Does Your Sales Comp Plan Pay for What Your Strategy Needs?

Q1.Can you name the one or two outcomes your strategy depends on this year (new customers, expansion, margin, retention, a new product)?

Q2.Does the plan have a metric that directly measures and rewards each of those outcomes?

Q3.Is most of the variable pay tied to those outcomes, rather than to a general bookings number?

Q4.Does the plan protect margin, for example through margin thresholds or commission rates tied to price realization?

Q5.Is the plan designed so a rep can't easily reach quota by pulling deals forward or splitting one deal into several?

Q6.Does the plan have safeguards (caps, thresholds, or review) against an unexpectedly large payout you wouldn't want to repeat?

Q7.Does the plan pay on the right unit for your growth goal (for example, new customer count versus new customer revenue), and was that a deliberate choice?

Q8.Is the way the plan treats new business versus renewals and expansions a deliberate choice that matches your strategy?

Q9.Has the plan run for the full year without mid-year patches or custom fixes?

Q10.Can a rep explain how their commission is calculated on a typical deal in under 30 seconds, and trust the result?

Q11.Are commissions paid on a consistent, predictable schedule that reps understand?

Q12.Can your finance or operations team calculate monthly payouts without manual workarounds?