In Uncertain Times, Pursue Agility, Resiliency in Your Sales Comp Plan

In the current dynamic business environment, many organizations encounter a variety of external market factors that test the effectiveness of conventional sales compensation models. These factors include:

Increased market and industry competition;
Changing customer spending patterns and expectations; and,
Advancements in technology such as artificial intelligence.

Additional factors such as inflation, government regulations, tariffs, supply chain disruptions, interest rates and geopolitical events further complicate sales compensation planning.

In response, roughly 80% of businesses that participated in the Alexander Group’s 2026 Sales Compensation Trends survey said they are adjusting their related program practices.

Key Strategies for Resilient Sales Compensation

The Alexander Group research indicated high-performing organizations utilize six key sales compensation program management strategies to enhance agility and resilience amid periods of uncertainty.

1. Leverage a Governance Committee

A dedicated sales compensation governance committee is essential for effective oversight and decision-making. This cross-functional group — which typically includes leaders from sales, strategy/operations, finance, HR and compensation — reviews and approves critical issues such as quota adjustments, incentive disputes, windfall situations and mid-year plan changes. By meeting regularly and following structured processes, the committee ensures sales compensation adjustments are handled consistently, transparently and in alignment with guiding principles.

2. Outline Guiding Principles

Clear guiding principles serve as the foundation for all sales compensation decisions. These principles help organizations remain performance-driven, dynamic and transparent — especially when external factors create hardship for sellers. By documenting and communicating these guidelines, organizations can ensure fairness, maintain trust and provide a consistent approach to handling challenges and adjustments.

3. Use a Sales Compensation Dashboard

A sales compensation dashboard enables organizations to proactively monitor key departmental health metrics, such as business goal achievement, quota attainment, payout ratios and attrition rates. By regularly reviewing these metrics, leaders can identify trends, spot early warning signals and make data-driven adjustments to their sales compensation program. Dashboards provide visibility into both business and sales team performance, supporting agile responses to market shifts.

4. Model Performance Scenarios

Scenario modeling is vital for stress-testing sales compensation plans and preparing for a range of market conditions. By modeling alternative plan designs, organizations can predict incentive costs, assess budget impacts and evaluate how changes affect incumbent sellers. This approach helps mitigate risks, better ensures alignment with pay-for-performance philosophies and can enable leaders to make informed decisions about plan adjustments.

5. Consider Sales Compensation Adjustments

In response to varying levels of disruption, organizations should be ready to adjust compensation plans. Options include quota and performance changes, pay guarantees, and plan design modifications such as changing measures, crediting, pay curves or thresholds. Tailoring adjustments to the corporate situation — whether it’s a downturn, strategy shift or operational change — increases the likelihood that sales compensation remains fair, motivating and aligned with business objectives.

6. Employ Effective Change Management

Successful implementation of sales compensation changes generally requires robust change management. This includes securing executive buy-in, building a compelling business case, developing a clear transition strategy, and ensuring comprehensive communication and training. Effective change management minimizes resistance, maintains motivation, and helps all stakeholders better understand and support the new sales compensation structures.

Actions to Consider

To “future-proof” their sales compensation programs, organizations should revise their current practices. According to the Alexander Group survey, participants are doing so by:

Making mid-year plan design changes.
More frequently reviewing the sales comp dashboard/effectiveness metrics.
Changing the plan measure(s) and weights.
Making mid-year quota adjustments.
Increasing the use of a sales compensation committee to review issues and make adjustments.
Using more special performance incentive funds (SPIFs).

Sellers typically do not like changes to their pay structures. So, organizations should monitor external forces, leverage governance committees, establish guiding principles, analyze data, prepare for multiple scenarios and determine whether to make any changes — and if appropriate, select what specific levers to pull.

One powerful change management message point is to “commit to the money and not the mechanics.” In other words, commit to paying market-competitive target pay and upside. However, explain that the method to calculate that pay may have to evolve.

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