Survivor Analytics: Problem Solving Beyond the Numbers

Sales compensation dashboards are common, but how do you know which numbers are right for your business?

Many organizations determine if their sales compensation plans are working by gathering ad hoc information and doing spot analytics. But choosing among a multitude of possible metrics can be difficult – which are the right metrics? Which will have the deepest impact on growth? Which provide the full picture of the sales organization performance, and not just a surface level evaluation?

Those are all great questions, but before you begin any analytics, you have to understand the problems your organization is trying to solve, and what you are trying to accomplish as a business. The answers to these questions determine which numbers to collect and what type of analytics you need.

For example, looking at quota distribution might indicate that you have a quota allocation problem. However, a closer analysis might reveal that’s it’s actually a productivity problem. This new interpretation could take you in a totally different design direction for your incentive plans.

Understanding your specific sales challenges first and then aligning the analytics will tell you whether your team is performing as expected, whether their behaviors are driving the strategy of the organization, and whether or not they are motivated to act in those strategic directions.

Mark Donnolo, managing partner of SalesGlobe and author of What Your CEO Needs to Know About Sales Compensation, and Dennis Gallinat, senior manager of sales compensation at Waste Management, demonstrated a logic-based problem solving process that will help define your unique dashboard; show how to select the analytics you need to solve your unique problems; and share benchmarks across companies around performance areas that range from quota attainment to satisfaction with pay levels to the best ways to communicate the plan.

Mark and Dennis previously led an interactive discussion including examples about selecting the right metrics, interpreting the data, and taking action on your plan to lead to growth, including:

A logic-based problem solving process to understand the pros and cons of the current sales compensation plan and its alignment to the sales strategy;
How to determine which analytics are right for your business, and how to review essential sales compensation analytics;
Understand whether you have the right technical systems for your business.

Get a copy of the presentation here: SalesGlobe and Waste Management Survivor Analytics.