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Sales Team Dilemmas and Understanding ComPlans
Delve into this episode's shownotes for
expert insights, actionable strategies,
and game-changing inspiration.
10 Episode Takeaways
- Working at startups allows for a bigger impact compared to big companies.
- Transitioning from an individual contributor to a sales leader requires coaching and leadership skills.
- The best seller on a team may not necessarily make the best manager.
- Buying behavior has changed, and personalized gifts and memes can be effective in grabbing prospects' attention.
- Compensating sales based on usage can be challenging, with options including true usage, customer estimates, or a middle ground approach.
- The speaker's sales journey started at a shoe store and eventually led to management positions.
- Being a player coach requires effective time and resource allocation and defining one's job focus.
- Compensation plans for sales teams should be simple, logical, and fair.
- Promoting top salespeople to management roles can be a recipe for disaster.
- Different approaches to team quotas in organizations include individual quotas and total overall team quotas.
Episode Recap
In this podcast episode, Collin interviews a Graham Collins who shares their experience working at startups versus big companies. The guest discusses their preference for startups, where they feel they can make a bigger impact compared to the limitations of working at a big company. They also talk about their transition into sales leadership and offer advice for playing the player coach role. The key takeaway for listeners is the importance of considering coaching and leadership skills when promoting top producers to management roles.
Another topic discussed in the episode is the challenges and innovations in compensation plans for sales teams. The guest explores different approaches to compensating sales based on usage and highlights the need for simplicity, logic, and fairness in compensation structures. They also touch on the challenges and misconceptions of transitioning from sales to leadership and the different compensation structures for sales teams. The takeaway for listeners is to carefully evaluate compensation plans and consider the long-term goals and job focus when playing the player coach role.
Jump to Talking Points
- [00:05:54] working at startups vs big companies - preference for startups due to ability to make a bigger impact.
- [00:08:27] advice for playing the player coach role - allocating time and resources effectively.
- [00:10:51] transitioning from individual contributor to sales leader - challenges and considerations.
- [00:13:45] challenges and misconceptions of transitioning from sales to leadership - promoting top salespeople to management roles can be a mistake.
- [00:18:46] different approaches to team quotas in organizations - individual quotas vs overall team quota.
- [00:21:29] challenges and innovations in compensation plans - importance of simplicity, logic, and fairness.
- [00:26:24] compensation plans in sales - different types of compensation plans and their pros and cons.
- [00:31:38] call to action for listeners - encourage engagement and provide resources.
Guest Bio (Who is Graham?)
Graham Collins is a sales and sales leadership professional who has led sales and SDR teams at several SaaS companies. He believes that being a sales leader is not an inevitability and emphasizes that there are other career paths and options available in the field of sales. He encourages individuals to consider their long-term goals and what they are working towards when deciding on their job responsibilities and compensation plans.
Find Graham at his Website or Connect with him on LinkedIn!
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