When Pleading Doesn't Work
(May/June 2000)

Quote by Mitchell Roye

"A lot of distributors developed a compensation plan years ago and then moved on to other things. They forget about their comp plan," says Mitch Roye, managing director of The Cambridge Group, a management consulting firm in Newport Beach, Calif., that specializes in sales and marketing operations effectiveness. "You need to make sure your plan is linked to and in sync with your company's overall goals and strategic objectives."

"If you put a sales rep on a full commission plan, expect him to aggressively focus on winning the next order," says Roye. "Contrast this scenario with the customer who is focused on total cost reduction or integrated supply. They don't want someone coming in trying to stuff another order into their warehouse."

"That's not conducive to a full commission plan that rewards people for selling the next order," says Roye. "Therefore, you're seeing more compensation plans incorporating a base salary to reward longer term or strategic sales activities."