plan to aligning compensation to making it all simple and usable.

About the author

Ryan Milligan is the Senior Director of Revenue Operations at Quotapath. He previously led marketing and RevOps teams at Homebase and solved customer acquisition, revenue attribution, and customer segmentation problems as a member of Wayfair’s Data Science team.

Steps to building a compensation plan

To an extent, a sales compensation plan model represents a math problem. You can’t pay for more employees than your income allows. The goal, of course, is growth, and that can make it hard to project how much income you’ll have. You’ll want to be conservative in setting sales quotas, assuming your team will make around 80% of the planned goal. But you’ll also want to be aggressive to design compensation plans that prioritize and reward sales growth. To set up sales incentive compensation in a thoughtfully executed plan, follow these steps.

1. Understand and prioritize the goals for your business.

What are your goals? You can’t do everything, but you can target a business improvement or two through your compensation plan. Choose the behaviors you want to incentivize, and build your comp plan accordingly.

Driving increased top-line revenue.

How much time can your team afford to spend on outbound work, calling potential customers? And how much growth potential is there from your existing customers? You’ll want to make sure you’re incentivizing growth through designing compensation plans.

Decreasing churn. 

The fewer customers we lose to churn, the more money our company makes. A 5% increase in retention can mean a 25 to 95% increase in profits, according to a Harvard Business School report. It pays to keep customers happy and reward salespeople for keeping their business in-house.

Expanding revenue from existing customers. 

Have a sales compensation system in place to encourage opportunities with customers you already have. Reps should look at if customers subscribe to all your services. Could they benefit from a more in-depth relationship? Encourage your reps to upsell with the right incentives. 

Selling new products/product lines to customers. 

This entails outreach, both to new and existing customers. You don’t know the answer if you’re not talking to your people. Incentivize your reps to talk with customers regularly and discover what they’re missing. 

Driving change within existing customers 

How are you getting paid by existing customers? There could be an opportunity to convert monthly contracts to annual or move annual deals to multi-year agreements. Incentive compensation management that rewards your reps for these conversions will drive these behaviors.

2. Understand who you have on your team and how success is measured for each of them

Now that you’ve outlined your business goals, think about what you want each team member to do. It’s more than pie-in-the-sky thinking. Sales teams have crossover responsibilities. Be clear about what you expect from each position and be clear about how they get compensated for their work.

Sales development reps

Sales development representatives (SDR) and business development representatives (BDR) often have nearly identical job descriptions. While the roles vary, they’re typically focused on finding new customers or starting sales to existing customers. These usually involve entry-level positions. Responsibilities include:

• Doing homework. An SDR or BDR will research prospects and verify their contact information.
• Reaching out to prospects. It’s their job to start the ball rolling by cold-calling, emailing, or messaging through LinkedIn.
• Qualifying leads. They are essentially asked to make sure the prospects are real and valuable before moving to the next step.
• Booking meetings. Typically, the last step for an SBR or BDR is setting up a meeting with an account executive. 

One important thing to consider here. Are these employees at all involved in the sales process? It’s important to reward them with commissions if they’re doing more than setting up meetings. We recommend SDR comp plans that include incentive pay for qualified opportunities and the amount of revenue on closed/won opps that come from them.

Account executives

Account executives have more wide-ranging job responsibilities. At companies without SBR and BDR, account executives are “full-cycle,” meaning they handle every aspect of the sales transaction. Here’s what additional duties account executives have:

• Run demos. Show the product in action and how it can soothe companies’ pain points.
• Sign up new accounts / book revenue. This is simple enough: they’re responsible for closing the deal. 

A typical sales commission structure for an AE will include measures that incentivize overperformance and decentivize underperformance, such as decelerators, accelerators, and multi-year kickers. 

A few other points you should consider: Do you have a full-cycle sales team? Are AEs at all responsible for the post-signature onboarding? Do you have a quick-churn issue? The toughest transition point in churn is getting customers on board and happy with your product. More than ever, business is about relationships. Since your new customers know the salesperson, it often makes sense for them to be involved in the handoff to an account manager.

Account managers

Account managers run the show after the contracts are signed. They represent the face of your company, as far as your clients are concerned. It’s more than customer service, it’s also about keeping customers with your business for the long haul. Account manager responsibilities include: 

• Onboard new customers. The transition from sales to actual use of the product can be tricky. This part of the post-sale is crucial. 
• Get customers actively using the product. This is about keeping customers happy in the long run.
• Expand revenue from existing customers. Account managers are excellent resources for your company because they get to know customers, see their needs, and identify solutions your company can help with.
• Decrease churn. As the face of your company, your account manager’s job is to keep customers happy with your product.

AM comp plans usually entail a base salary plus commission structure with a set commission rate for upsells. 

3. Determine target total compensation for each team member

The Betts Compensation Guide is a great place to start to design sales compensation plans. It’s free to sign up for and provides data for the largest tech markets in the country. The key points to know: Salaries are going up, with average starting pay hitting $50,000 in the 2022 guide. And, instead of reps in New York and San Francisco making tons more, costs have started flattening as remote work becomes the norm.

4. Determine target earnings

The formula here is simple. Determine what you want the annual salary to be for each sales team member, then split the pay by base pay and commissions, or variable compensation. For instance, if $140,000 is the goal for an account executive, and SDR and account executives typically get paid 50% base and 50% variable, the annual salary would be $70,000 with $70,000 of expected variable compensation. Account managers work on a 65/35 ratio, or sometimes 70/30. Figure out what works best for your company.

5. Determine a quota for your sales team

Next, use the QuotaPath Quota:OTE calculator to determine what a healthy annual quota is for an account executive based on their total earnings. Look at your financial plan, expected quota attainment, and on-target earnings (OTE) on a per-rep basis to calculate how many reps you will need to hit your financial plan.

Let’s work with a real example. 

Suppose your company wants to close on $400,000 in new business each quarter. Each account executive has an OTE of $100,000 per year ($50,000 in base, $50,000 variable). Set the rep quota at $400,000 annually (four times the quota-to-OTE ratio from our calculator). That’s a healthy range for a business with less than $1 million a year in annual recurring revenue – and that quota is $100K per rep, per quarter. Estimate 80% quota attainment across your team. That means you’re expecting to close $80,000 per rep, per quota. That means you’ll need five reps to close $400,000 in new business per quarter. 

6. Give team members visibility into their compensation

Lastly, everybody on your sales team will value transparency. 

Using a tool like QuotaPath, you can sync your deals live from your customer relationship management (CRM) software to give reps real-time visibility into commissions calculations. Reps can also forecast what they will earn if they close other deals in their pipeline. The team can proactively flag payroll discrepancies before you pay them, leading to fewer hassles when it’s time to run payroll. 

The signing of the deal marks the start of the customer relationship in sales. Similarly, rolling out a compensation plan sets the beginning of your financial relationship with your employees. Stay plugged in so you can make adjustments should any problems arise and adapt to changes in your market.

Countless hours of research. Sales training after sales training. You’re actively perfecting your demo, editing your sales email template, and finetuning your cold call script. You’re even bantering like a seasoned pro. But none of that matters if you’re pouring time and energy into trying to convert somebody who isn’t even the decision maker.

Learning what to say to decision-makers is only half the battle. First, you have to figure out who the decision maker really is. And you may be surprised to find that the person you’re talking to has no power at all.

The best ways to identify the right decision maker

Trying to identify whether you’re chatting with a decision maker or just another cog in the wheel? Use these criteria to evaluate how much power your contact really has.

They show understanding of the buying process

In most cases, your pitch or demo won’t be the decision maker’s first rodeo. That means they should be on top of what’s next in the buying process. An inexperienced person might not be familiar with what goes into solidifying a deal. Talking to someone who seems ready to sign a hefty contract the first time you connect might be exciting at first. But in reality, that signifies a faux decision maker who is likely to get overruled by the real one.

A decision maker will answer key questions

Decision makers are willing to answer questions integral to the buying process. They want a good deal but also one that’s targeted to their unique needs. That requires due diligence on your part, including asking a lot of questions about timeline, budget, etc.

Real decision-makers also know the answers to questions they should get all the time. And they’ll have those answers on the tip of their tongue because it’s their job to know their organization from the inside out.

Those questions may include:

1. What is your business’s unique value proposition?
2. Who will be using the product?
3. What’s your goal? (Should be quantifiable, like a percentage increase in a particular metric)
4. Are there stakeholders or other people of interest who would be directly affected by this purchase?
5. What was the last product you bought in this category? Who bought it?
6. What were your objections/challenges with that purchase, and how do you want this purchase to be different?
7. What steps are involved in your internal purchasing process?

They ask closing questions

As important as your questions are, questions from the prospect may be even more critical. A true decision maker wants information. Even C-level executives usually have to answer to partners, a board or stockholders. They can’t unilaterally accept or deny your sales proposal based on pure gut feeling. Instead, they ask questions.

You’ll know you’re likely dealing with a decision maker if they ask questions like:

1. How quickly can we get onboarded?
2. Can we conduct our own trials?
3. What is your customer service plan like?
4. How does the package price change if we alter the length of the contract?
5. One of our challenges is XXX. How does your product offer a viable solution?

They don’t defer to others

Decision makers may need to answer to other people for their decisions, but they don’t have to get approval. Someone who says, “I need to talk to my boss,” isn’t going to give you a yes or no. The same goes for someone who says, “I need to get the okay before we go any further.” People who need help deciding probably aren’t the ones you should be pitching in the first place.

Yes, many organizations have gatekeepers but identify those players early on. Then, ask outright when the conversation should move to those with more decision-making power. It’s as easy as saying, “Are there other people who should be involved in this decision?” Imagine you’re talking to an assistant, and you know their boss has the key to the kingdom. There’s a way to diplomatically suggest they join the call. “I know Ms. Adamson will be hands-on with the roll-out and oversee the software long-term. Should we schedule her on the next call so that we can cover her questions as well?”

The decision maker offers feedback

Decision makers are professionals. Unless a pitch really tanks, the first call isn’t the end of the conversation. Pros will ask for information, pore over the materials you send, and have questions they need answered before considering the deal further. For that reason, expect real decision makers to be willing to schedule additional time for feedback after the initial call.

If you start a pitch and get wishy-washy objections like, “I’m not sure we need this” or “I think this is out of budget,” that’s a red flag. Decision makers know there are layers to every deal, and they’re willing to invest in uncovering them.

Once you identify the decision maker, it’s time to go for the close. To hone your skills, check out these top sales podcasts that will help you access new tools and learn from industry examples.

About QuotaPath

QuotaPath’s sales compensation system automates commission tracking for revenue and finance teams while proving reps with a sales forecast template. This functionally motivates reps and allows them to see how their pipeline translates into earnings. To see how QuotaPath’s sales incentive software can simplify your process with accurate, real-time, and trusted earnings data, book a time to chat with our team.

PS: Send over a sample compensation plan ahead of the call, and we’ll build it out for you in the app.

It’s been nearly three months since I last gave an update regarding the market downturn. Since then, some tech companies, QuotaPath included, have started to see rebounds. For other organizations, however, conditions have worsened.

Shopify, for instance, added to 2022’s 30,000 tech layoffs after announcing 1,000 layoffs this week. Boosted Commerce and Outbrain also cut ties with 5 percent and 3 percent of their workforce, respectively. 

Economists and industry analysts like Billionaire investor Jim Coulter say we’re only through the first of three phases of this year’s unofficial recession.

But this isn’t a doomsday post. Quite the opposite, actually.

As leaders, rather than making siloed decisions internally, let’s share what we found out after evaluating Q2 misses. Let’s help one another prepare to take on what Coulter has called the next two phases of the downturn, and come out of this stronger and smarter together. 

Now, what you need to know is that my 80% bar differs from what other sales teams say. Others set an 80% target that translates to the sales team attaining 80% of their quota over the year. 

My 80% rule is that 8 out of 10 sellers should hit their quota. This perspective promotes consistency across the entire team. 

When that didn’t happen in Q2, this indicated that we needed to restructure our GTM strategy at the team level as well as at the sales compensation level.

Here’s what we did:

Structure to strengths

First, we looked into how we segment our top of funnel (TOFU) inbound leads and how we could do it better.

For instance, some leads come in with no special requests, while others require enterprise support, complex compensation needs, ASC-606 compliance, or specific integrations. So as demands come in, how could we create immediate value for them?

The solution involved restructuring our sales team to their strengths and changing up roles accordingly. An example, one of our reps who has an incredible understanding of the technical suite within QuotaPath became a solutions engineer. In his new role, he can get involved in the sales cycles early on with reps who could benefit from having his expertise on the call.

Additionally, we created sales development roles (SDRs) to move the marketing qualified lead (MQL) process more efficiently. This has led to faster response times from the point of immediate interest conducted by a rep who has an exceptional understanding of our value add as well as the outbound motion. Our goal is to better quality our MQLs and move them faster through the funnel. Already, we’ve seen success. 

Adjusting compensation plans

Secondly, we reviewed our commission plan. 

What I’ve observed in my experience, is that companies are quick to cut low-performing sales reps in lieu of evaluating their sales commission structure. 

Admittedly, our Quota:OTE ratio was a bit out of whack. So, we used our own Quota:OTE calculator to readjust it so that we can get to that 80% attainment bar. 

This, paired with a transparent communication plan that kept everyone in the know and showed the data for our changes kept momentum and attitudes up.

So what is there to learn here? 

Admit your weaknesses and lean into your team’s strengths. Build a culture and positions that align to those strengths. Look into compensation and see where you can make changes and demonstrate clearly to your team why those changes are being made. Honesty goes a long way.

The team will respect your changes a lot more than if you can’t explain the “why” behind it.

If you need assistance reviewing your plans or creating new opportunities for your sales team within your organization, please reach out (aj@quotapath.com). The more we support one another right now, the better the industry will be in the future.

Now, on to the second month of a better Q3. Let’s go!

QuotaPath collects monthly nominations from our customers to name a Quokka of the Month. We’re thrilled to announce our QuokkaPath July winner below. To nominate a teammate, see past winners, and learn more about this peer recognition initiative, check out our dedicated QuokkaPath page. 

When Leo Ratner searched for a new job in the fall of 2021, he wanted a place he could grow.

At Omnipresent, a remote employee management platform, Leo found that and more.

In less than 8 months, Omnipresent promoted Leo from sales development representative (SDR) to Senior SDR. His hustle and grit at in-person events, social media selling by highlighting the remote work experience, and mastering the ancient art of memes have played a huge hand in his success.

And, that’s why he is July’s QuotaPath Quokka of the Month!

“Leo has crushed our in-person event presence, setting up quality meetings in a face-to-face environment by perfecting his pitch and seeking out the best prospects to strike up a convo,” wrote Omnipresent Global Sales Development Manager Chad Harris in Leo’s nomination.

His SDR approach entails inserting his own voice and not adding too much jargon.

“I don’t use a bunch of fancy words and instead just stick to the point,” Leo said. “I’ve always been detail-oriented, so I try to focus on things that others might not be.”

Read on to learn more about our Jully QuokkaPath winner, Leo!

What’s it like to work for a fully remote company?  

I love it. We have team meetups in cool locations two times a year. That, plus working fully remote, brings the best of both worlds. I have the ability to work from anywhere, like Mallorca, where I am now!

We also have great leadership to learn and grow from, and, of course, the ability to move up in the organization.

There are a lot of “no’s” when it comes to the work of an SDR. How do you stay positive and motivated?

Every “no” brings me closer to the “yes” that I am looking for. I just don’t let them get to me. Someone who isn’t interested right now may eventually come back around. Sales is more about relationship building than getting that “yes” or “no.”

What advice would you offer first-time SDRs?

Focus on the people you will be working for and the product/service you will be selling. If you don’t have people to learn from, then it is not worth it. If you don’t believe in the product you are selling, they won’t be able to sell it with passion.

You were just promoted, congrats! What’s your next professional goal? 

I hope to move up to the account executive role at Omnipresent. 

Once again, congrats to our winner, Leo!

We are now accepting nominations for August’s Quokka of the Month. To recognize your teammate, answer six short questions and learn more about our QuokkaPath in the video below.

This article, which previously appeared on Close’s blog, covers sales commission structure design. Read on to learn various structures to consider, best practices, and three sales commission structures that QuotaPath’s Graham Collins has seen work most effectively for account executives (AE), sales development reps (SDR), and sales leaders.

The challenge with landing on a strong sales commission structure is getting one in place that aligns with the results you aim to achieve.

For instance, if a company plans to increase multi-year deals over the next quarter, the sales commission structure should reflect that. Meaning, that reps should earn a higher commission rate on multi-year contracts. In doing so, you’re encouraging and rewarding them for locking in an extended contract. Without that incentive, why would a rep even bother?

That’s just one example to keep in mind, but there’s plenty to consider. 

Below, we’ll outline various commission structure types and sales commission structure best practices. Our last section will include three sales commission structures examples for an AE, SDR, and sales leaders that have worked well with our customers in driving the right behaviors.

What is the difference between a compensation plan and a sales commission structure?

First, we’ll begin with the difference between a sales compensation plan and the commission structure itself. A compensation plan details a seller’s total compensation package, including base salary (or fixed pay), commission rates, incentive programs, and on-target earnings (OTE). Meanwhile, the sales commission structure sets the rules for the commission section of the compensation plan. The commission structure dictates the what, when, and how reps get paid from sales.

So, could you have a compensation plan without a sales commission structure? Yes, only if the comp plan didn’t include a commission or variable pay component. On the flip side, could you have a sales commission structure without a comp plan? Nope.  

Sales commission structure types

Now that we have differentiated comp plans from commission structures, let’s take a look at the 9 various structure types. 

1. 100% commission

Also referred to as “straight commission,” 100% commission structures pay teams entirely based on sales earnings. The plans do not include base salaries or guaranteed pay. 

Some people have tagged straight commission plans as controversial, citing high turnover and bad sales practices as side effects. But, when reps only receive payment based on the deals they sell, they are highly motivated to sell more. 

2. Base salary + commission

The most widely adopted commission structure type across SaaS pairs a base salary with a commission plan. We recommend a 50/50 split, where 50% of a rep’s pay comes from their base salary while the other half comes from sales earnings. We’ve also seen organizations adopt a 60/40 ratio. In this ratio, the base salary makes up 60% of the rep’s OTE, and the remaining 40% consists of variable pay.

To find an OTE ratio that works best with the amount of revenue your team generates and your average team attainment, use our free Quota:OTE Ratio Calculator.

3. Tiered sales commission

Meanwhile, a tiered sales commission structure works great for organizations looking to incentivize top performers. In this structure, reps unlock higher commission rates as they hit a designated amount of deals or revenue benchmarks. You may also hear this structure referred to as multiple rate, accelerators, escalators, or multipliers.

An example of a tiered sales commission structure example may include a 7% commission rate on deals up to $75K in bookings. Once surpassing $75K, the rep then starts earning 9% on all new deals within the same period. 

For more examples, check out our guide.

4. Single-rate sales commission

We define a single-rate sales commission as variable pay earned off a fixed percentage from every deal closed. This structure is the easiest to understand and widely adopted. You may have also heard the single-rate structure referred to as flat-rate commissions, fixed-rate commissions, or commissions. 

What’s the standard commission rate in SaaS, you ask? 10%.

5. Gross-margin commission

Next up is the gross-margin commission structure, which adopts a similar approach to the single-rate plans. Where gross margin differs, however, is that it considers the business’s profits from the deal. So, instead of accruing commissions based on the contract value or annual recurring revenue (ARR), the rep would earn commissions from the gross revenue collected.

As an example, if a rep sold a contract for $50K, but it cost the business $15K to secure the deal in associated expenses, the rep would earn commissions on $35K.

6. Commission Draw

A  draw against commission shows up sixth on our list. These allow reps to borrow against future commissions earned and have the most impact when ramping new hires.

If you offer commission draws, you’ll need to decide if the rep has to pay back the draw or not (recoverable vs. non-recoverable). We explain in detail when to consider commission draws and outline the pros and cons here.

7.  Residual commission model

For companies looking to reward reps for maintaining long-term business relationships with their accounts, the residual commission structure may be a good fit. 

The residual commission model pays the original rep on a continuous basis as long as the account continues to create revenue via renewals and upsells. According to mailshake, agencies and consulting firms most frequently adopt this commission structure.

8. Territory volume commission

Territory volume commission models involve a team approach to sales. Organized by territory, teams collaborate to sell across an entire region or vertical. Then, as deals come to fruition, the team earns a set commission rate on the deal and splits the commissions evenly. 

For example, three reps share a quota of $100K a month for deals in the state of Minnesota. If one rep closed $50K, the second closed $35K, and the third sold $15K, then the team hit its target. As such, the three reps will split 12% commission, collecting $4K in earnings each. 

9. Base-rate only

The ninth structure, base-rate only, doesn’t involve any commissions. Instead, sales reps earn a fixed salary or hourly rate. We’re critical of these plans because they don’t incentivize or motivate the rep to sell, which should be the goal in a sales job. 

Sales commission structure best practices 

After you choose a commission structure to follow, you’re now ready to tailor it to your business and build out a comp plan. When doing so, we suggest following these best practices. 

Don’t go at it alone.

The best commission structures and comp plans were the results of a group effort. Invite RevOps, Finance, and your senior reps to the conversation. This helps build alignment and ensures the plans reward reps and make sense with the business goals. 

Simplicity is the way.

If it’s hard for you to explain to a colleague or friend, then it’s too complicated. Your reps will likely struggle even more to understand it. Aim for simplicity. This enables leaders to easily reiterate what reps should be selling and for reps to understand what the outcome of their efforts will amount to.

Communicate well.

Outline your compensation program, make sure everyone has a copy, and review it with your team in a designated meeting. This is especially important amid mid-year changes to a commission structure or plan. Make sure reps know what the changes entail, the why behind the changes, and how the company will support them under the new changes.

Test it. Then test it again.

Pull up historical compensation data and run it through your proposed commission structure. No historical data? No problem. Use random or expected data, then run extreme scenarios, like what would happen if a rep achieved a 400% quota. Testing will help you prevent a wild card situation of having to pay a rep over 100% on ARR.

These may seem obvious as you’re reading it, but you’d be surprised how frequently we see teams skip all or some of these tips.

3 sales commission structure examples

As promised, we put together three solid commission structure examples below.   

Account Executive

We recommend a comp plan with a decelerator, an accelerator, and a multi-year kicker. This incentivizes AEs to overperform and decentivizes underperformance. 

The decelerator: For a rep who hits below 50% of the monthly quota, the rep earns a reduced commission rate of their standard commission rate. Meaning, that if I hit my monthly quota of $40K and my standard commission rate is 10%, then I would get paid $4K. But, if I only make 40% of my quota, or $16K in sales, then I am paid out 7% on that $16K. Or, $1,120. 

However, if I achieve between 50% and 100% of my quota, then I earn my standard commission rate of 10%. So, using the example above, if I book $35K in deals, then I would earn $3,500 in commission.

The accelerator: The accelerator kicks in for deals brought in after achieving 100% quota within the specific time frame. In the above example, the rep would earn 15%, a 5% bump, on any deal that comes in after crossing 100% quota.

Multi-year deal commission: Then, for multi-year deals, apply an extra 5% to the commission rate for any deal over one year. 

Sales Development Rep

For an SDR compensation plan, we recommend a structure that’s based on the number of qualified opportunities and the amount of revenue. 

So, if an SDR’s OTE is $80K, split between a $50K base salary and $30K target, half of the target OTE should consist of qualified opps and the other toward revenue.

Set a target of qualified opps: Let’s say 30 per quarter. Then give the SDR a percent of any revenue they generate as well, such as 3%. 

The idea here is to incentivize them to land a bunch of opportunities. But, by rewarding them with commissions from revenue generated, you’re motivating them to push for high-quality opportunities that are more likely to close.

Sales Leader

A good sales manager compensation plan should be attainment-based.

Attainment points: Hold your manager to 90% of their team’s quota sum and follow a point system.

In this example, let’s say I oversee a team of 5 people and each person has a $200K quarterly quota. The sum of my team’s quota is $1M. However, I’m held to 90% of the total sum, or $900K. Following a points-based bonus, I get $250 per attainment point. For instance, if my team accrues $900K in sales, that means I hit 100% of my goal and get a bonus of $25K. If the team hits 70% ($700K), then I would earn 70 attainment points, or a bonus of $17,500. 

This structure aligns sales leaders with their team target. It also allows for flexibility if someone on their team leaves and the quota sum goes down. Under this approach, leaders can focus on building their team up rather than trying to get as many people on their team as possible. 

Automating sales commissions with QuotaPath and Close

Still with us? Hi! We recognize that was a lot of information. But you can clearly see there are many factors to consider when building a commission structure.

We hope you have found this meaningful.

What’s even more helpful is integrating your CRM with QuotaPath. For growing, remote-based sales teams, we recommend the sales-first CRM Close. Launched in 2013, Close’s solution supports reps every step of the sale, including prospect and outreach efforts, lead scoring, and much more.

By integrating Close with QuotaPath, you can seamlessly feed deal information directly into QuotaPath. This allows sales reps, leadership, Finance, and RevOps to see real-time updates into existing and forecasted commissions and ARR.

Want to see the integration in action? Schedule time with a QuotaPath teammate today for a custom, live demo. 

PS: If you send us your comp plan ahead of time, we can show you how it’ll map out in QuotaPath. 

This is a guest blog from RevPartners. RevPartners offers businesses the “Ultimate HubSpot onboarding experience.” As a preferred partner, RevPartners allows you to focus on driving revenue with its team of experts so you don’t have to spend as much time on the HubSpot CRM onboarding process. Executed with excellence and care, RevPartners gives:

• Designated Resources. You will get a dedicated Strategist that will give you the attention you deserve.
• HubSpot Experts. Each team that you have averages 10 HubSpot certifications. 
• Overcommunication. Constant communication about your statuses and upcoming tasks.
• Responsibility. If something fails, it’s RevPartners’ fault. Period. 

As a company grows, silos naturally form, and it becomes progressively more difficult to maintain alignment across teams. This, of course, spills into sales and can detrimentally affect sales performances. 

But the technology exists to help. And, one system that immediately breaks down barriers and streamlines processes is the star of most sales tech stacks: the CRM. 

CRM, which stands for customer relationship management, provides a platform to manage customer and prospective customer relationships and interactions. Sales, support, customer success, and marketing departments leverage CRMs for real-time visibility into the status of their accounts and potential future accounts.

HubSpot, one of the leading CRMs, is often praised for its user-friendliness, affordability, and well-rounded marketing and sales tools.

In this blog, learn the key benefits of HubSpot and how QuotaPath can automate HubSpot commission tracking. 

HubSpot CRM offers multiple tools that can adapt to your needs. This gives your team the opportunity to create a workflow that is functioning at its highest level, with HubSpot as the main character of your tech stack.

And, there is no better time than the present for RevOps leaders to become HubSpot admins. 

This past spring, G2 recognized HubSpot as the No. 2 CRM, No. 1 MAP (marketing automation platform), and No. 1 CMS (content management system). This is essential for boosting your RevOps department.

Is HubSpot an Enterprise CRM? 

First things first, what is an enterprise CRM? An enterprise CRM is an all-inclusive system that is designed for the complexity of larger organizations. It collects accurate, real-time information which results in companies providing more informed and intelligent customer experiences. 

So, is HubSpot an Enterprise CRM? Absolutely. 

Unlike traditional CRMs that have been used over the past decade, HubSpot pushed the frontier of digital marketing by creating a user-centered system for centralized data. Customer interests sit at the forefront of the company’s strategy.

HubSpot’s G2 achievements did not come from any luck or coincidence. As stated by HubSpot, their “CRM platform offers enterprise software in marketing, sales, customer service, content management, and operations.” HubSpot’s CRM platform was built with your growth in mind by focusing on adaptability and alignment across its UX. 

Why HubSpot?

RevOps juggles a lot of responsibility, but one of its key focuses and metrics is widespread technology adoption. While most CRM software can be difficult to implement, HubSpot has earned the reputation of being an easy-to-use platform for every team. This leads to higher adoption rates.

Some of the popular tools accessible with HubSpot include pipeline management. Within this tool, sales have full visibility, email tracking and notifications, live chat support, and meeting scheduling available. HubSpot also offers a deeper toolkit that includes artificial intelligence, advanced automation, and custom reporting. 

Admins can map comp plans with HubSpot CRM data to automatically calculate earnings and attainment from HubSpot deals.

Additionally, QuotaPath’s integration with HubSpot (which is a HubSpot certified application) includes the ability to see QuotaPath commission data directly in HubSpot. 

This setup allows for a single source of truth for both attainment and earnings, which creates alignment, accuracy, and a better user experience.

Integration

With the proliferation of tools and app integrations, HubSpot helps you manage all of your tools from one place at the same time. Applications that work together allow you to organize and run your systems more efficiently. This leads to a smaller tech stack that can run multiple functions and decluttered processes. 

The integration of HubSpot and QuotaPath, for example, allows multiple functions to live in the same tool for Hubspot commission tracking. Let’s take a look. 

QuotaPath’s automated commission tracking and sales compensation management software allows reps to easily see their deals, forecast potential earnings, and bring in real-time updates during their sales and commission process.

Admins can map comp plans with HubSpot CRM data to automatically calculate earnings and attainment from HubSpot deals.

Additionally, QuotaPath’s integration with HubSpot (which is a HubSpot certified application) includes the ability to see QuotaPath commission data directly in HubSpot. 

This setup allows for a single source of truth for both attainment and earnings, which creates alignment, accuracy, and a better user experience.

How QuotaPath’s native HubSpot Integration works:

• Import HubSpot Deals in 4 clicks
• Identify which records count toward earnings
• Map comp plans with HubSpot CRM data from designated fields
• Import custom HubSpot fields
• Define Deal stages to pull from HubSpot
• Preview mapping and input additional filters
• View QuotaPath Earnings directly in HubSpot

Adaptability

The adaptability of technology plays an important role in RevOps. That’s why HubSpot allows users to build multiple data sets inside HubSpot so that you have the flexibility to organize your CRM based on your business needs. This provides a greater level of control and accuracy with how you want to use your data. 

According to HubSpot, you have the ability to “embrace flexibility to name the object, determine what properties it has, and decide what other objects it can be associated with. Custom object data looks, feels, and acts like other objects in HubSpot, so there’s no adjustment period for your team or new apps to figure out — just better data.” 

Organizing complexity

The complexity of your teams and the structures within them will increase as your company grows. For example, marketing teams work on many projects using data from both customers and prospects. Meanwhile, sales teams work to actively fill a pipeline of opportunities and leads. This means different departments require different access to the information within a CRM. 

HubSpot allows you to grant relevant permission to each team to simplify and boost the workflow of each team. 

When creating records, users can set properties to enforce validation rules and requirement gates. The use of data validation is the practice and enforcement of keeping the integrity, structure, and accuracy of data before it is used.

Game changer

HubSpot CRM allows you to authorize individuals to interact with data even if they don’t have a paid seat. Per HubSpot, here are three reasons your team needs access to free seats:

• The democratization of data gives you improved collaboration and transparency for leadership.
• Powerful tools with no extra cost.
• Deliver a more cohesive customer experience.

So, then, why isn’t everyone already using HubSpot? 

Great question! 

After decades of Salesforce and Microsoft leading the way, people struggle with shaking off the common fear of change. As more people continue to recognize the value of HubSpot, this hesitation to switch platforms will change. More companies will experience HubSpot’s uniquely positioned CRM that’s built in-house on one code base. This means you get a unified experience that’s easier for your team to adopt and use than the competitors’ systems.

About RevPartners

RevPartners designs and executes revenue engines to supercharge its customers’ growth. The company orchestrates, optimizes, and reports on its clients’ 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. What makes RevPartners different from the rest is how their values translate into the excellence of how they operate. One of the most important values they uphold is taking 100% ownership of everything that they do. As stated on their website, they only win, when you win. 

About QuotaPath

Launched in 2018, QuotaPath automates the sales compensation process for scaling revenue teams. Our passionate team of sales leaders and technology experts partner with organizations to develop sales compensation plans that drive the right behaviors. Then, we help your team map these out in our platform to automate the entire process. With QuotaPath, give your reps a tool to forecast commissions and attainment and see real-time commission progress and calculations. Free your Finance team from having to build out formulas and offer them a seamless pay approval experience for sales commissions. Learn more today.