In late 2009, CSO Insights surveyed 1,051 companies about sales performance management and sales compensation.  More than half of the survey respondents were from companies with revenue ranging from $250M to $1Billion in revenue. 

The results of the survey, combined with analysis from CSO Insights' Jim Dickie and Barry Trailer, identify some key findings in the sales performance management and sales compensation markets. 

My take away from these results is that many firms are able to manage the basics of their sales compensation plans (timely payouts, etc.,) but that most have not made the jump to sales performance management.  The key indicator in this is that most firms are missing the correlations between sales behaviors, sales plans and corporate goals.

Here are some findings that point to the larger need for sales performance management:

• One in eight companies have no idea what impact their compensation plans have on the selling behaviors of their reps
• Sales compensation plans seem to be reinforcing behaviors, rather than driving behaviors
• A lack of transparency and real-time reporting limits the leverage of commission payments
• Companies have an inability to forecast the impact of compensation design
• Plan and market complexity make real-time adjustments difficult
• Larger corporate and strategic goals are not tied to individual day-to-day activities

This report also covers key trends in sales compensation, such as the percentages of companies having reps make quote and other benchmarks.

If you would like a copy of this report, please contact Revelwood at info@revelwood.com.