Question 1

What is an accelerator in sales?

Accepted Answer

An accelerator pays reps a higher commission rate once they achieve a pre-determined percentage toward quota attainment, deal size, or total amount of sales in a month or quarter. Accelerators are also known as multiple rate commissions.

Question 2

What is a milestone bonus?

Accepted Answer

A milestone bonus in sales compensation is earned once the rep achieves designated stipulations and is paid a set amount, as a result. These bonuses do not vary if the rep is below or above these prerequisites. Any deals that come in below quota, the rep earns nothing. Reversely, any closed/won opportunities that finalize after the rep his quota, the rep will not earn any additional bonuses.

Question 3

Are accelerators necessary?

Accepted Answer

Accelerators (and decelerators) incentivize overachievement of quota and serve as rep motivation. Not only are they one of the most common compensation plan components (80% of comp plans use accelerators), but they’re very well understood by sales reps. If you’re hoping to see a lot of reps overachieve, we suggest including accelerators.

Question 4

Is this plan too complex?

Accepted Answer

It’s considered one of the more complex sales commission structure examples. If you’re hesitant about this compensation plan being overly complicated, you could try one of our other commission plans like Account Executive: Commission with Accelerators or Single Rate Commission with Contract Term Multiplier.

Question 5

How long are comp plans supposed to be for?

Accepted Answer

Typically, your comp plan will align with your fiscal calendar. But that doesn’t mean you set it and forget it until the year’s end. Instead, conduct ongoing evaluationss throughout the year. Measure its efficacy. Experiment with SPIFs, review team and individual attainments, note average contract values (ACV) and time to close, and adjust accordingly. Keep documentation and data on everything to inform the next comp plan.

Question 6

What does compensation mean?

Accepted Answer

In sales, compensation is the amount a rep makes or can make when incorporating bonuses, commissions, and other forms of variable pay. Most sales positions today blend a base salary with sales incentive compensation. To learn the basics, check out our blog.

Question 7

How can you automate the sales compensation processes?

Accepted Answer

QuotaPath can remove the manual entry of commission tracking and sales compensation by automating the entire process. Immediate visibility into real-time earnings data and forecasted deal and attainment views motivate reps and increase revenue. See your comp plan in QuotaPath today by booking a demo with the team.