In a BLR webinar entitled ‘Commission Pay Plans: How to Motivate Your Sales Staff in a Roller Coaster Economy’, David Wudyka discusses sales administration processes and standards. He explains that organizations can revitalize their Commission Pay Plans (CPP) by de-clogging the sales admin processes and upholding high standards for sales personnel even during a recession. When de-clogging sales admin processes, every CPP process and procedure in your workplace should meet these criteria or checklist:

• Is it clear? What are the chances that your sales reps might misunderstand it?
• Is it accurate? Is the information 100% current and correct?
• Is it timely? Do your sales policies match what’s happening in your markets right now?
• Is it comprehensive> Have you thought about every possible market condition and customer scenario that might affect the workings of your CPP?

When upholding high standards for sales personnel, organizations should also be aware of the following points:

• A huge mistake many sales employers make in tough economic times is relaxing their standards for sales personnel. ‘Things are rough out there,’ we say, ‘so we'll coast a bit until things are better’
• It's even more critical in recessions for us to hire the best sales reps who are the best fits for our types of selling
• Despite the economy, it's still true that ‘order takers’ should be sales support staff (not reps), sales reps with transactional experience will probably not succeed at high-end relationship selling, and successful commission-only reps won't make it in many team settings
• Remember: Avoid square pegs in round holes!

David Wudyka, SPHR, MBA, BSIE, is the founder and managing principal of Westminster Associates (www.westminsterassociates.com), a Massachusetts-based human resource and compensation firm that specializes in pay, performance, and productivity issues. He brings more than 30 years of professional HR and compensation experience to the table for clients around the country.