In a BLR webinar entitled "Sales Compensation Strategies: How to Motivate and Re-Energize Your Sales Staff in a Challenging Economy," Dan Kleinman, principal of Dan Kleinman Consulting, a compensation and human resource consulting firm, explained that the first step toward a team-oriented sales compensation structure is to differentiate between sales and sales support. Sales actions encompass:
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- New selling
- Cross selling
- Up selling
- Renewals
Support actions encompass:
- Installation
- Upgrades
- Servicing
A compensation breakdown for a first time sale might look like this:
- Generating:10% sales staff , 0% support staff
- Clarifying:15% sales staff, 70% support staff
- Closing: 75% sales staff , 30% support staff
A compensation breakdown for an ongoing relationship might look like this:
- Selling: 75% sales staff, 25% support staff
- Follow up: 20% sales staff, 15% support staff
- Support: 5% sales staff: 5%, 60% support staff
Team selling only works if it reflects the way you want to sell to clients, if your staff is skilled and oriented toward a team approach, and if you promote and reinforce it.
Dan Kleinman is the principal of Dan Kleinman Consulting, a California-based compensation and human resource consulting firm. For the past 18 years, he has served as an independent consultant for a broad spectrum of regional, national, and international companies, providing compensation, performance, organizational planning, and reward-system design services. He may be reached at info@dankleinmanconsulting.com