As noted in our summary, the biggest change to Sales and Marketing in the Future of Work is that value is given to value creators.
Just because:
- someone answered the phone, doesn’t mean they should get the commission.
- somebody closed a deal, but has no skin in the game for renewal, doesn’t mean they should get the commission.
- somebody responded to an inquiry email, doesn’t mean they should get the commission.
We don’t understand why:
- employees would enjoy working for organizations where people without skin in the game receive additional compensation because they are extroverted.
- a company would want to spend money on an incentive structure that rewards answering the phone.
- developers are okay with the sales rep capturing outsized value from a commission.
The traditional sales structure reminds us of a mob movie. In this example, the company is forced to pay protection money to the sales teams.
Except the entire time the company should have united against the strongmen tactics of the sales team and demand that value is shared between value creators.
Of course, we're assuming individuals in an organization know how much sales people make off deals. We’re assuming they don’t. Because we think they would revolt if they did.
As stated in our summary, we like sales. We enjoying dialoguing with our customers about how we can best provide value to them. But the value creation, in terms of commission, should be shared with the entire team. Not just the extroverts.