《BPM Partners ICM White Paper - 020606-Aligning Sales Per》.pdfVIP

Aligning Sales Performance with Strategic Objectives through Incentive Compensation February 2006 © 2006 BPM Partners, Inc. All material contained in this document remains the property of BPM Partners and cannot be published or duplicated without the express written consent of BPM Partners, Inc. Aligning Sales Performance with Strategic Objectives through Incentive Compensation EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Aligning incentive compensation programs with key corporate objectives can have a significant impact on bottom line performance. Companies with effective incentive compensation plans benefit by intelligently tying pay to performance. Successful “variable” compensation is no accident. These companies have defined management of incentives as a process, one worthy of attention and automation to ensure accuracy, speed, and user satisfaction. In this case, the direct beneficiaries are the people who make sales happen, while the indirect beneficiaries are the other employees and ultimately shareholders. A unified, automated approach to managing incentive compensation delivers accurate commission payouts, and allows employees to easily track their variable earnings and progress towards goals on a daily basis. This creates an environment where a company’s salespeople can trust they will find the correct compensation on their pay stub. That sense of security allows them to focus on productive sales activity, rather than spend hours on shadow accounting, checking a sales manager’s spreadsheet work. With workflow features, the approval process is faster and more secure. The sales manager, typically more of a people person than a number cruncher, will be able to focus more time and energy on motivating the sales force. The result is a more profitable selling organization. Automating incentive compensation management (ICM) does not only lead to happier feelings, it also suppor