A Preface to Payment: Designing a Sales Compensation Plan
Sales compensation is a crucial management decision, but it is too often approached as an exercise in comparative pay levels or as a debate concerning the relative merits of fixed-salary versus commission systems. This article provides a "preface" to sales compensation which outlines generic issues and choices implicated in designing a sales compensation plan. It discusses the following: (1) the links between compensation, evaluation and motivation; (2) an analytical process helpful in developing a compensation plan; (3) important choices in setting goals and rewarding results in sales; and (4) the relevance and limits of compensation policies within an effective sales management system.