We’re working through some commission plans with our customers and one of the plans has a function to where the salesperson has to clear a certain quarterly revenue level before the commission plan kicks in. This approach is somewhat common and has its merits. Personally, I am not a fan of it for one reason.
Sandbagging.
I’m not talking about preparing for a flood (though there was plenty of that activity up here this summer). I’m talking about getting a deal to the point where it can close today, but the salesperson holds it until the beginning of next quarter, month, week – whatever constitutes the commission time frame.
I know salespeople sandbag deals because I have done it plenty of times in my sales career. And it only stands to reason – if I can frontload my commission plan at the beginning of the period, I have a better chance of exceeding my quota and accelerating my commission rate.
Keep that move in mind and you develop your sales commission plans.