Why Incenting Your Support Staff Can Pay Big Sales Dividends

When a pitcher throws a no-hitter, it’s generally lauded as an individual feat. His teammates swarm and congratulate him; the media hails his skill; and, in some circumstances, his team presents him with a financial bonus for the accomplishment.

Talk to the pitcher, however, and they’ll almost always acknowledge that a no-hitter is not something that happens in a vacuum. For it to occur, eight other players in the field must make the catches and throws to get 27 consecutive outs, and managers must pull the right strings at the right time.

In business, the sales process is no different.

Yes, a salesperson is largely responsible for many of the key final steps that lead to a sale, but there are often myriad people in the background who contribute to that accomplishment, as well. In fact, in most IT settings, the sales process requires the involvement of lead generators, consultants, technicians and engineers—each of whom perform the dirty work in the background, uncovering clues that yield better leads, opportunities and customers.

So, why don’t more companies go out of their way to acknowledge—and incentivize—the behind-the-scenes work of their support staff?

In my experience, that proactive compensation approach gets more employees involved in the search for sales leads and keeps them from sitting by idly when new business opportunities come their way. It's important that all members of your company's team understand they can contribute greatly to improving the company's bottom line by becoming proponents. Once they realize this responsibility, and understand that they're only helping themselves and their own job security, the results come quickly.

Not sure how to structure a compensation plan that involves your tech and support teams when they contribute to a sale? Here are a few suggestions:

Deliver Bonuses for Contributing to Current Priorities

The challenge with many professionals who are not part of the sales team is that they are "risk adverse" (a big reason they chose not to be salespeople in the first place). By offering bonuses to those professionals for digging up referrals or nurturing new opportunities, you can incent them to focus on your current priorities and contribute to your revenue goals.

For instance, when you need to focus on a specific product or generate more leads quickly, you could establish and announce a bonus to be earned for every qualified referral within a defined time period. That sort of deadline changes your team’s behavior in a positive way because it incentivizes them to focus on activities that explicitly yield sales results.

Establish a Bonus Structure Based on Management by Objectives

Management by objective (MBO) operates similarly to a bonus, except it requires a bit more planning. MBOs are established as a part of a person's commission plan with a defined quarterly dollar amount set aside for accomplishment of pre-defined objectives.

Relative to support or technical staff, MBOs could include revising the current company sales demo, presenting your solution infographic to 10 key clients, or meeting with three new manager-level contacts at the customer site. The objectives must be measurable, however, so that success or failure is clear at the end of the quarter.

Adopt a Leveraged Plan

A leveraged plan is simply another way of saying that someone’s compensation plan includes components beyond salary. For instance, if the compensation plan includes MBOs or commissions, it is leveraged. As I mentioned above, this structure can be difficult to implement with support and technical staff because those people typically prefer compensation plans with less risk, or leverage.

So, how can you work around that? MBOs are the least risky, so you could choose to add a compensation component that encourages support staff to consistently find, develop and close specific types of opportunities. Typically these are upsell or renewal opportunities associated with a project, maintenance renewal or additional product. Regardless, your goal should be to present non-sales employees the opportunity to make money above and beyond their regular, steady compensation by contributing to specific sales objectives.

Compensation planning is tricky, and not just for your sales team. Yes, you want to motivate your people to focus on the company's strategic initiatives, but you don’t want to take employees too far out of their comfort zones. It's a delicate balance that isn't always the same for every employee. Done right, however, it can allow your business to reap rewards far beyond the basic expectations of a person's role.

With the right compensation plan in place (as well as a training program that makes your staff feel like they are being given the skills and tools to meet new expectations and targets), your entire team will get more involved and take satisfaction in benefiting from the results generated by their efforts. And that can be a very good thing for your bottom line.

Kendra Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert, author of the newly released book “The Sales Magnet” and the award winning book "Selling Against the Goal" and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group works with companies to break in and exceed revenue objectives in the Small and Midmarket Business (SMB) segment.