CareerBuilder.com links to an Entrepreneur.com article that asked…
9 entrepreneurs take a look back at their startup days and reveal what they would have done differently if they knew then what they know now.
Great premise. Here’s the response I enjoyed the most (emphasis mine):
“We would have spent more time and money on search engine optimization. Top placement in Google is key to any business in this day and age, and the cost of PPC gets higher every day. In addition, we would have placed more emphasis on employee commissions. We’ve learned over time that commissions and incentives drive employees to bring in more business.”
How true that is. Compensation is a complex topic, but for sales it always comes down to commission. We are strong believers in a mix of salary and commission with commission always being the largest piece of the pie. If you pay only a salary with a small variable comp. plan (e.g. year-end bonus), you increase your chances of getting a stagnant salesforce. If you pay only a commission, you tend to get lone wolves that look out for their own interests first.