There is so much talk about what makes great leaders and how we can all learn from them – their successes, failures, wins, and mistakes. The leaders that I admire have always been able to make a group of people feel extremely confident and comfortable with who they are and using their own voice. It isn’t the leader’s voice that is important, it is those who they lead.

This month we celebrate Pride and an opportunity to create a positive platform for anyone in the LGBTQ community. I am proud of how the team has stood by this community and all that it represents. They are all the true leaders in this fight against discrimination. Their stories are important and their answers made me reflect on how I can best be a positive force in the working environment.

With that said, we found it important to share insights from some of our employees. Please read them as they are from the heart and filled with the right mix of emotion, understanding, and self-reflection. I am PROUD of the team for answering with honesty and vulnerability. Few are able to do those things, and that is the mark of a true leader.

-AJ Bruno
Founder/CEO

What is your role at QuotaPath and how is Pride month meaningful to you?

Marguerite Hamilton: I am a front-end engineer at QuotaPath. Pride month is meaningful to me because people should be allowed to love freely and openly, without fear of retribution or of having rights stripped from them. As Lin-Manuel Miranda said, “love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love”. In the world we live in, where it’s easy to get swept up by fear and hate, we need to remember that, not just during Pride month, but every day.

Mariclare (MC) Hall: I’m QuotaPath’s Product Manager. Pride month is meaningful to me because it’s recognized for and by my community.

Ralph Pierre-Louis: As Head of Design, my role is to lead the conversation and vision around our experiences and products. Pride month is meaningful to me because it acknowledges and continues to drive the fight for equality. It’s also amazing to see so many different people and companies come together in support of a common theme while there’s so much in the world working to divide us.

Darby Dupre: My official title at QuotaPath is Product Operations Manager but I do so much more than that! I have my hand in everything from marketing, recruiting, operations, to HR. Pride month to me is a time to celebrate love, uniqueness, and acceptance. It’s a celebration of how far we’ve come and a tribute of respect to all those that have fought to get us where we are today. Pride is a time where my community can be unabashedly open about who we are and the love we have to give.

Henry Steinberg: My name is Henry and I’m a front-end engineer. Pride is important to me as a gay man because, well, it’s nice to have an opportunity to center that part of my identity visibly – and not just center it but celebrate it. It’s also an important time to remember that queer liberation is an ongoing struggle and something that we need to actively fight for, and something that we are continuing to fight for.

How has the LGBTQ tech community evolved in the last 5 years?

MC: In the tech world (and I hope beyond it), it’s becoming more common to see job postings and company handbooks with equal opportunity commitments, nondiscrimination policies, and encouragement for LGBTQ+ individuals to apply. This is important because, in most states, people can be fired from their jobs, not hired in the first place, or targeted at work for being gay or trans. That’s terrifying in 2019 when there are no protections for sexual orientation or gender identity on a federal level.

Increasingly, digital platforms are receiving scrutiny by legal parties and civil rights groups for the way their design and content excludes certain audiences. While this discourse is mostly centered around the Americans with Disabilities Act and the publicly funded web, it’s definitely jolted some employers to start thinking seriously about diversifying their staff.

I think the conversation has also started to change: at events and conferences folks talk more and more about the intentionality required to create an inclusive workplace. And it seems like attendance is growing in LGBTQ-centric tech groups.

Tech is also becoming more popular a career path and more common an area of study in colleges and universities. That means that the applicant pool is getting bigger in general, and with it I’d assume the tech community is expanding in terms of sexual and gender diversity.

All of that said, most tech teams I’ve seen or been a part of still look fairly homogeneous to me. Increasing awareness is huge but action is always slower.

Darby: I think five years ago the focus was mostly on gender diversity in STEM, but what about LGBTQ+, people of color, and other marginalized groups? There’s been a lack of representation but the focus is shifting. Slews of headlines surrounding discrimination, harassment, and unsafe working environments in major tech companies like Uber and Facebook have caused tech companies to wake up. Stricter employee policies, anti-discriminatory clauses in hiring and handbooks, and other means of protection for our community are a result of this.

Today there are more tech jobs than ever and more opportunity to be educated in STEM from an earlier age (15 year-olds teaching themselves Python!!) It’s my assumption and hope that the percentage of queer representation will increase as jobs increase, as well as the thought and intentionality of creating a culture where queer people can thrive.

What values does QuotaPath instill to support the LGBTQ community?

Henry: QuotaPath as a company promotes an environment of inclusivity and empathy. As a big loud gay man, I’ve never once felt like I’ve had to edit myself or be anyone other than I am and that’s really special. Everyone here treats each other with compassion and respect.

MC: I like to get really meta about QuotaPath’s value proposition as a product and its relationship to our work culture. It’s clear from the product, the office, the meetings, and the Slack threads that we care about empowering the individual. This is meaningful to me when I think about how it applies to all aspects of my identity and experience.

As a startup where established trust can help you work quickly amidst high risk, QuotaPath really values employee referrals. I was put in touch personally by folks I’d worked with previously who have become friends of mine. This made me feel welcomed and connected immediately.

Ultimately, I joined QuotaPath as the tenth hire knowing that there were other queer full-time employees. This felt unprecedented to me. I was excited to be a part of a small team where I wouldn’t be the only queer person. You might be surprised by how defining an experience that can be — and by how commonplace it is.

Have you ever had to speak up or take action on something that’s transpired in your career in the workplace as it related to LGBTQ issues?

Darby: As queer people existing in a mostly cisgender, heterosexual world, we constantly fight the battle of ‘feeling exhausted from having to constantly explain/stand up for my identity’ VS. ‘feeling like it’s my active duty to educate and inform.’

Misgendering, misnaming, derogatory comments and remarks, presumed sexual and gender orientation, gender stereotyping, binary bathrooms and norms… these are things queer people have to deal with every day. This is no different in the workplace.

MC: My identity as a queer woman has unfailingly placed me at the center of unwanted attention, unsolicited questions, and uncomfortable situations at every job I’ve ever had.

As queer professionals, we’re often put in conflicting positions: protect ourselves and make sure our needs are met but at the same time, educate our colleagues on what needs we have and how to respect us.

Oftentimes, simple considerations not made by straight folks dramatically impact queer experience, job security, and access to resources in the workplace. It’s a really challenging line to walk because helping others to make these considerations often require managing up or drawing attention to something someone might feel defensive about.

What work needs to be done to increase LGBTQ representation in the tech community?

Ralph: I think we all need to do our part – as small as it may seem. Whether it’s updating existing/out-dated company policies and practices or not shying away when we’re faced with LGBTQ related topics. Regardless of how you identify, if you’re talented, passionate, and driven, you should have equal opportunity to sit at the table and make an impact in any industry.

MC: Exalt LGBTQ voices! Promote success stories. Make queer role models visible and aspirational to all, not just to the queer community. Recruit queer people to STEM disciplines. Listen to your queer coworkers, employ empathy for us, and believe the things we say. Reduce hostility in the workplace. Be sensitive, select language carefully, and create a mindful workplace we want to join. Don’t forget to pay attention to and build an audience around our work (it’s some of the best).

Henry: The short answer is a lot, but what’s really cool is that a lot is being done right now. Go to meetups, be vocal, get your face out there. Communicate throughout the year that your company is a safer space for folks all along the LGBTQ+ spectrum to be who they are, without having to worry about editing their identities.

Darby: Queer people deserve equal opportunities and resources in STEM. They deserve to have their voices and stories be heard. LBGTQ+ youth need to be encouraged to pursue jobs in STEM from an early age. We need more role models and accessibility! We need to address workplace culture and create safe working environments. People, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender expression, skin color, etc., should be able to contribute equally and feel like their contributions are being valued.

I have a confession. I’m a sales nerd.

Which is why I got excited about QuotaPath’s new Multi-Plan feature that has helped surface important milestones in my sales career. Like my $83,065.25 in commissions. Or how I hit 116% of my quarterly quota and was promoted from an AE (Account Executive) to an SAE (Senior Account Executive) while at Thomson Reuters.

With the ability to filter and aggregate data across my company changes and promotions, I’m able to see how my career and earnings have progressed over time.

I’m also able to track the various comp structures for all of my historical plans and extract valuable insights – like knowing that the reason I earned so much in December 2012 was from hitting a major accelerator.

It’s a consolidated view of the most impressive earnings and attainment stats that I’ve achieved in each role and organization throughout my career.

A look into my history in sales

When I first started working in SaaS sales in 2011, I asked my boss a simple question, “How do I track my quota attainment and commission?” I was told that there wasn’t anything in place and that I just had to hope my paychecks were right.

So I did what any sales nerd would do in this situation… I fired up a spreadsheet and started entering my deals into it. After about a week though, I was craving more information. I wanted to see exactly how much I was earning from these deals.

So I built a formula to help me with that, complete with some nested if-statements.

This worked for a couple of months, but then I found myself wanting to know historical information – how much more would I make if my big deal came in? I wanted to see charts! The more I knew, the more motivated I was to close more deals to increase my earnings.

This worked for about six months until my company was acquired. As part of the acquisition, I got a new comp plan. New plan, new formulas.

Five months later, I was promoted to a senior role… another change to my commission structure. New plan, new formulas.

Six months later, my division was sold off to a different company. New plan, new formulas.

All of this information ended up looking like this (this is my actual data):

Not very pretty, I know. But it was the best I had.

It was difficult to keep all of it straight, but I knew how important it was to track. Any time I was up for a promotion, I had my quota attainment data for 2+ years. When I interviewed for my next job, I was able to rattle off exactly what percent of my annual quota I hit. I knew which months I historically sold the most so I could plan for big expenses.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you may consider yourself a sales nerd, too. You might have a document that lays all of this out already, full of sums and nested ifs. If not, QuotaPath’s Multi-Plan feature makes it easy to join the club.

Let’s take a peek at what it looks like in QuotaPath when I track my earnings dating all the way back to my very first sales job.

Much nicer, yeah?

You know the whole ‘New plan, new formulas?’ QuotaPath captures all of it for me in a beautiful way, complete with the charts, graphs, and insights that make my inner sales nerd beam with satisfaction! It’s everything I wished my manager provided for me back when I was just getting started in sales.

If you haven’t checked out QuotaPath, it’s completely free to use!

Head to quotapath.com to create a free account or email me at graham@quotapath.com if you want to talk more about how QuotaPath can help your sales career flourish.

QuotaPath makes it easier than ever to streamline and optimize sales performance. Our custom Plan Builder supports all types of comp plans, from Sales Reps to SDRs to Account Management. Our app surfaces meaningful data and insights to help teams sell more, which is why sales folks prefer to use QuotaPath over DIY methods like tracking in spreadsheets.

How convenient would it be if you could then share plans within QuotaPath to every other member on your team with the same commission structure? Good news – with our recent launch of Plan Sharing, you can do just that! It’s easy to get started. Just create a free account, add your first plan, then invite and share it with members of your team.

Ready, Set, Share Plans!

For all the ‘Comp Plan Experts’ out there – this message is for you. We know you probably find yourself in a position of explaining complicated comp plans to those who may not understand. Plan Sharing allows you to help empower others on your team to start tracking their earnings. In just three steps, you can share your plan template with those in your QuotaPath Workspace so they can get started in minutes. No more ad-hoc comp plan tutorials.

The first of many tools for Sales Managers

As a Sales Manager, you’re the key to increasing the effectiveness of your sales team. QuotaPath is an amazing enablement tool! Use Plan Sharing to:

• Easily onboard new sales reps. Reduce ramp-up time so they can get to selling.
• Business goals evolve, as do comp plan structures. New comp plan? No problem, input the new one and share it to the team.
• Never worry about reps making mistakes. Set up plans yourself and blast them out to ensure your team is on the same page.

And this is just the first of many tools to unite sales teams under a shared vision. Next, we will be releasing Teams – a feature that allows you to build custom teams within QuotaPath, see where each member ranks, and all work toward a collective goal.

Check out our FAQ below for more specifics on how Plan Sharing works.

Happy Tracking!

For the past year, we’ve been heads down collaborating, building, testing, shipping, iterating, and passionately working hard to make the QuotaPath app accessible to the world. Through each push to production, our team improves communication, gets tighter on process, and ultimately learns how to work together more succinctly.

Currently, the QuotaPath team is composed of about 80% Product and Engineering and Henry’s contributions lie not only on the engineering team but as a cultural and community advocate. Here we share his story on how he made his way into technology, his love for frontend development, advice he has for those starting their career, and ultimately how he landed at QuotaPath.

We aim to highlight his work and contributions because, at the end of the day, our team is what makes us so great!

Tell me about your journey that lead you to QuotaPath.

I’ve always been super interested in technology. I was that kid who wanted to make video games and poke around in robots. I wasn’t always the best at that type of engineering thinking but always had an interest and talent for design, for the artistic side of things. As I delved deeper into my passion, I realized that mastering the art of design wasn’t just about creating visually appealing interfaces; it was also about understanding the user experience, a crucial aspect when aiming to make a video game that truly resonates with players.

In college, I went totally in the other way. I thought math and science weren’t for me, so I studied poetry and art history and then later got really into graphic design and typography, specifically through printmaking and bookbinding. This got me thinking a lot about how pages are structured and how information flows. That eventually lead me back to tech and the web, specifically front-end work and interfaces. Thinking about the ways in which we interact with technology physically and translating that to the digital space. I’ve turned a corner entirely and realized that these things I thought were not for me, actually really are. They are really interesting and cool.

When I was introduced to QuotaPath I saw a company that is very thoughtful about how the app is used and presented and that was really exciting to me. So being able to take my skills, interest, and passion for layout and information architecture and bring that with me to the QuotaPath experience is really sweet and synergizes well with how the company thinks about the product.

What was your interview process like?

It was really great. It was a lot of interviews in a row but I really liked that. I feel like I got to know everyone and to borrow a coworker’s phrase, when she came on she, “felt like [she] didn’t have to worry about fully being [herself] once she came into the office.” It didn’t feel overly rigorous but I think that speaks to the quality of the people giving those interviews because they were rigorous but it felt very natural and welcoming.

The code challenge was engaging and stimulating and gave me an opportunity to look at new technology I wasn’t familiar with and solve a cool problem with it. And, in general, I felt like I knew what I was getting into and was being prepared really thoughtfully coming into it.

If I had to boil it down to one word it would be thoughtful.

What’s your favorite part about the culture at QuotaPath?

The people. Everyone comes from such diverse backgrounds! I really love the work that we do but on the culture end, I love the conversations we have about whatever books we are reading, what we cooked this weekend, what movies we want to see, or some weird philosophical debate about Norwegian trains. It’s a lot of people who care a ton about doing the work and also care a lot about each other. We hold each other accountable for treating each other well in the workplace.

I feel really cared for which is not something I’ve felt at all of my jobs. It’s not necessarily a family or a friend club, it’s a place where everyone values and respects one another.

Explain your role at QuotaPath. How does your skill set fit onto the engineering team?

I’m a front-end engineer, so that means I work a lot on the UI of the application and dealing with how the app looks and feels. I’m a bit of a nut for micro-interactions and animations. I really enjoy bringing things that might otherwise feel static to life in delightful ways.

In terms of skill set, I have a lot of experience implementing delightful interfaces in a design-forward environment. Because of that, I have a lot of experience communicating with designers and stakeholders to translate that into the application’s UI.

Also, I’m a big CSS nerd. I have a lot of knowledge stored in my head and I’m happy to answer any and all questions about that.

What’s the communication style on the engineering team?

Really clear, collaborative, and straightforward. Everyone is able to articulate what they are working on and how they are working on it. People ask for help when they need it and offer help freely.

What excites you most about the work QuotaPath is doing?

Coming from an agency background I used to work on a lot of things that weren’t necessarily meant to be useful but were meant to be beautiful. And what’s super exciting about QuotaPath, is that I’m working on something that is both useful and beautiful, and part of that beauty comes from the utility. So working on this application that needs to serve the user in an empathetic and thoughtful way has been really cool and exciting.

For example, a big part of our apps design methodology is to consider it a mobile-first experience. Most people access the web and web-apps on a mobile device of some kind. We’re thinking of how a salesperson might need to close a deal or create a comp plan on their phone on the go. We are thinking about the realities of how our application is going to be used and trying to respond to that, and thinking about it in a responsive-first way.

To dive into responsive design a bit more, can you explain what it is and how we think about it?

Responsive design is all about designing an experience that isn’t set in stone in terms of the screen as a fluid, responsive canvas. Instead of saying this text-box will be 200px wide you’re saying that it’s going to be 20% of the window. It allows you to create applications and websites that work no matter what kind of device you might be using.

Responsive design is about anticipating the needs of the user. Oftentimes, folks think of websites like there’s this dichotomy – mobile versus desktop – but really it’s not so device-oriented. We should be creating something that works at any set of sizes or screen widths. Our Head of Design Ralph is really passionate and thoughtful about integrating responsive design into the foundation of QuotaPath. It’s exciting to be a part of a team that cares about doing this right the first time as opposed to “just making it work” later.

If you could give advice to anyone who is looking to grow their career as a software engineer, what would it be?

It’s hard not to just fall back on platitudes but I would say, if you think that coding or computers are “not for you” or “your brain doesn’t work that way,” that’s probably not as true as you might think. There are probably better, different, and more diverse ways to approach how to code. Maybe the technology you’re trying to learn isn’t the right one for you. Maybe you’re more of a backend person than frontend person or vice versa. Maybe you don’t have design skills but that doesn’t matter because you like to think about data in an interesting way. Maybe you’re not good at data, but you’re really good with HTML and CSS.

Another thing that I can say is don’t be too focused on how overwhelmed you are by the amount of stuff to learn. It’s going to be overwhelming because there is too much to learn. Learn the basics, learn them really well and learn to ask questions and be inquisitive and talk about it. Just being able to show up and contribute something is usually better than showing up and making a mess.

And learn through doing!

• Share your Plan: Do you have the same comp plan as someone else on your team? Easily share your plan template with them so they can save time getting started and be on-boarded in a matter of minutes.
• Teams & Leaderboards: Most salespeople are competitive (even if we don’t like to admit it). Invite others to your team and see how you stack up.
• Views for Managers: If you manage a team, you’ll be able to see your team’s earnings, attainment, pipeline, and payouts in a detailed dashboard view.

We’ve had things pretty good since the company’s inception 10 months ago. Startups can be hard — and ours is no different — but this team is making it look easy thus far. Less than a year into the business and we just announced our second round of funding: $3.5 million led by all of our current investors.

It is no surprise that we have a skilled and experienced team; our previous company was just acquired for $225 million, but this time it feels a bit different. We are doing all of this as a ‘Product Led Growth’ team vs a ‘sales led’ team. 80% of our company is in either an engineering or product function. We want to ensure we deliver value all throughout the customer lifecycle, so we’re not only giving the product away for free right now, but we are planning on doubling down on these efforts in the upcoming months.

We just had a complete redesign of our application that ensured our mobile users weren’t left in the dark (~10% of our traffic), changing quotas have a place to be entered (23% of all plans), and our shared quotas (8%) are also a part of the new release. Couple that with a detailed breakdown view of each deal that is closed or forecasted, and we already think we have the best commission tracking software in the market. If you still need help, we implemented live chat (from Intercom) into the platform, so please reach out.

Even with all of the above, we are just getting started and we plan to build the best team possible (we’re hiring!) so that we can continue to make QuotaPath more powerful for our users and launch to the general public very soon. Our press release written by our “PR Manager” Graham Collins explains more if you’re interested.

Until then, our mission to build a tool where a community of high performing sales teams can learn from their deals and hit more quotas is alive and well. We have workspaces, team and manager views, and CRM integration on the horizon and I couldn’t be more excited about the next 12 months.

That said, don’t ever forget, it is about the journey, not the destination.

AJ Bruno
Founder/CEO

Phew! What a year we had at QuotaPath. 2018 was truly the start of something big. Since our inception in April, we achieved many things as a team, like raising a $1.5 million seed round and using it to heavily invest in the best product and engineering talent to help us design, build, and launch our platform.

Product Launch

In a few short months, we were ready to show the world what we’ve been working on– we opened up Early Access to the QuotaPath app. We had a flurry of activity from our networks… lots of salespeople who were interested in seeing what it’d be like to completely understand their commissions. We leveraged the excitement of our early access users and held hundreds of conversations to understand challenges, collect user feedback, and make sure our product would support even the most complicated compensation plans.

Growth

In October, once we felt we could handle the vast majority of compensation plans, we began focusing on growth. Building a “freemium” product was new to us, so we looked to a few of the biggest SaaS companies like Slack, Dropbox, and HubSpot and adopted a “product-led growth” strategy (ask us about it!). We also started writing more blog posts. We began advertising on Google, Bing, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit. We met with users in person. We did some cold calling. What happened? We doubled our user count. Then we doubled it again. And again. We aren’t quite to another “And again” but we’re well on our way. We’re constantly trying new things, iterating, and improving our growth strategies.

What does 2019 hold?

At this point, the internal consensus is that if we accomplished all of that in just eight months the next 12 months is going to be incredible. We’re hiring as fast as we can. We’re iterating our app and adding new features and functionality on a daily basis. We’re getting feedback from our users non-stop.

While we know the next 12 months are going to be a very windy road, there are a few things that we’re going to launch in the near future:

• Open access
  As of this posting, we’re still in gated Early Access for the app. We’re doing this to ensure we have a close connection with our users as we’re getting direct and rapid feedback and rolling out new features. However, this is changing very soon! We’ll be releasing our product to the world, so anyone can create an account and use QuotaPath to their heart’s content.
• Teams & plan sharing
  They say that no one is an island, and that applies to salespeople too. You’re likely on a team of people who also work in sales. Do you want to see how you stack up against them? If you’re a manager, do you want to track your team’s attainment? If you’re a QuotaPath expert, do you want to share your plan with newbies? All of that is going to be possible when we launch teams and plan sharing in the next few months.
• Launching Premium functionality
  We’ve said it from the beginning: QuotaPath will always have a free functionality. You don’t need to pay to use QuotaPath to track your deals, calculate your commission, and double check your payments. However, there’s so much more to unlock with our Premium functionality, which we’ll be launching early 2019.

To say we’re excited is an understatement. On top of all of that, we’re tripling our team size, upgrading our Philly office to some sweet new digs, hosting our 2019 team kickoff in Austin, and so much more. Cheers to the new year and all the places we’re headed!

If you’re a current QuotaPath user, go check out how you did in 2018 for commissions. Log in now!

If you don’t have access to QuotaPath yet, we want you to be a part of the excitement! Let us know and we’ll get you an account ASAP.

Update: Although this piece originally published in 2019, AJ has confirmed as of Dec. 9, 2021, that the following remains true today. 

Given my experience leading and running sales teams and now having founded a commission tracking software company, people ask me “what’s the best comp plan?” all the time. Unfortunately, there’s no one answer to that question. It depends on what you’re selling (software has a very different comp plan vs. car sales), what your average contract value is, how long your sales cycle is, etc. (Check out my post where I break down the good, the bad, and the ugly of comp plans).

The other day, I was asked the question in a unique way that made me stop and think. “What’s my favorite comp plan?” Now THAT I can answer!

My favorite comp plan is this:

• Base salary – 50% of total pay being base salary, 50% being variable
• Flat % of anything you close
• A bonus if you hit your monthly quota
• A bonus if you hit your quarterly quota (ideally the same as monthly)

(This plan assumes bookings vs ARR/MRR)

That’s it.

Why is it my favorite? Three reasons.

1. Simplicity. My rule of thumb is that plans should be so simple, someone could explain it to you in about 15 seconds.
2. Consistency. A scalable sales team relies on consistent performance. If your entire team misses their quota for two months then crushes it on the third that causes a lot of stress and heartburn. By having a monthly quota bonus, you incentivize people hitting quota month after month.
3. It allows reps to ‘make up lost ground’. Say a rep misses their quota on the first month of the quarter, they still have a chance to get two of the three monthly bonuses AND if they overperform the next two months, they can get the quarterly bonus.

There you have it. Like I mentioned, not one comp plan fits all. As you’re restructuring or coming up with your plan for 2019, keep the three points above in mind. The simpler the plan, the better it is.

Oh, and if you want to track and calculate your commissions without using a spreadsheet, check out QuotaPath. We’re pretty good at that. Also, if you already have an account, see if your comp plan follows these three simple guidelines.

People shouldn’t have to choose between working and voting, yet with Election Day not being a public holiday and falling in the middle of the week, millions of Americans aren’t able to take time off to make it to the polls. Voter participation has been as low as 36% (thirty six!) in recent years, far too often because of life and work obligations.

Today, we’re seeing corporate America take a stand and use its influence to promote voter engagement. CEO’s and leaders are coming together in campaigns like Time to Vote, Rock the Vote, and ElectionDay.org. QuotaPath has proudly joined Patagonia, Walmart, Lyft, PayPal, and more than 400 other companies in the Time to Vote campaign to increase voter participation in the upcoming midterm elections. And our efforts are paying off! According to a survey from Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), in 2018 44% of U.S. employers offer their workers paid time off to vote, which is an all-time high.

While QuotaPath has made Election Day a company-wide holiday, other companies are creating a variety of programs to remove barriers of participation. Some companies, like Lyft Inc., are setting a “no-meetings” policy or hosting voter registration drives. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but it’s important that we all support employees during the election in whatever way works for your organization.

But of course it doesn’t start and stop there. There’s so much more companies can be doing such as including voter registration forms in employee onboarding packets, offering rides to polling places, hosting informational sessions on local candidates, having voting parties, being vocal on social channels, and providing direction to absentee ballot application sites, just to name some ideas.

We hope that we set an example for companies in Philadelphia, Austin, and beyond to join us in the movement. We want to encourage others to commit to giving employees the time, flexibility, and resources they need to vote. We’re aiming to create a pro-voting environment at QuotaPath. By providing employees with information on local issues, candidates, and details on early voting, we can help take out the intimidation and confusion by demystifying the voting process, and even make it fun.

QuotaPath is celebrating democracy and using our voice and influence to make a difference this midterm election. We’ll see you at the polls!

Whether you’re just getting started in your sales career or you’re a seasoned pro, there’s one inescapable truth: success requires constant improvement and adaptation. Even the highest-earning sales reps can’t afford to rest on their laurels or let their skills stagnate. No matter how big yesterday’s win was, there’s always another goal to reach — and your income depends on reaching it.

That’s why the most successful salespeople are lifelong learners; they’re driven by their curiosity to look for the best ways to improve their skills and increase their sales numbers. As part of this continued effort, many sales reps will read countless books and attend numerous conferences and seminars over the course of their careers. But in a sea of resources and thought leaders, which ones are actually worth your time? Here are a few great options to help you get started:

Personalized coaching

For the most meaningful career growth, nothing beats personalized, one-on-one sales coaching. Sound pricey? You’d be surprised! If you’re going with a high-profile thought leader, maybe. But some of the very best coaching you’ll get throughout your career in sales will come from sales managers and more senior sales reps at your own company.

Since your manager’s success hinges on your ability to make more sales, they should be more than willing to do whatever they can to help you become more effective at your job. Whether it’s by listening to your customer calls to give you concrete feedback about how to keep the conversation moving forward, or by giving you pointers on what to include in follow-up emails for the best response, their timely and specific advice will go a long way toward helping you improve.

Sales managers and other sales reps can also be excellent resources to help you increase your understanding of the product. The better you know what your company is offering, how it stacks up to competitors, what pain points it solves for clients, and other important details about your product, the better you’ll be poised to perform.

Sales books

The specifics of selling have changed a lot in the past few years. With more tools at your disposal than ever before, it may seem like the whole sales process has fundamentally changed. But while your job looks different than it would have several decades ago, there are some principles and tricks of the trade that remain as useful as ever. These classic sales books still make best-of lists regularly, and with good reason:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

For some more recent thought leadership, here are a few of our favorite books written by sales experts in the last few years:

• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss
• The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon
• Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to Go From $0 to $100 Million by Mark Roberge

Blogs and podcasts

Prefer your sales information a little more bite-sized? Podcasts and blog posts are a great way to get useful insights when you don’t have time to sit down and read a whole book. Here are a few of our favorite podcasts:

• Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman
• WorkLife with Adam Grant
• How I Built This

Here are some blogs with food for thought and great actionable advice:

• Sales Hacker
• Jill Konrath’s blog
• The Sales Blog

By taking advantage of the resources available to you in your workplace and learning new approaches from trusted thinkers in the sales industry, you can continually improve your skills to become more effective.

We have another way to power up your performance: having a clearer picture of your progress toward your goals. With QuotaPath’s sales performance management app, you can get real-time data about where you stand. Create an account here.

Where you work can make or break your success as a sales professional. But finding the right sales job isn’t as easy as it sounds. Too often, salespeople work at jobs with cyclical routines and stifled upward growth. In a field where time is money, you can’t afford to wait for your situation to improve.

But before you take your talent to a new company, it’s important to know that your potential employer can help put you on the career path you want. Here are the five most important factors to look for in your next sales job:

1. Industry growth

Working at a job is an investment of your time and resources, so make sure your chosen industry is worthwhile. Consider the health of the industry you’re pursuing. Will this product or industry endure? Will the skills and relationships you’re building remain relevant for the long haul?

Consider fields with strong growth like technology and software. You can gain insight by learning about the sales industries expected to thrive in 2018 and the fastest growing US industries.

2. Compensation plan

Your individual compensation plan will either bring out your best performance or confuse and disappoint you. Look for plans that are simple to understand, have reasonable quota ratios, and are obtainable. Ask employers about the team’s current commission data to get a realistic idea of your earning potential. Steer clear 100% commission organizations. These companies have less incentive to invest in your long-term growth.

3. Training and learning opportunities

Search for a position in a company that supports and retains their top talent. Effective sales training includes communicating company processes and regular coaching on important sales skills. Training should also be continuous and motivating; look for an organization that is committed to providing sales reps with constructive feedback and incentives to promote achievements.

4. Career development

Does your prospective employer have the capacity to offer you the long-term career growth you want? Your career path can change depending on the size of the company and the structure of their organization chart.

Smaller companies often provide you with ample opportunities to prove yourself, while larger companies have a more clear-cut process for career progression. Before accepting a job, tell your prospective employer about your long-term goals and ask if they have a defined path to get you there. Make sure your plan uses quantifiable data—like quota metrics— so there are objective data points to mark career milestones.

5. Culture match

An amazing sales team can make the difference between loving what you do and counting down the days until you quit. Discover a sales culture that works for you by connecting with sales reps in local networking groups and attending happy hour events. This will help you build up your job-referral network and test out your chemistry with potential new sales teams.

Take charge of your future success

Though changing sales jobs may seem overwhelming, it helps to know what you want before you send your resume over. It takes research and self-discovery to find a company that will help you succeed.

But closing the deal with prospective employers is a two-way street. Make sure you can prove your value to hiring managers. You can do this is by sharing past sales results with QuotaPath’s quota-tracking software.

QuotaPath is an all-in-one application that helps you improve every part of your sales performance. Use its powerful and easy-to-use dashboard to track important KPIs, manage your pipeline, increase your commision checks, and keep you motivated to hit your sales goals.

The best part?

QuotaPath is free for sales reps. So what are you waiting for? Create an account here.

Whether you’re trying to get in touch with a decision-maker, schedule a demo, or move a deal along, it’s important to stay in contact and keep your company top of mind for your prospects. One phone call is almost never enough to make a sale, so strong follow-up emails are some of the most valuable tools at a sales rep’s disposal.

It’s a good idea to have several different types of follow-up emails — to stay in touch after a cold call, a voicemail, a demo, after several unsuccessful outreach attempts, etc. — drafted and ready to personalize. But even though the purpose of a follow-up email (and the content therein) might vary, there are some basic guidelines that you should follow for all your correspondence with a prospect:

Give them time

The last thing you want to do when following up with a prospect is to become a nuisance. Even the most interested contacts have a lot on their plate, and will likely need a little time before they take action. Show your contacts that you respect their time constraints by waiting a few days after a call or an email before your next attempt to reach them.

Get their attention (the right way)

Your contacts are busy people, and their inboxes are probably stuffed with unread or unanswered emails. An email with a vague or boring subject line is far less likely to get opened. If you want to avoid that fate, take some time to craft a compelling and concise subject line. However, don’t flag your email as high priority; your follow-up message is not a life-threatening emergency, and flagging it as such is more likely to annoy your contact than spur them to action.

Provide value, but keep it short

If you’re reaching out after a cold call or a voicemail, remind them briefly who you are and what you discussed on the phone. Ask them if there’s a convenient time for them to talk to you to learn more about your product or service. If you’re following up after a demo or initial sales call, recap the benefits you discussed on the phone.

You may want to include case studies, white papers, or any other applicable content that might answer some common questions you encounter in the sales process. But whatever information you need to present to the contact, try to keep it as short and sweet as possible. In fact, it’s a good idea to use bullet points where appropriate to keep the content scannable.

Make the next steps clear

Even if your prospect is interested in what you’re offering, they won’t move forward if it’s unclear what they should do next. In the body of the email, let them know what to expect: will you contact them again in a few days, or should they respond to your email with any additional information? If there’s an action required on their end, spell that out as clearly as possible so there’s no confusion.

Don’t quit after one email

One or two unanswered emails may feel like a clear sign that your contact has lost interest, but don’t give up so easily. Many contacts need time and multiple touchpoints before they’re ready to move forward in the sales process. As long as you’re being helpful and considerate (read: not annoying), persistence increases the likelihood that you’ll make a successful sale.

Want a clearer picture of your progress toward your sales goals? Create an account here.