There’s something to say about persistence… or resilience… or even failure for that matter, if there really is such a thing.
I believe anyone who is successful in this field of work must have the ability to stick with something, test, iterate as needed and then reevaluate over and over until we are satisfied that the work is done, and the result is at least satisfactory.
- Is it correct?
- Is it complete?
- Is it efficient?
- Will it scale and be resilient?
And there are other questions that I’m compelled to add…
- Is my solution novel – or just iterative?
- Does it solve my (or the client’s) needs – stated or otherwise?
- Is it inspired and will that even be noticed or appreciated?
All of these questions have been helpful in improving my work as a consultant, when I or my team have been building out automated sales incentive solutions for our clients. But today – for me – it’s also about taking another crack at professional independence. And it’s about reviving the brand I created 24 years ago: CompStreet.
An unresolved journey..
During that time, I have worn many hats: sales effectiveness and compensation consultant, dot-com entrepreneur, sales compensation manger, ICM solution architect, implementation consultant, ICM product offering manager, ICM product strategy and marketing manager, sales operations manager – and finally as the leader of a first-rate enterprise ICM implementation team of consultants at CaptivateIQ.
To put it simply: I’ve been on all sides of this business dealing with Sales Performance and Incentive Compensation. And yet, I still find it wanting. In all this time, why is it so difficult to get answers to the questions that matter?
- Are we paying people for the right results?
- Are we spending too much / too little to achieve them?
- What is our return on investment (Sales Compensation ROI)?
- How does that differ across geographies, teams and customer segments?
- Which incentives work / which ones hurt more than help?
- Are we instilling trust in our sales teams or sowing distrust and encouraging gaming at the cost of the business?
- And why (oh why!) are plans still so darned complicated (for everyone!) to understand and manage?
- Let’s not even get started with all the politics and power dynamics that seem to be inextricably tied to sales compensation, leading to burnout, turnover, RISK and a desperate call for something better.
So, what now?
2024’s version of CompStreet will aim to address these questions while offering services in the following areas:
- ICM Solution Implementations as a dedicated CaptivateIQ partner.
- ICM Solution Updates / Rebuilds / Reporting / Dashboarding
- Sales Compensation Support / ICM Managed Services / Staff Augmentation
- Sales Effectiveness and Incentive Compensation Consulting
- and more…
Please share your thoughts. What’s missing? What’s most exciting to you?
It’s going to be a fun journey!
John Weeks – Founder (john@compstreet.com)