Sales Compensation Plans

When Sales Drop, Don’t Just Blame the Bonus Plan — Here’s What Else to Look For

July 11, 2025Vangelis Sakelliou

Often, sales operations face challenges and problems. Such problems may come from different scenarios that lead to sales. Sometimes, salespeople don’t perform well; could it be because the motivation plan isn’t doing the magic?Another problem could be an unrewarding campaign promotion. This is to name a few of the issues that regularly occur.

When these issues arise, the sales department mostly sees the motivation plan as the source. The reason isn’t farfetched; it is easy to point to the scheme as the source because salespeople bring the largest share of sales to the company and if they are not performing well, it’s because they are not motivated enough. So, the first step at getting back high sales is to give them more money through the incentive plan.

Is this sequence the right one? Should be incentive scheme be the first plan to be scrutinized when there is an existing problem to solve?

Key Takeaways You Will Read in this Blog

✅ Incentives aren’t always the culprit – When sales drop, it’s easy to blame the bonus plan, but the root cause may lie elsewhere.

✅ Skill gaps often go unnoticed – Lack of training, unclear roles, or weak product-market fit can severely impact sales performance.

✅ Holistic strategy matters – A strong incentive plan must be paired with proper enablement, clear targets, and support systems.

When Incentives Change: Avoid the Mistakes That Push Salespeople Away

June 6, 2025Vangelis Sakelliou

There are specific facts and points one must consider when trying when trying to sell a plan to salespeople. To create market demand and sell products, salespeople are depended upon by sales organization today to achieve this market input/output. This is an essential part of how the system works in most marketing environments, especially in Business-2-Business (B2B) situations.

Also, the maturity cycle and selling model of the company significantly affects whether salespeople are required to push the company’s agenda. Some companies are old enough with enough publicity on their products not to need a large sales force to create awareness about them. Sales management is an integral part of a company as it assists in steering the sales behaviors of consumers in a specific direction that benefits the sales motivation plan.

To understand salespeople, it must be taken into consideration that they exude emotions about matters which affect them. Their behavior is affected by these matters, especially in a case where there are incentives involved for them to benefit from financially. And if there happens to be an unfavorable situation involving them, which can affect them negatively, they tend to feel emotions of disappointment, betrayal, and anger.

Key Takeaways you Need to Remember

✅ 1. Salespeople don’t just need a plan — they need a reason to believe in it.
If you’re changing their compensation model, explain the why clearly and empathetically. Lack of clarity breeds mistrust and disengagement.

✅ 2. Poor communication can break even the best-designed incentive plan.
Before rolling it out, ensure every detail — goals, financial impacts, and new terms — is explained thoroughly and transparently.

Are You Wasting Money on Sales Commissions? 4 Red Flags to Watch

May 23, 2025May 23, 2025Vangelis Sakelliou

Companies regularly seek to increase the revenue without a bogus increment in the expenses. Motivation scheme is one suitable way for achieving this, and we have discussed the pros and cons of the plan in earlier chapters. Even in cases where targets are challenging, this scheme can work magic and shoot up revenues.

What you will learn in this article

Big Incentives Don’t Guarantee Big Results
Simply spending more on commissions doesn’t ensure higher sales. If incentives aren’t strategically aligned with realistic goals and individual performance, they become a liability—not a growth driver.
Misaligned Targets Undermine the Entire Strategy
When sales goals don’t reflect broader company objectives, even a well-funded incentive plan will fail. Proper alignment is essential to drive the right behaviors and achieve sustainable growth.
Retention Starts with Fair, Motivating Plans
High turnover among new sales hires often signals unrealistic expectations or poorly structured rewards. Companies must invest in thoughtful, flexible plans that reward effort and promote long-term loyalty.

Companies pay huge commissions (in any form including bonuses as I analysed HERE) to the salespeople to achieve this aim. A good question to ask is; is it worth it? Well, maybe yes, maybe not. Nevertheless, all companies pay commissions or bonuses which might either be in the form of incentives or not, to all salespeople. Whether or not it all works as intended depends on the planning and execution of the plan. A dedicated team should be formed to oversee the strategy. Specific measures should be taken to ensure the efficiency of the system and task the sales management when necessary for further actions.

When Bonuses Is The Best Incentives Type To Motivate Your Salesforce (6 Reasons)

May 2, 2025May 2, 2025Vangelis Sakelliou

The idea of an incentive scheme is to motivate salespeople to break grounds and achieve even more objectives. The technicality of the program is terms and conditions that align with the objectives of the company.

What you will learn in this article

1️⃣ Bonuses offer flexibility when traditional incentive schemes fall short
In roles where performance is hard to quantify or where strategic, long-term goals matter more than short-term sales numbers, bonuses provide a more adaptable and fair reward mechanism.

2️⃣ Not all sales roles are suited to rigid commission structures
For teams like account managers, pre-sales, or those exploring new markets, it’s often more practical to use bonuses rather than set hard-to-define targets tied to variable pay.

3️⃣ Bonus schemes must account for partial performance
A well-designed bonus system should include flexible rules for partial achievement, allowing companies to fairly reward effort even when targets are only partially met.

Let’s have a quick look at the process

The basis of all incentive schemes is majorly on the aspect of technical decision making. Perhaps, it is even 100% about it. It follows a carefully outlined sequence to arrive at a format that suits the company’s objectives.

However, the decision-making process should be sequential in order to be effective. The first set of business is to define for the eligible role for the incentive. Team like but not limited to sales, pre sales team are entitled to the incentive team. The net order of business is to determine the payment levels in the plan, and this is where real brainstorming is needed. The fixed and variable part and the targets (as explained thoroughly HERE) required to unlock them should be decided as+ well as the disbursement process.

What Pushed Me to Write a Book on Sales – And What’s Inside (Coming Soon!)

April 5, 2025April 5, 2025Vangelis Sakelliou

I still remember the exact moment I realized I was totally overwhelmed.

I was building the sales strategy and the Go To Market for an international project from scratch, with no proven formula, no playbook, just a ton of pressure to deliver results! In my eagerness to get sales rolling, I made every mistake possible: targeting the wrong customers, wasting months on leads who weren’t genuinely interested, and trying to do everything at once. Over time, I learned what worked, what didn’t, and, most importantly, I discovered how much difference a structured approach can make.

Fast-forward to today: I decided to write a book (which will be published soon) to help founders, sales leaders, and executives avoid those painful pitfalls. Sales and marketing can make or break a company, yet too many people underestimate just how complicated sales really is. I’ve seen more than 90% of newly established companies struggle. Not because they lack a solid product, but because they lack a clear strategy and execution for selling it. I wanted to offer a roadmap that I wish I’d had when I was just starting out.

A Structured Timeline for Success
One of the biggest lessons I learned is that a “scattershot” approach to sales almost always leads to frustration and burnout. That’s why my book lays out a timeline for the first three years of a sales organization, breaking down what to focus on in each phase:

Months 0–6: Defining your value proposition, pinpointing your ideal customer profile, and landing those critical first paying customers.
Months 6–18: Building a sustainable pipeline, hiring the right people at the right time, and refining your sales operations.
Months 18–36: Scaling your team, optimizing processes with data, and strategically expanding into new markets.

By structuring it this way, I hope to give readers a clear set of milestones that keeps them from trying to do everything at once. Because when you’re launching and scaling a sales team, timing is everything.