{"id":194,"date":"2017-11-04T17:02:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-04T17:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sellingsherpa.com\/?p=194"},"modified":"2017-11-04T17:02:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T17:02:01","slug":"game-the-plan-every-sales-reps-dream-every-cfos-nightmare-book-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sellingsherpa.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/04\/game-the-plan-every-sales-reps-dream-every-cfos-nightmare-book-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Game the Plan: Every Sales Rep’s Dream; Every CFO’s Nightmare (Book Summary)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let your reps game the heck out plans that align the employees\u2019 self-interest with the company\u2019s and its customers\u2019 self-interests.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Recruit, hire, and engage via intrinsic motivation (recognition, competition, appreciation, training, coaching\/feedback, promotion, clear job roles, clear goals, sense of control, culture) & extrinsic motivation (money, one-of-a-kind experiential incentives)<\/li>\n
  2. Consider base pay, short-term incentives (SPIFs), medium-term incentives (variable comp), and long-term incentives (ex: options or restricted stock)<\/li>\n
  3. SPIFs should be simple and unpredictable. They can run for anywhere between one day and two months.<\/li>\n
  4. Be mindful of the indirect impact of compensation plans on employees on other plans<\/li>\n
  5. Pay rapidly after outcomes. If it takes you two or more months to measure and compensate for a specific goal, you\u2019ve created a rewards program, not an incentive one.<\/li>\n
  6. Provide real-time access to compensation and quota data<\/li>\n
  7. Ensure incentives differentiate between high and low performers<\/li>\n
  8. Avoid capped commission plans<\/li>\n
  9. Avoid ambiguous metrics (often true of the following: market share; cost of a sale, close rate, gross margin per deal)<\/li>\n
  10. Use no more than 3 metrics to measure performance; keep it simple.<\/li>\n
  11. Craft fair and attractive territories<\/li>\n
  12. Set attainable goals<\/li>\n
  13. Analyze the expected compensation cost of sale outcome of comp plan<\/li>\n
  14. Set quotas at the highest frequency possible<\/li>\n
  15. Rank reps objectively (avoid subjective MBOs)<\/li>\n
  16. Do not use comp to drive CRM adoption<\/li>\n
  17. Do not assume all reps are motivated by the same things<\/li>\n
  18. Invest in having great managers<\/li>\n
  19. Use public leaderboards<\/li>\n
  20. Know many people (and how much) you are playing per deal<\/li>\n
  21. If your incentive plan is not working, take the time to figure out precisely why not<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Commentary on the book: While it was a fast read, I was expecting a lot more on sales compensation design. The whole book stays at a rather high level covering ground that is familiar if you have read your share of business books; even the last chapter, billed as a \u201chow-to\u201d does not go into much depth. \u00a0While I very much appreciated references to academic studies and to sound commercial surveys, I found there was a lot of unnecessary filler. Finally, the book had a fair amount of repetition.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Let your reps game the heck out plans that align the employees\u2019 self-interest with the company\u2019s and its customers\u2019 self-interests.   Recruit, hire, and engage via intrinsic motivation (recognition, competition, appreciation, training, coaching\/feedback, promotion, clear job roles, clear goals, sense of control, culture) & extrinsic motivation (money, one-of-a-kind experiential incentives) Consider base pay, short-term incentives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Game the Plan: Every Sales Rep's Dream; Every CFO's Nightmare (Book Summary)","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t