Looking for a Sales Performance Management (SPM) solution? As with any large enterprise purchase, you are probably getting ready to embark on a procurement journey, the better part of which represents the traditional Request for Proposal (RFP) process. If you think it’s an efficient, effective way to find the best SPM solution, you are likely mistaken.

What’s wrong with RFPs?

Traditional RFPs are Dead on Arrival (DOA)

Now, the purpose of an RFP is, indeed, to provide an organized and efficient way for the buying group and the stakeholders to learn about the options available and to make an informed selection. However, as you’ll soon discover, the traditional RFP approach defeats this purpose.

And here is why – the traditional RFP is:

1. Time-consuming. An RFP process can last more than seven months from start to finish. Add-in contracting and solution deployment time, and more than a year and a half can go by before even realizing any outcomes. Was that the original intent? To spend more than a year to realize benefits?
   
2. RFP requirements gathering. When putting together the RFP requirements, buying companies do not always have the internal expertise to ask the right questions (sometimes uncomfortable questions). They often rely on analyst reports that fail to recommend crucial functionality or to focus on integral processes. Or they have a fixed and restrictive idea of what the solution should do. For these reasons, RFP content is often incomplete or misses the point.
   
3. Resource-intensive. Gathering requirements, engaging with analysts, contacting vendors, reviewing submissions, and then meeting with each vendor for demos and POCs is a tedious process. Not to mention, that canned demo you received – couldn’t you have experienced that much earlier in the process for yourself? 
   
4. Inflexible. Technology is evolving fast and by the time the RFP questionnaire is finalized and sent to vendors, new features and innovations might have hit the market – which the questionnaire does not cover. So, the buying team ends up evaluating offerings based on outdated requirements.
   
5. Biased. Let’s face it: Many decision-makers at buying companies typically have their mind made-up before the process even starts. Some provide information “off the record” to their preferred vendor, giving them an advantage over the other suppliers. Even worse, some companies go ahead with the RFP process just to comply with procurement procedures. In the end, those who end up losing are the stakeholders – the people who will be working with the selected solution the most.
   
6. Abstract. In many cases, the buying decision relies heavily on vendor responses – all wrapped up in marketing speak – and their ability to deliver a “demo” (half of which could be vapor) versus the stakeholder’s ability to gain hands-on experience with each offering. Failing to gain hands-on experience, stakeholders do not have a reasonable understanding of what it would be like to work with each solution and vendor daily. So basically, they are deciding about enterprise technology without even knowing what it is like to actually use the software and work with the support.
   
7. Ineffective. Asking vendors to fill out a common-denominator RFP means shoving them all into the same box, which forces them to compete on price AND removes any semblance of innovation and differentiation. Ultimately, this leads to purchasing a half-rate solution or to making a significant compromise on crucial functionality.

In other words, the traditional RFP is DOA!

…And yet, the traditional RFP approach is still being used today

‘Why?’, you may ask. There are quite a few interesting reasons:

• To give Procurement the ability to compare apples-to-apples.

In an apples-to-apples comparison the various vendors end up competing on price, which ultimately translates to “a good deal”, at least in Procurement terms.

But what happens when one vendor is an orange in the apple basket?

The buying group misses out on value, precisely because the “orange” vendor is forced to fill out a common-denominator RFP to fit the “apple” format. As a result, rarely will an orange – wrongly considered an apple – get a real chance to demonstrate its true value.

• “Because it’s an industry standard”.

Industry standards are crucial to the well-functioning of markets and businesses.

But what if the industry standard for RFPs evolved into an effective and efficient process – free from the inefficiencies listed above?

The buying group would benefit from a transparent assessment of each solution they are looking at, a fair comparison based on value, and ultimately, an informed decision on what solution is the best fit for the entire organization, including the people who will be using it daily.

• Companies rely heavily on their relationships with analyst firms – who influence the industry standards!

But what if the buying group does not have internal expertise and also base their RFP requirements on analyst guidelines?

They may be missing out on opportunities as many industry analyst definitions and guidance on RFP requirements are incomplete or misaligned to company needs. Here’s why:

1. They put very little emphasis on data management as being a crucial process for SPM and does not outline the “dirty data” challenges most companies face after signing the contract with certain point solution vendors. Discussions about data management for SPM should be had long before the RFP process even begins, to avoid common change orders and costly implementation delays.
2. They put virtually no emphasis on capabilities that help the buying group to expand and evolve SPM programs. This too represents a great loss for the buying group; discussions about expansion opportunities should be held early on so that they can get an idea of the true value of the solution they are assessing. Do point solution vendors really think needs won’t change in the future?

So what is a good way to effectively assess the true value of an SPM solution?

Glad you asked. The answer is hands-on experience using the actual solution, learning what the solution does, engaging with solution experts on the vendor side on a daily basis for questions and guidance, and exploring the possibilities beyond current needs.

Forget shiny demos and canned RFP responses!  Emulate how you and your colleagues across disciplines would actually use the solution day-to-day.

Any vendor confident in the value of their solution should be more than willing to offer this type of access to the entire group of stakeholders involved in the buying process. So the stakeholders themselves can explore and learn about the solution at their own pace.

Only when all the stakeholders feel confident the solution will make their lives easier, that is when you know you’ve found the right one for your organization.

If you’re evaluating SPM solutions, you may want to look at a comprehensive SPM competitor analysis that takes into consideration all the points above. Get to the essence of the differences between SPM vendors and their solutions and bring more clarity to your assessment.

Check out SPM competitor analysis

This is part 1 of the 3-part “Failure Series” of blogs, where we will take a deep dive into common issues that organizations face when implementing new systems and solutions. The goal is to gain an understanding of why implementations fail, the costs that are associated with failure, and ways to avoid failure altogether. Let’s start with taking a look at why implementations fail.

Failure is something that all people and organizations face at one point or another. It often necessitates learning or growth and enlightens a clearer path to success. That does not mean that failure should be viewed as acceptable. In fact, it should be avoided at all costs, especially when it involves core systems and new implementations.

A recent study by the Standish Group revealed that only 14% of IT projects are purely successful, meaning they are delivered on time, on budget, and with high customer satisfaction and high return on value for the organization. Conversely, 19% of IT projects are utter failures.

There are numerous reasons why implementations fail, and they can vary depending on the uniqueness of an organization, the specific industry it operates in, or just a basic misunderstanding of expectation versus reality. Regardless of the variables, failure can usually be traced back to 3 core reasons: understanding data, required resources, and third party implementation partners. Let’s take a closer look at all 3.

1. Understanding data:

Do I understand my data and is it readily compatible with the new solution?

Organizations are quick to pull the trigger on purchasing solutions without understanding the necessary nuances around their data. Where does it come from? When is it collected? How is it stored? What structure is it in? Are there integration requirements?

These are key elements that need to be known before implementation can begin and should be part of advanced planning that takes place during the browsing or buying process.  Unfortunately, they often get overlooked and when organizations are ready to begin implementing a new solution they purchased, they are abruptly met with issues that stem from the data.

Most commonly, data sources are incompatible with the new solution, the data format doesn’t match the required structure to flow into the new solution, and the many known and/or unknown data feeds prove difficult to reconcile with the new solution.

These and other similar issues delay or derail implementations completely. However, when you take the time to really understand what you have before you even begin looking for what you need, you can easily avoid them.

2. Required resources:

Are the right people available to ensure success?

There is always some degree of a learning curve when implementing a new system as users will need time to adjust to using it. To ensure that they keep timelines, hit deadlines, and continually build on their understanding and knowledge, it is important that these people are aware of their roles in the implementation and what will be required of them during the process.

Old roles do not necessarily translate to new functions. A person with the title of project manager may not have the aptitude to lead the implementation because they do not have the required skills or even time to dedicate. Prior to the kick-off of the implementation, the requirements of the project must be identified, and the right people must be evaluated and matched with their proper functions. When this does not happen, implementations stall.

People without proper knowledge or training get dropped and new people join the process, which results in uneven work and delays the project as the new people get acclimated. These disjointed efforts create gaps in completion or even cause oversights in key elements needed to properly test the solution. The more prevalent these are, the higher the risk of failure and abandonment of the project.

3. Third-party implementation partners:

Who does the implementation – me, my vendor, or a third party?

A key question that organizations often fail to ask when browsing for a new solution is “Who?” Who is going to be doing the implementation?

Some vendors partner with their buyers to do a collaborative implementation, while other vendors make the buyers do it 100% on their own. Conversely, there are also vendors that handle the implementation themselves for an additional cost. But in any scenario, there needs to be a firm understanding of whose responsibility it is.

What some vendors may not disclose is that when they handle implementations, they use third-party resources to do so. These third-party partners do not have the same knowledge of your organization. They are often not a part of the preliminary or planning talks and are simply assigned tasks. Therefore, they do not fully understand the challenges or issues your organization is looking to address with a new solution, and do not properly design the features of the software to align with your desired results.

As identified in #2 above, it is important to know who is involved in the project and what their role is. Managing an internal team is challenging enough but corralling additional people from a third party creates an unnecessary challenge. What we have seen from implementations that follow this path include collapses in communication, uncertainty around who is doing what, missed deadlines, and delayed delivery. This can cause friction, as faith in the project begins to falter and more problems arise than solutions. Many organizations walk away from failed implementations caused by third parties and wish they knew about them before purchasing.

It’s always exciting getting a shiny new toy, and sometimes we are so eager to have something that we don’t do the proper research ahead of time to make sure what we are buying is what we truly need. Understanding our own needs is crucial in ensuring that our expectations are met upon purchase. We should always do research, ask questions, and leave no stone unturned, especially when we are ready to make a large financial commitment that affects not only ourselves but the entirety of our organization. Understanding the reasons many implementations can fail will hopefully help avoid them in the future.

Stay tuned for the next article in this series where we will be looking at how a failed implementation can have serious costs associated with it, beyond just the bottom line.

In the meantime, here are a few examples of how organizations like yours successfully implemented no-code solutions and achieved outcomes beyond expectations.

Check out success stories

The rise of low-code/no-code solutions is speeding up digital transformations across organizations. The low-code platform development market is estimated to grow from USD 13.2 billion in 2020 to USD 45.5 billion in 2025. Moreover, according to Gartner, low-code application platforms will account for 65 percent of all application development by 2024.

Pro tip: While ‘low-code development’ implies that applications can be built with minimal (low) programming, ‘no-code development’ allows users to create or modify applications without any programming knowledge. Today, both concepts are often grouped together in the ‘low-code’ category, but we’ll hear more about ‘no-code development’ as a category in its own right in the coming years.

This will allow non-technical users to use low-code/no-code platforms to build applications while organizations save money on technical expertise and on-site infrastructure. The resulting freed-up time will also allow them to improve the organization’s performance. However, with every new technology come certain risks that need to be managed and controlled to derive the full benefits.

With low-code/no-code solutions, organizations need to pay extra attention to potential risks associated with data security, auditing and compliance, scalability, and ease of use. So here’s what you need to be mindful of while evaluating one:

Data safety and security

One of the main concerns that any organization should have is how safe and secure their data will be. When looking for a low-code/no-code solution, first and foremost, invest time to understand if it is built on a secure platform and whether the vendor complies with data protection regulations. You also need to make sure you understand the vendor’s data backup policies and disaster recovery process in case of data loss or rewriting.

At the same time, you need to investigate how sensitive data will be handled – whether the solution provides the ability to ensure that its users can access only the information they are supposed to see. For example, not all employees working with HR systems need to access salary information pertaining to the entire organization. So access to this type of sensitive data should be limited to certain roles.

As data sensitivity differs from company to company, you need to make sure the solution provides the ability to set up roles and user restrictions as per your organization’s specific needs.

Reliability – know your vendor!

To ensure a successful solution use across the organization, it’s important to evaluate the vendor as well against three key criteria:

• Compliance experience. The vendor you’re considering should be able to work with you to complete your security and legal compliance audits. However, some vendors might not work with client organizations that handle huge amounts of data with stringent control requirements. So be sure to investigate whether the vendor’s experience matches your business needs in this area.

• Reliability. The vendor should be easily accessible and willing to work with you to resolve any issues. A reliable vendor provides quick access to support services and an efficient system to track all the support requests with defined SLAs based on ticket priority.

• Expert guidance. The vendor should be able to guide you in the implementation process. They should also allow you to provide feedback on system constraints and the addition of new features and capabilities.

Solution scalability

Aside from making sure that the low-code/no-code solution can fulfill your current requirements, you also need to investigate whether it’s scalable enough to meet your future needs. So be sure to look into:

• its ability to integrate with your current data sources;
• what amounts of data it can load and process, and at what frequency and speed;
• how new features are determined and how frequently upgrades are done.

Learning curve

Not all low-code/no-code solutions are easy to configure and deploy and may require a longer learning curve. So it’s important you assess the skills needed for implementing and using the solution you’re considering, evaluate them against your resources’ skills, and determine the associated learning curve. The support and guidance provided by the vendor – e.g., user documentation, training sessions, expert services to monitor the solution implementation, best practices, etc. –  are essential in this learning process. So make sure you evaluate the vendor from this perspective as well.

Just because we’re talking ‘low-code/no-code solutions’ doesn’t mean that shopping for one should be a risk-free process. But it shouldn’t be a daunting one either. By paying close attention to the four points above you will go a long way in making the right investment.

The Optymyze unified, no-code platform enables enterprises to solve the challenges posed by siloed systems and succeed at digital transformation. Learn how.

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When ASC 606/IFRS 15 was introduced, it not only shook the accounting world at that time but it continues to have reverberations across entire organizations even today. Companies reporting under the US GAAP or the IFRS accounting standards have had to go to great lengths to adapt their internal processes, with one area proving particularly challenging: commission expense accounting. Years later, challenges still persist for organizations trying to maintain compliance with these standards. Here, we outline 5 specific actions your organization can take to make compliance easier.

Aggregating sales commission data and identifying eligible contracts with customers are just some of the challenges that CFOs, accounting/finance specialists, and even sales operations professionals have struggled with in this area. And many are still struggling today.

What to do? To identify the right solution, we need to get a good understanding of the problem first. Let’s start with a brief overview.

ASC 606 / IFRS 15 overview: purpose, impact, and risks

In 2014, diverging areas of the US and international revenue recognition standards prompted the FASB and IASB to amend and converge their guidelines. The new ASC 606/IFRS 15 went into effect in 2018 for public companies, and 2019 for private ones. Their aim is to reduce financial reporting inconsistencies across industries and globally. This, in turn, ensures more accurate financial performance assessments of companies within and across industries.

Under ASC 606 / IFRS 15, organizations that pay commissions on revenue generated from contracts – other than insurance and lease contracts, and financial instruments – need to capitalize the incremental costs of obtaining a contract at inception, if the contract’s duration is longer than one year.

In other words, the associated commissions paid to salespeople can no longer be treated as a one-time expense. Instead, they must be treated as an asset that gets amortized over the duration of the contract. Importantly, the duration of amortization will vary depending on whether the contract is reasonably expected to be renewed.

Now, if a company fails to correctly recognize sales commission expenses under the amended guidelines, it may need to restate its earnings. This increases the risk that investors or customers will doubt the credibility of the company’s financial reports.

Likewise, at an operational level, if a company lacks visibility into contracts and associated sales commissions, it may not be able to systematically identify those that are eligible for amortization. This leads to inefficient and inaccurate accounting practices, making it difficult to comply with the new regulations.

Compliance is a shared responsibility

To mitigate these risks, multiple groups in the organization need to come together and understand how they can best support each other’s work under these regulations. From Finance to Sales, various roles need to join forces to ensure a seamless commission expense recognition management process. For example:

Compensation administrators

• Must be able to identify contracts that span a period of more than one year.
• Equally important, they must be able to differentiate between commissions paid to sales reps as opposed to supervisors, as they may need to be treated differently.

Sales Operations managers

• Need to ensure access to detailed revenue and commission data at the customer, contract, and product level.
• Above all, they need to ensure that compensation plans continue to motivate the right sales behaviors, as opposed to changing plans to make accounting easier.

Accounting / Finance managers

• Must be able to trace amortized expenses back to contracts and track changes in assets over time.
• In addition, they should ensure an auditable system of record.

CFOs

• Must ensure an accurate accounting of commissions expenses, and a cost-effective auditing process.

The real compliance problem

Coordinating roles and responsibilities under these new regulations is difficult, but manageable. The real problem that many companies have not yet solved is equipping everyone involved with the right tools to streamline the process. As a result, they still struggle with:

• Failure to correctly account for contracts and associated sales commissions;
• Lack of visibility into contracts and sales commissions that are eligible for amortization;
• Reliance on spreadsheets and manual processes to track sales commissions, which lead to errors and miscalculations.

5 key actions to take NOW to ensure a seamless ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance process

So ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance has proven to be a bear for many companies. But it shouldn’t be. Here are 5 key actions organizations can take to overcome compliance hurdles:

1. Encourage solid partnerships between sales operations and accounting/finance teams and clearly communicate about everyone’s role in this process.
2. Assess compensation, accounting and auditing practices, and internal controls, and update necessary systems and processes.
3. Evaluate the ability of your systems to capture granular data and report amortized commissions in accordance with the new regulations.
4. Determine the amortization method and analyze existing contracts to estimate their duration if they’ll potentially be renewed for an anticipated amount of time.
5. Choose a business process automation solution that automates the commission expense recognition process, effectively addresses governance and compliance challenges, and ensures proper auditing going forward.

Learn how the Optymyze solution for Commission Expense Recognition (ASC 606 / IFRS 15) automates key business processes to ensure compliance with accounting standards. 

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No-code/low-code development has been around for a while, acting like a disruptive force across IT. However, as disruption triggers innovation, more enterprises have started to realize the advantages of using no-code/low-code solutions to fuel their digital transformation.

Not surprisingly, a recent industry report forecasts the low-code development platform market size to reach $46.4 billion in 2026, at a compound annual growth rate of 25%. The same industry analysts highlight numerous partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, product launches and expansions occurring amongst notable market players within this space.

Despite its rising popularity—or perhaps because of it—some common misconceptions still persist. Perceived downsides of limited no-code tools may have had some truth initially. However, now that the market has matured and several new competitors have flooded the space, there have been considerable improvements to no-code options. 

Still skeptical? Let’s further explore these 4 common misconceptions:

1. No code (or low code) is only made for building end-user applications  

No code is not only about building applications. Although, yes – there are more options to choose from if you’re simply shopping for a no-code application builder. However, there are veritable no-code or low-code solutions that perform other enterprise functions such as data warehousing; analytic data processing; and modeling and planning. In fact, it is likely that these are the market areas that will continue to grow and innovate in the next couple of years. 

Below are key players in the enterprise functions where no-code or low-code development has proven to work and to be a crucial game-changer for businesses—especially those struggling to find enough development and IT resources or wanting to better leverage their citizen developers. 

The “declarative programming” concept – telling the software what to do, instead of how to do it –that is embraced in a no-code development platform applies to any enterprise function. It is this declarative programming that drives no code’s signature speed and ease of use, providing endless options.

2. No code is anti-developer

No code may leave traditional developers feeling skeptical and perhaps even underappreciated.  There is certainly tons of press circulating about all the benefits of having citizen developers do work they used to perform. But most traditional developers should be self-aware enough to see how no-code development innovations benefit them.

There are voices suggesting that developers will organically shed their menial duties and take on the more advisory and strategic roles. Citizen developers will perform the easy tasks, while traditional developers’ work will be elevated to more specialized challenges: governance, security, compliance, and oversight of the change management processes.

With this organizational model, traditional developers will be able to increase their contribution levels, their value, and their pay.   

3. No code cannot scale; no code cannot handle big data

Not all no-code players are the same – some are able to handle big data, others not so much. So during the procurement process, it’s important to ask whether the solution you’re assessing is able to scale and handle big data needs for today and for the future. After all, it’s well known that big data is the future, and any no-code solutions that cannot handle large data sets run the risk of becoming obsolete. 

However, the question is not just about how much data the no-code development platform is able to store and process. It is also about how easily the platform integrates with an organizations’ existing data sources. Most companies have siloed data that exists in several other enterprise applications or legacy data systems. So a no-code platform that allows for easy data ingestion from various sources will certainly benefit them.

The best no-code platforms today offer built-in data integrations or some fast ways to ingest data in real time, as opposed to others that outsource the integration piece to third-party tools – an approach that, more often than not, creates additional work and challenges.

4. No code is inflexible  

As enterprise buyers evaluate a purchase, they also assess potential risks associated with any new enterprise solution. One common concern is getting stuck with an inflexible platform that does not cater to additional, unique needs that might arise in the future.

Fortunately, there are development platforms that are either 100% no code and flexible, or feature a combination of no-code setup standards and custom coding options. This means they allow for the possibility to interject custom code if and as needed.

These development platform companies have recognized the value of the 80/20 rule, and successfully implemented it. They have built no-code standards to address the needs of approximately 80% of the buyers without any customization and have also accounted for potential custom needs that 20% of the buyers might have.

There are no-code custom platforms that provide setup choices that allow for an unlimited number of no-code options to address custom needs. And there are hybrid ones that come with a combination of no-code and low-code setup choices that only present options for coded customization where necessary.

Development platforms that offer no-code standard options and no-code custom options are best equipped to address any requirements an enterprise may have now or in the future. These are the ones that allow you to choose out-of-the-box solutions, without being “stuck in the box” all the time.

Now, it’s time to put these misconceptions behind and make the most of the advantages that no code has to offer. Learn how Optymyze enables today’s enterprises to successfully reach their digital transformation goals.

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When salespeople don’t perform at their best, leaders often point fingers at sales compensation or strategy – but these sorts of problems often stem from the company’s sales structure. Though it’s very important to craft a complex sales force structure that supports company growth, 9 out of 10 sales organizations are struggling to find the sales structure that best suits their particular needs.

Practically speaking, most organizations use some hybrid of the sales organization structures I’ll outline here, with sales force size and market segmentation serving as prime considerations. Every sales force structure has its own set of pros and cons, so it’s important to form a structure that supports your company’s goals.

Geographic Organizational Structure

This is also known as territorial sales force structure, and it means that the organization assigns each sales rep to a certain geographic area.

Advantages:

• Low cost
• Proper territory management leads to low geographic duplication of effort
• Low duplication of effort with customers (unless buyers are organizations that cross territories)

Disadvantages:

• Sales reps have a hard time developing product or market specialization (unless the organization commits to specialized sales forces allocated by geography)
• Territory sizing can be a challenge, resulting in uneven revenue/opportunity across geographies

Product Sales Force Structure

In this alignment, the sales force’s area of responsibility is defined by the products or product groups, ignoring geographical lines.

Advantages:

• Sales reps develop product expertise
• Management can guide selling efforts

Disadvantages:

• Higher costs due to duplication of efforts within geographies and customer accounts
• Coordination required when more sales reps have the same geography/accounts

Market-Based Structure

This is also known as customer sales force structure, and it means that sales reps are grouped by customer or industry.

Advantages:

• Sales reps understand the needs of their customers and build stronger relationships
• Management control can be strategically allocated to different markets

Disadvantages:

• Higher costs
• Geographic duplication

Functional Structure

In this structure, responsibilities are divvied up according to everyone’s place in the sales process – inside sales, account managers, product specialists, and so on.

Advantages:

• More efficient selling activities

Disadvantages:

• Geographic duplication
• Customer duplication
• Greater need for coordination

Your Company Needs the Right Sales Structure

According to a Harvard Business Review survey, high-performing sales organizations have well-documented and explicitly structured sales processes. A clearly documented sales structure helps streamline the chain of command, and the increased transparency leads to more efficient decision-making.

Selecting the right sales force structure and documenting it thoroughly provides a host of organizational benefits:

• Clarity of responsibilities across roles: sales reps know what responsibilities they have for different product lines and markets
• Stronger coordination and communication: mobility for sales forces and increased time for actual selling
• A more knowledgeable sales force: top sales reps are willing to share know-how
• Improved decision-making transparency: sales managers share information on a regular basis and get faster buy-in when making changes
• Reduced channel conflict and increased engagement: fewer disputes over new opportunities, more engagement towards achieving sales goals

Now you’re ready to start building the unique sales management structure that best fits your organization – helping you improve performance, adapt your sales compensation strategy, and drive sales growth.

Looking to boost your sales team’s performance? Optymyze enables you to drive sales performance with sales commission, territory, quota, and objective management.

Check out Optymyze solutions

A good incentive plan brings the sales team together to work toward a common goal while fostering a friendly atmosphere and healthy competition. Ideally, incentive plans should promote a desired behavior or result, but sometimes they miss the mark. It may be because they are lopsided, lack any genuine motivational element, or are simply uninspiring.

Sales managers and leaders are responsible for creating an effective incentive plan, and the key to it is rewarding the right behavior. Incentive programs are either monetary or non-monetary. The monetary programs are quite straightforward, as they are designed to reward certain behavior. The non-monetary incentive plans are more suited to increasing motivation, team bonding, and at times, employee retention.

Keys to a Successful Sales Incentive Program

A few things to keep in mind while developing the right incentive plans for your organization:

1. Incent the behavior, not the result. To measure your employees’ performance versus their effort, tie their behavior to the incentive plan. For example, salespeople typically don’t enjoy maintaining regular time sheets, updating their pipeline, or scheduling follow-up tasks. They tend to take short cuts or even skip these tasks. Tying consistent behavior with incentives will encourage your team to complete these very necessary responsibilities.
2. Create a sales incentive plan that helps everyone to succeed. Avoid creating plans that will only reward your top performers. Dig deep for parameters that will help turn the entire team into a productive sales unit. A good incentive plan motivates average and below average performers to push beyond their comfort zones. If your incentive plans consistently reward the same top salespeople, other reps may lose interest. For example, to engage every sales rep, include incentives for process compliance. That way the plan can reward even poor performers for achieving some type of objective. You can also create plans with many parameters, and assign each a varying degree of importance. For example:

This way all reps have something extra to work on besides their sales quotas. When they work on these parameters to qualify for the plan, they automatically work towards becoming better sales reps. You can decide the priority for your organization while designing the plan.

3. Set incentive timelines strategically. Sales incentive plans should have a specific timeframe that aligns with your department’s objectives. To support corporate interests, incentive plans can also be timed to coincide with sales cycles, performance appraisals and time-based performance goals.

4. Acknowledge the importance of failures. It is true that in the end, all that matters is the bottom line. But the path to the bottom line is paved with a lot of near-misses, unexpected losses, and outright rejections. Set up an acknowledgment program or even a small reward for someone who has heard the word “no” the most, to show that you appreciate the effort. Then ensure that rep gets the extra support required to close deals in the next cycle. Figure out if the rejection was due to a flaw in sales process execution or if it was just a rare case of bad luck. If it’s the former, set an internal target for lowering the rejection rate.

5. Build transparency into the plan. By publicly tracking data, especially metrics that sales reps can control, at any given time they will know their progress toward their goal.

6. Consider group incentives. Group compensation can be a way to increase productivity when sales reps are interdependent, such as in project-based jobs where team members must reach specific milestones before others on the team can advance. Often, with group-based incentives, individuals may perform at higher levels to not be perceived as letting down the team.

7. Recognize innovative approaches that increase sales productivity. If you see a sales rep employing a better way to execute a regular or recurring task, such as filing expense claims, acknowledge their innovation as fast as possible. Offer a reward or recognition or both to show your appreciation and encourage them further. See if you can implement this practice across the organization and increase overall efficiency!

Other best practices to keep in mind:

• Make sure all performance levels are motivated 
• Set challenging goals
• Don’t cap commissions
• Minimize the time between closing a deal and payout
• Encourage peer recognition
• Personalize incentives as much as possible

Monetary Sales Incentives Programs

Monetary plans: A monetary incentive plan is a no-brainer. It is the most popular, and maybe the most effective, way to incent and drive desired behavior. Here are some ways to offer cash incentives that can maximize the effectiveness and impact of the plan:

1. Cash reward: So simple! And so fulfilling. A cash incentive plan is probably the best way to reward a desired behavior. It can be a part of the compensation plan for achieving goals or even to ensure compliance. Cash incentives may include project-specific bonuses, extra paid time off, profit sharing or stock options, planned bonuses (quarterly or linked to performance).
2. Gift certificates and discounts: Discount on gym memberships or clubs, all expenses paid vacations, and meals at fancy restaurants are some examples of popular monetary incentive plans.
3. Benefit plans: Some organizations choose to offer better or customized retirement plans or supplementary income building plans for their best performers. You can also tailor some benefit plans to a rep’s particular needs.

A monetary plan is the most effective way to incent and drive desired sales behavior.

Non-Monetary Sales Incentives Programs

Non-monetary plans: Human behavior is complex and often unpredictable, which is why monetary incentives sometimes end up promoting undesired behavior. For example, a sales rep who misses the mark by a small margin may end up feeling less motivated to participate in the next cycle. Hence, non-monetary incentive plans have their place in recognizing and driving desired behavior.

1. Flexible hours: Flexible time is one of the most popular benefits you can offer to employees. Valued employees will appreciate the flexibility and the balance this brings to their lifestyle. This benefit costs nothing and helps retain talent.
2. “On-the-spot” recognition: Offer an enterprise social network or collaboration system for sales reps to recognize each other. A quick way to pass on a ‘pat on the shoulder’ or a ‘fist bump’ that employees can use themselves, without formal approval, can increase employee engagement and interaction.
3. Privilege: Everyone loves feeling special, and offering a privilege to your valued performer is a great way to show your appreciation and even earn some loyalty points. You can decide what kind of privilege will thrill your employees most. Some ideas:
   • Give away a prized parking space to your top performer of the month.
   • Let the best employee of the quarter dictate the Friday dress code for a month.
   • How about a long lunch with the chief executive?
   • Would your employees like to be treated like Kings or Queens for a month? If yes, then fashion a crown for the top performer.

Non-monetary incentive plans help convey recognition to top performers.

You can come up with the simplest or most intricate privileges that will make the employee feel special and recognized.

This small list of ideas can bring some zing into your current incentive programs. Incentive plans can be fairly simple or built with really complex structure and parameters – it is up to you to pick and implement the right plan to the right degree.

Looking for a sales commission system? Learn how the Optymyze solution for Sales Commission Management simplifies and automates the incentive compensation management process, yielding outcomes beyond expectations.

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Sales force restructuring is most effective when the process is proactive instead of reactive. It is easy to become complacent when the sales team is doing well. Keeping a periodic check on the performance of territories and sales force will give you a fair idea about the frequency at which you need to restructure them.

What is Sales Force Restructuring?

Sales force restructuring involves reassigning the territories, redefining sales processes, and most importantly, changing the structure of the sales team.

The right sales force structure allows you to:

• implement effective sales processes in every targeted customer segment
• direct the selling effort to the right products, markets, and activities
• utilize sales resources efficiently

Reasons for Restructuring a Department

There are a number of interrelated factors that may signal the need for change. For example, companies may change their existing structure to increase efficiency and reduce lost selling time. The other major reasons for restructuring are alignment with changes in the market, product line, or go-to-market strategy.

• Market change, such as an economic recession or on the other hand, a booming economy, may require the company to change their sales process or strategy, which in turn requires a change in sales force structure.
• Launching a new product or entering a new market often causes a need to either specialize or generalize the sales force by skills and experience, and/or type of activities performed in a particular role.
• Inefficiencies in the team and low morale are often signs that something is not working. You might decide that the workload needs to be distributed differently in order to avoid the over- and underutilization of resources.
• Downsizing can be a tactic for lowering costs and maintaining profitability that can yield efficiencies when faced with poor economic conditions. In a strong market, downsizing can be considered rightsizing to structure your team for maximum bottom line contribution.
• Outsourcing can be used as a strategic move for gaining a competitive advantage. More than just a cost reduction or control, outsourcing can free up internal resources, help gain access to new markets and streamline time-consuming tasks. 
• Mergers and acquisitions demand restructuring to eliminate duplication and reconcile the differences between previously separate entities for consistency, coherence and productivity.

For instance, if you are looking to create more awareness for your product, you may invest in a less qualified sales team to do the cold calls and other related tasks. Your more qualified sales people are not burdened with an extra campaign and are free to focus their skills to do that which they do best – selling. The awareness campaign will cost you probably a fraction of the payment required for using a more specialized sales force.

Let’s look at an example of sales force restructuring where hiring a specialized sales force made more sense. A pharmaceutical company had a deep portfolio of products and their brand was entrenched in their existing markets. However, when they launched a new product in a totally different market, they could not leverage the current sales force because:

• Reps were not knowledgeable about competitive drugs already in that market, making the customer interactions stilted and ineffective.
• Reps were already at their full bandwidth and could not accommodate a new product and really do it justice.
• Sales incentives for the new product were not enough to lure sales reps to shift their focus.

In this case, even if the company paid high incentives, it would not have worked. The company eventually hired a new specialized sales force to sell into the new market.

Benefits of Team Restructuring

The structure of your sales force can have a significant impact on your customer and revenue. Sales force restructuring should be considered a good long term investment. The most important outcomes of a good sales force structure are:

• Greater efficiency of the sales force due to the right allocation of resources and accounts
• Balanced territories that are aligned with sales strategy
• More top performers as team members may get territories or accounts more suited to their skills, or with a more approachable customer base
• Increased productivity through balancing the workload to get a wider distribution of team members’ time, attention, and knowledge
• Higher profit margins by reducing overlaps and streamlining communication
• Improved decision making resulting from improved communications channels and an empowered organization

However, you should be mindful of the different advantages and disadvantages of sales organization structures.

Team Restructuring Process

Restructuring can be disruptive, but a well-thought-out and properly executed restructuring strategy focused on specific goals can smooth out some of the challenges.

• Goals: Identify and prioritize the problems that need to be solved and the opportunities you want to take advantage of. These will direct the development of you restructure and will be used to measure your success.
• Testing: Once you have a suggested restructure outlined, attack it with “what if?” questions to identify the strengths and weaknesses of how your business process will work within the restructure.
• Feedback and Buy-in: As you work on goals, restructure development and testing, involve the team. You are not asking them to make decisions, but allowing them to contribute. Not only can this generate valuable information, but it also shows respect. If team members are legitimately part of the restructuring process, there is a greater chance they will support the plan and contribute to its success. 
• Documentation: Once ready, the plan must be communicated to your team. Include the new structure, how it will impact the current structure and how roles will change. Along with proper feedback and buy-in, this can help eliminate surprises that can damage attitudes and productivity. Documentation will also serve as a reference for measuring the success of the restructure.
• Implementation: When you are ready to execute the plan, it is always best to do it face to face will all people involved. When detailing the restructure, it is important to acknowledge specific feedback and decisions regarding that input. Either set up or offer individual meetings to discuss the outcome, including how it affects that individual. Discuss next steps.

The development of a successful restructuring strategy depends on accurate data that typically comes from diverse sources, such as client, segment, market, and individual employee productivity data. Managing sales data from the various sources through proper extraction, transformation and loading will give you insight critical for sound decision making that will maximize these proactive changes and minimize the potential for failure.

Special Challenges for Product-Based or Activity-Based Structures

Companies that restructure the sales force to specialize by product or selling activity, deal with a few challenges:

• Confusing end customers: Imagine that an end customer who was targeted by a single rep since the last few years is now targeted by multiple reps. The customer may become unsure about who the primary contact is and to whom they should direct their queries.
• Inefficiency of the sales team: Multiple sales reps going to the same customer add to the cost of sales. The need for coordination between multiple sales teams increases for sharing customer details, which once again increases time spent on non-sales activities.
• Reduced or no cross selling opportunities: Sales reps cannot sell a product which is not in their sales portfolio. Even if they know that the customer needs a particular product, they cannot recommend it, if it is not in theirs to sell.

To negate the above disadvantages, companies can take certain steps:

• Incent the sales force to drive desired behavior. For example, pay incentives for sharing prospect customers with the peer-sales force.
• Invest in a good call logging system. Choose a CRM system which enables the reps to enter their call activity in real time. Such a system also would help them easily retrieve information as needed.
• Communicate the plan and launch training initiatives. Communicate the reasons for restructuring and outline the steps of the process clearly. Answer all questions and manage any concerns with transparency to gain the trust and cooperation of your entire sales force.
• Speed things up. While it’s important that you do everything right, try to implement the plan quickly. A prolonged restructuring process can fuel rumors, make sales reps insecure and lead to loss of productivity.
• Implement a periodic feedback process. Ensure that there are regular ‘health check’ surveys where sales reps can enter anonymous feedback. It is a good practice to have even if there is no restructuring, and it becomes more important if a restructuring takes place.

Sales force restructuring is a way to ensure sales team efficiency and alignment to sales strategy. Taking a fresh look at the team structure periodically allows you to balance territories and refocus the team’s selling potential.

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A sales rep is a sales rep, right? Whether you call them consultants, business developers, agents, or salespeople, you expect your sales representatives to be adaptable and well-informed: a completely reliable interface between you and your clients. You expect them to sell. It’s a tall order, no matter what the industry.

But sometimes their job calls for qualities that go over and above this already impressive list. When it comes to the medical field, your reps are more than sales mavens. They’re lifesavers.

Part healthcare specialist, part lobbyist and full-time sales professional, the medical sales representative is part of a unique breed. A dedicated sales rep will not only excel at product sales, but also make presentations to healthcare professionals, arrange appointments, organize conferences for medical staff, keep up to date with the latest clinical research, constantly monitor the competition’s moves, and stay on top of ever-changing national legislation and healthcare coverage. Sounds complicated? It is, and we’ve only skimmed the surface.

For those in charge of selling medical equipment, more difficult challenges lie ahead. The complex sales cycle, coupled with high acquisition costs, demand technical and medical know-how. The rep must understand the product well enough to supervise its installation in the operating room—with the surgeon and other medical staff present. And he or she must be prepared to adapt or change the product at all times, should a malfunction appear.

With so much on their plate, medical sales reps require a compensation plan that corresponds with their contribution. But is incentive compensation enough to motivate and retain such representatives? The answer will become clearer once we take a closer look at a medical sales rep’s career path.

1. Getting in Can Prove Quite Difficult

Normally, a sales rep position requires little more than a high school diploma or an associate’s degree. Nor is specific previous experience usually required. However, when it comes to medical sales, qualities many people develop in college, grad school, or specialized training programs are integral to a rep’s success. Excellent communication skills, confidence, analytical skills, and constant business awareness are only the beginning. Most candidates usually have some sort of medical background, if not a life sciences or medical degree. Previous experience working in a hospital or clinic is also par for the course.

These kinds of prerequisites can discourage new candidates while also fostering more attachment between experienced reps and their current employers. Establishing a clear and promising career path, and using a clear compensation plan can slow this trend and also make the domain more attractive to future talent.

2. Training Takes Longer

Due to the fact that companies that focus on medical sales look for deeply informed candidates, future reps might be discouraged to find out that many companies have prolonged training processes in place. Some organizations require that each person on the sales force spend time with an experienced medical sales representative before gaining his or her own clients or territories, as part of a shadowing program. Others simply place new hires at desk jobs before moving them into an actual sales role.

While a candidate applying for a manager position may easily expect some amount of training, the idea of continuous professional development might not sit so well with those interested in medical sales. Clear communication of the job’s benefits can be a first step to easing up this process. Sales enablement programs could also provide beneficial support and coaching, especially for guiding salespeople through their first deals. But in the final analysis, it’s the companies that implement clear, strategic compensation plans, on top of sales enablement programs, that will bring talented reps in the door and gain their trust and loyalty.

3. The Work-Life Balance Can Be Problematic

Imagine that you’ve recently begun to work for a medical device company, and one of your first real contacts has just turned into one of your first sales. You’ve closed the deal. Now…off to enjoy the bonus, right? Not quite yet. Remember: in this domain, not only is the sale difficult to make, but it is also an ongoing process.

If you just sold medical equipment, here come months or years of calibration, maintenance, and possibly even training of medical staff. If we’re talking about a biopart (also called a biomaterial, the product of biomedical engineering), pulling off the sale may have required you to enter the surgical area to ensure that its specifications were identical to those requested by the medical staff. And if you sold a large kit, you may have had to sterilize parts for the operation at hand while setting aside others for future use.

Such auxiliary activities may have their appeal for the impassioned salesman or the healthcare specialist, but they can certainly create a less-than-perfect work-life balance. Extra hours are standard. And a substantial amount of time may be spent traveling from one client to another, not necessarily to sell a specific product, but to answer questions about previously sold materials. Managers need to take extra care to compensate correctly for potentially hectic work schedules, especially since freelancers and self-employed medical sales reps are rare in this field.

4. The Responsibilities May Outweigh the Benefits

Because they bring specific expertise to the sales experience, good medical sales reps are difficult to find. They’re also deeply appreciated by their customers. Over time, their knowledge only grows, at times approaching that of a healthcare specialist. But with increased expertise comes increased responsibility.

Though a rep is in no way answerable for a product’s quality, he or she does occupy a potentially thorny intermediary position between the beneficiary and the product. And the stakes can be high. Imagine, for instance, that a medical device is found to have been contaminated. The rep would stand right in the middle of the storm of repercussions: recall costs, corrective surgeries, the PR disaster, and shattered customer trust in the manufacturer.

Sometimes, a medical sales rep’s responsibilities can catch up with him or her in the future, long after the actual sale. That’s because devices or bioparts might be sold one year, only to be used years later. To ease everyone’s concerns, the rep should be armed with as much information about a product as possible before selling it.

5. Information Is Hard Won

Having to manage unexpected information is hard. So is having to deal with a lack of information, which is a pervasive problem for medical sales reps. They have to be in touch with the newest products and latest research developments (in an industry that changes by the hour), as well as what the competition’s up to, but attaining this data is never easy. The same is true when it comes to getting a hold of accurate information about legislative changes. With very few official sources to rely on, reps often turn to private networks and forums such as Cafepharma.

The official information that a rep does manage to get is therefore highly valuable to his or her employer. So is the rep, whose reports may provide market insight, and can be used during new product development. To motivate reps to continually put energy into fulfilling their extensive role, a flexible compensation plan is a must. Such a plan might include the possibility of royalty payments, should the rep meaningfully contribute to research.

6. Legislation Is Always a Concern

As many medical sales reps discover, the lack of information affects more than sales. It affects the company on all levels. Reps must be fully aware of difficult-to-obtain current legislation. They also have to keep drug formularies and similar paperwork up to date, and pay attention to any upcoming changes in the healthcare field. A change in a medical plan, for instance, may bring special taxes and obligations that the rep will need to both understand and explain.

In light of the need for this kind of documentation, a comprehensive legislation depository should be created and regularly updated. Such a depository should contain all local and federal laws that impact the field and should be easily accessible.

7. Specialization Is in High Demand

With the steady rise of new pharmaceuticals and the constant improvements being made to medical devices, familiarity is hard won. This is why most reps usually specialize in a particular medical field. One the one hand, this makes each rep highly valuable to his or her employer and to other potential employers. On the other, it means that employers have a narrow pool to pull from.

It’s difficult for a sales rep who knows everything about a certain medical device to migrate to a whole new specialty. To counter this phenomenon and maintain a top sales department, employers should consider offering courses across specializations as well as other nonfinancial rewards to their top performers.

8. There Is No Formula for Success

Since each sale involves a long-term commitment to both the client and the product, the pressure on medical sales reps is high. Add that to the fact that in many cases reps have to make their pitches in front of a professional, and you can see why self-confidence is vital.

Other vital characteristics for medical sales reps include resilience and flexibility. Making a sale in this domain does not guarantee further successes. Many times, the client has to recommend the product further, to his patients or direct customers. If the product doesn’t fare well, future attempts to approach that client may fail. This is further evidence of the need for continuous job training.

If you’re a sales leader in a company that focuses on healthcare, you understand the challenges of replacing highly skilled reps, and know their loyalty affects your organization’s success. You can further your efforts to gain that loyalty by acknowledging the skills and nurturing the potential of each member of your sales force.

A flexible and generous incentive compensation plan, on-demand access to data, and top-notch sales enablement techniques – including coaching and training – are essential to this purpose. Unlike reps in some other fields, medical sales representatives don’t see their job as a stepping stone. They’re invested in the field. Make sure they reach their potential, and your own investments will pay off.

“At the end of the day, when I think that somewhere in my territory there is a patient whose life has been improved because of a product I promote, I get a warm, fuzzy feeling and a deep sense of personal satisfaction.”

— Corey Nahman, CEO, InternetDrugNews.com

Pharmaceutical companies impact just about every American’s life. Our country is home to approximately 67,000 pharmacies, and according to a Mayo Clinic study, seven out of ten people in the United States take at least one prescription drug. From testing to production to selling to prescription, a medical product’s journey is complex and involves countless professionals.

The most significant of these professionals? For drug companies that want to stay in business, the answer is easy: sales reps. A pharma rep’s job is demanding, intricate, and at times exhausting. It requires specialized training in pharmacology as well as comprehensive knowledge of subject matters as diverse as biology and sales techniques. Succeeding as a pharma rep also takes a great deal of perseverance – not only to get the job done, but also to withstand misconceptions and misguided stereotyping.

Challenges and myths

If you’ve ever seen a pharma company hosting a banquet-room lunch for doctors and formed the assumption that pharma sales can be bought, think again. The complex relationship between reps and doctors is often incorrectly regarded as a quid-pro-quo system that starts with drug companies providing free meals and paid speaking engagements to doctors in exchange for those doctors prescribing their products. While it’s true that a strategy’s at work here, it’s not designed to woo. It’s about time – which, as we know all too well, doctors have very little of.

Often, coffee or a meal is the only avenue for pharma reps to get in front of a doctor. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of doctors won’t promote a drug they don’t like or believe in. So what’s actually happening at these lunches? The real answer is that salespeople and doctors are coming together to build a partnership focused on determining the best therapy options for patients.

That may sound like a lofty goal for a salesperson, and it is. That’s due not only to the stress of the sales process itself (which includes battling through the myth that reps lack sufficient education to interact with and inform doctors), but also because attaining and retaining a position is no walk in the park.

Many pharma reps come to the job with a background in chemistry, biology, or premed. According to the Princeton Review, pharma companies commonly demand that their sales employees have an advanced degree in the medical field. During their initial years in the industry, they often take advanced courses in pharmacology to deepen their knowledge of their company’s product line. Doing so helps them convey complex scientific and medical concepts in accessible language.

Reps may also have to learn how to interpret data and statistics so as to gain an understanding of both public and private health issues. As a primary source of information for doctors, they have to be prepared to discuss various diseases and new clinical studies, stay up to date with the competition, and thoroughly explain the qualities that make their product better than the competition.

In short, every last one of them has to become a trusted member of the local medical community.

“I love my job” vs. “I need to make more money” – a.k.a. motivation

The intensity, the intellectual challenge, and the satisfaction of helping patients may be just what draws people to this career. “You cannot get discouraged doing a job like this,” says James Bowden, a pharmaceutical sales specialist. “After all, by filling the shoes of a pharmaceutical representative, you bring a great added value to a physician and his or her patients through the drug products that you promote. Do not let anyone else tell you otherwise. That is why I’m doing what I love the most, and that is helping people live longer, healthier, and an overall better quality of life.”

In the best of all worlds, pharma reps are driven by an innate passion for the profession, and they find jobs with companies that value their unique skills and ability to build long-lasting relationships with doctors. But we don’t live in an ideal world, which means that reps’ financial satisfaction is a vital consideration.

A pharma rep’s earnings are 20-30% commission-based – a far higher rate than you’ll find in other industries. But the market is highly competitive – so much so that a “pay for performance” cult has developed and begun to take hold across other sales verticals. Recent HBR research shows that the number of companies offering bonuses or other forms of pay based on performance increased by 6% between 2014 and 2016 alone.

That sounds like great news for pharma reps, right? All they need to do in order to earn financial rewards is hit quota on a regular basis.

Of course, that isn’t as easy as it sounds. With quotas often set at unachievable heights, pharma reps are flying on a wing and prayer. Less than half will succeed – which means the majority will fail.

As you might imagine, failure is not a great bedfellow for reps, who tend to thrive on success; failure leads to frustration and loss of interest in selling your product. If you’re in a leadership position, you can avert such a scenario by instituting business processes that ensure goals are challenging but achievable – present and future – even during periods of enormous change.

How? With the right technology, for one. Advanced technology enables accurate quota management, balanced territory design, and – most importantly – forward-thinking comp plans that tap into your people’s inner motivations.

Gamification, for instance, appeals to salespeople’s competitive spirit. Visibility into individual and team performance will also light a fire beneath them; it’s empowering for reps to have access to sales and call-planning insights that indicate which doctors or institutions are likely to be most receptive to their overtures. Proper visibility also helps reps decide which doctors and institutions would benefit from more visits – and which would not. Add on a bonus calculator, which should be included with any truly robust technology solution, and reps can capitalize on these insights by projecting how much they can increase their earnings. When reps feel inspired to maximize their compensation, the company is simultaneously rewarded with better bottom-line performance.

But technology is only as good as the people who implement and use it. That means it’s vital to bring in expert staff who know their way around the tech and can help you utilize it to its full potential. These experts can conduct ongoing analyses of processes, continually gain and share insight, and cement improvement and revenue growth as an integral part of your company culture.

Beyond love and money

They’ve followed your bliss. They’re not living paycheck to paycheck. They’re energized by running from one doctor’s office to another, checking in with pharmacies, attending conferences, and taking extra courses. But something’s still missing. What is it?

Too much of the time, like many remote workers, your reps are alone. Keep them involved by fostering interactive programs; regular coaching and training sessions are a good place to start. It’s also absolutely vital that your solution can be accessed on mobile devices. The addition of social apps can encourage productive conversations and encourage reps to share inside tips and best practices. Push notifications that provide regular updates on quotas, targets, sales results, and other performance indicators can be a great tool to keep salespeople informed while fostering connectivity.

The bottom line

Pharma sales reps truly are a rare breed, and they’ve got a unique brand of responsibility to the end buyer. Just think about it: when you go to the doctor, it’s typically the pharma rep’s recommendations that end up on your prescription slip.

In such a vital field, giving these professionals the right tools to succeed can have a tangible impact on the life of nearly every American.

Big data, smart data, data lakes, data warehouses, data repositories! It seems like nowadays, the word “data” makes an appearance at every sales conference and in every article. Though this article’s no exception, it’s a little different: we’re here to help you understand these oft-confusing terms and find your way to the right solution.

Most organizations know what they want out of their sales operations, but they often struggle to transform that vision into a reality.

That’s especially tricky to achieve when you need to process large volumes of data from multiple sources. Cleaning, centralizing, validating, and analyzing data are all highly technical and intensive tasks, but the value they can bring to your company is immense.

Data storage: the first stop, but not the destination

A data lake is, in effect, a repository that allows you to store both structured and unstructured data at any scale. The main advantage of this architecture is that the data can be used in its “natural format” – i.e., without having to be structured first – for the purposes of processing, analytics, and visualizations.

Data swamps, meanwhile, are damaged data lakes that either are inaccessible to their potential audience or cannot provide any valuable information. In other words, a data swamp is a data lake “gone bad.” The line between data lakes and data swamps can be a thin one, especially since there’s a relatively low number of users who can realize the full benefits of data lakes.

While undeniably popular, neither of these concepts is particularly new or revolutionary. To perform proper data management, you’ll have to concentrate on both structure and format, which brings us to another highly used term in the data world.

One of the most common ways of storing large volumes of data, data warehouses are essentially massive repositories of integrated data drawn from one or multiple sources. Warehouses can store both current and historical data; they’re used to create reports for both sales reps and management, but also for analytics and similar operations.

In contrast to data lakes, information isn’t “thrown” into a warehouse; rather, it’s transformed, structured, and assigned a specific purpose (say, a particular business area).

Where lakes typically need an expert hand to be useful, warehouses are typically either semi- or fully automated – offering easier access for the common user as well as for company leaders who want to analyze sales figures and related information.

Your North Star: data processing

The debate over the merits of data warehouses vs. data lakes is difficult to settle. In our experience, though, the most important detail is not your storage methodology, but the way you process your data.

For example, one of our largest clients is a national telecommunications company, and they came to us with an enormous amount of data to process. What architecture recommendation did we make for them? None at all. Although we did ultimately utilize a flexible storage solution, that wasn’t one of our prime considerations.

Our client’s business units required the permanent processing of many terabytes of data that had been drawn from multiple sources in multiple formats. The large volume of kickouts and the consequently low quantity of valid data made both storage and usage into major issues.

The first step was establishing best practices for processing the data. It was no problem to replace our client’s legacy systems and combine their formerly disparate data sources into a single repository. However, cleanliness, not storage, was our main concern – so once we got the data in one place, we evaluated it for purity and prioritized it accordingly with logical algorithms.

With the data centralized, the next step was to make it widely accessible through our easy-to-use, code-free data management.

Suddenly, our client’s salespeople had instant access to information about customers and prospects, while management gained the power to execute accurate sales planning. This repository ultimately came to be recognized as a single source of truth for the company’s multiple business units – enabling the creation of better metrics along the way.

The point is, despite storage type and general architecture being common points of contention, they were in fact the least of our client’s problems – and they should be the least of yours, too. No matter how you’re keeping your data, if your reps and managers don’t have easy, real-time access to digestible information, all your investments in storage will be moot!

Data transformation: the wind in your sails

The concept of a single source of truth for corporate data is gaining wide appeal. However, just as a lake isn’t much good if the water is contaminated, a data repository can’t help you much if the data hasn’t been transformed into a usable format.

As many businesses have discovered, the data ocean’s perils don’t stop at processing. Even if you do have a flexible storage solution and know precisely what data is going through your system, it will eventually become obsolete. No matter which route you’re taking, new layers of information will be added constantly, making your data run deeper and deeper.

So, how can you stay afloat?

Well, instead of pushing against the current, use it to your advantage. Consolidate disparate information into a single platform so that you can analyze your data and use it as a catalyst for sales enablement. In other words, strategically transform your data into the wind that fills your sails (or sales!).

It’s great to see companies starting to discover the potential of a single source of truth – after all, we’ve been talking about it and doing it for years. However, making the best of your data requires turning it into actionable insights that can not only improve your reps’ performance, but also give you a whole new perspective on the sales organization.

Those deep and meaningful analytics are the lighthouse that helps you make port in a storm of ever-shifting data.

With our no-code Data Repository and ETL capabilities, Optymyze can handle even the most complex data management as well as extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) requirements – managing and processing thousands of data tables with hundreds of millions of records that comprise multiple terabytes of data.

We all get territorial sometimes. It’s part of being human; when someone’s territorial boundaries are violated, it naturally sparks a defensive response. That may be unavoidable in life and in love – but when it comes to sales territories, conflict doesn’t need to be inevitable.

It’s a simple formula: sales reps will cry foul whenever they feel their sales territories are distributed unfairly, triggering infighting and chaos. Obviously, fruitful territories are a big deal, given that they translate into better quota attainment and higher compensation. So it’s only natural that when salespeople think their accounts are getting taken from them without good reason or that other reps are overstepping their designated territories, tensions flare up. Of course, if you’re a sales manager, preventing this scenario should be one of your top priorities.

Although some healthy competition is natural – even beneficial – fights over territories are bound to affect team cohesiveness and, ultimately, your bottom line. That’s why it’s vital to ensure that your sales territories create a collaborative environment that motivates your reps to work toward achieving your company’s goals.

Go beyond geographic territories

Approximately 20 percent of sales organizations still delineate their sales territories using only geographic dimensions. This is a useful strategy for preventing conflicts between salespeople, but it’s also a simplistic approach that can result in ambitious sales reps getting stuck with territories that aren’t particularly active – a situation that not only creates resentment but also prevents them from realizing their full sales potential. Fortunately, there are other territory management strategies that can prevent infighting more effectively while getting more productivity out of your reps.

Dividing sales territories optimally starts from the ground up. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for sales force structuring; rather, there are numerous possibilities, each with pros and cons. A well-designed structure may incorporate elements from any or all of them, just as long as it outlines clear selling roles and responsibilities while leveraging your people’s skills and experience with specific industries, types of accounts, or products and services.

Remember: there’s no such thing as a perfect, immutable sales structure. As businesses expand, merge, go international, or add more segments, their sales structures need to be adjusted accordingly – and that isn’t always easy since such major changes often result in territory infighting. For instance, going through a merger without a sound process for realigning territories can result in some areas becoming flooded with your reps, who end up competing with one another for accounts. It won’t be long before those conflicts between your salespeople turn from isolated events into a nagging problem.

If revising your sales structure sounds like a daunting task, consider bringing in sales territory management experts who can help you eliminate territory infighting and create a more tailored sales structure, all while working toward longer-term goals such as expanding into other markets.

Approach territory planning as an ongoing process

Once you have a flexible, effective sales structure in place, the next step is implementing a territory management plan that will help you allocate resources fairly and efficiently, preventing imbalance and infighting.

No set of territories is a finished product; the need for changes, be they big or small, will inevitably present itself. It’s crucial to make rapid, data-driven decisions to account for factors such as new customers, changes in customer purchasing behaviors, and major turnover. Who should get the accounts that once belonged to the sales director who just left your company? What territory will you assign to new sales reps that will motivate them and put them in position to succeed?

The answers to such questions lie, just waiting to be uncovered, in your sales data. Which of your reps is great at chasing down new prospects and having initial conversations, and who’s best suited to demo your products and close the sale? Do some of your salespeople excel at handling large enterprises, while others have an innate capability for closing smaller deals? A strong, agile territory planning process needs this information to leverage your sales force’s skills in ways that maximize productivity, shorten sales cycles, and avert conflict.

Properly aligning or realigning sales territories also requires the ability to model various scenarios and evaluate the impact of changes before rolling them out – factoring in sales data such as workload, capacity, number of accounts, market trends, and revenue and account potential. This typically involves some collaboration, so it’s important to have a streamlined process in place that incorporates all the relevant stakeholders.

The bottom line

Territory infighting is a seemingly minor problem that can trigger enormous headaches down the road, so it’s best to have a system in place that reaches multiple levels of the organization. Start with a thoughtfully designed sales structure, and reinforce it with an agile, data-driven territory planning process that ensures optimal coverage. That way, your reps won’t ever need to argue about who’s getting the best accounts – and you’ll be able to tackle change head-on.