Why sales compensation plans fail and how to fix them

Sales compensation plans are a great tool for raising motivation and improving selling behavior. However, the results often fall short of management's expectations. We interviewed sales expert Marie Verdier to learn more about the concept.

Marie, companies often call you in when compensation systems fail to deliver results. What, in your experience, are the key reasons behind this?

Incentive programs are crucial for sales strategy and should align with a company's main goals without causing harm. Sales teams in the real world often fail to apply this advice, even though it sounds standard.

In fact, we recently asked sales executives to name their most potent issues regarding sales productivity. Compensation and incentives were by far the most frequent challenge. The reason is that their overall strategy did not align with the sales incentive system.…