Purpose
The Sales Compensation Calculator has been designed to help you organize the elements and factors that go into sales compensation plan development. Organizing all the factors into one worksheet is designed to ease decision-making as you weigh your goals and company approach to selling. Your answers and decisions should result in a compensation design that fits the sales role at your company. The final report might be perfect but in my experience, getting it to 80% done is a good goal. You can then make any final adjustments after consulting your team.
Objective Subjectivity
How is that for an oxymoron? Building a sales compensation plan is not a perfect science or something you can pull off the shelf. On the other hand, it doesn’t have to be complicated. The Sales Compensation Calculator will require some of your answers to be very objective, and others will be subjectively rated.
Make Decisions; It’s Okay to Change Things Later
Sales compensation plans are often reviewed every 1-3 years, so there’s no need to feel like you are locking yourself into a long-term decision. Unlike other roles at the company, a sales compensation plan can adapt and evolve to be the best fit for the company and the salesperson.
What You Might Need
If you want to build a plan from scratch or use The Sales Compensation Calculator to evaluate your current plans, you might need some or all of the following to help you.
- Company financials to help with questions related to revenue, gross margin, and sales goals.
- Access to comparative compensation levels in your market or industry to provide a guide.
- The blog, You’re Paying Your Sales People How Much? (https://salesmanagernow.com/youre-paying-sales-people-much/)
If You Feel Stuck
If you complete all or most of the form but can’t make final decisions, schedule a meeting with us, and we can help you get through it.