Overcoming 5 common mistakeswith sales incentive systems

Not ensuring that Sales and Finance

are aligned

COMMON MISTAKE#

Sales and Finance have different plans and goals for the sales compensation system.

Sales Finance

We need to increase revenue!

Simple and clear plans are more effective in

the field.

Admin tasks take away from time

with clients.

We need more analytics.

Decrease cycle times!

Reduce errors!

We need to improve our margins.

Sophisticated and complex plans drive profitable behavior.

We need to reduce IT and admin costs.

There should be more self-service

in Sales.

More regulation!

Faster information!

Address the natural tensions between the Sales and Finance teams.Tip

Leaders in each department must openly discuss their challenges, needs and environments.

Find a compromise that communicates goals, expectations

and timeframes.

Use Finance’s experience to help in

analytics, reporting and compliance.

Work with both Sales and Finance teams to design a plan and system that work overall.

Tip

FinanceSales

compensationPlan and system

Sales

Unify the Sales and Finance departments

Invest in technology. It’s a win–win situation for both Finance and Sales teams.

Tip

of respondents using an incentive compensation system say that it has “substantially contributed to an effective sales incentive system.”

CFO Research Study

Download the white paper Conversations on incentive compensation: The changing

role of finance in pay for performance.

Reasons for the tension between Sales and Finance

Ideas for bridging the gap between Sales and Finance

Benefits you can expect as your sales compensation strategy successfully evolves

Discover additional IBM sales performance management resources.

http://ibm.co/SPM