Sales Compensation Design
	Years ago I attended a week-long executive seminar on sales compensation at the Kellogg Graduate School, Northwestern University.  I was struck by a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review that found that roughly half of the sales compensation plans they evaluated were found to be ineffective.  There are a lot of obstacles to a good sales comp plan.  Things change and plans need to adapt.  You can have a good plan, but if it's late or confusing or the organization lacks trust, the plan will lose effectiveness.  The sales comp plan must be a reflection of how the company intends to do business, i.e. be in sync with all other business plans and strategies.  The plan administrators may not be in alignment with the design.  Those designing the plan may not have the training or experience in how to do a solid design that addresses all the competing interests and forces, or they may not have the appreciation for its potential to elevate or deflate performance. After 10 years of experience in sales comp design and administration, I fully understand why there are so many ineffective plans out there - it is not easy, but you can build an effective plan with hard work and a framework to operate from.  But more importantly, why settle for "effective"?  Your sales comp plan should bend the trend and help you excel in the marketplace. Sales Comp is a huge topic with many variables, so I will not attempt to outline my approach here.  But I have launched very successful plans in a Fortune 100 company and two start-ups, spanning three industries and many different types of sales jobs and channels.  If your sales comp plan is giving you a headache, not retaining the people you want, or if your sales people as well as the CFO are not happy with the plan, let's talk.
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