Economists will look back on 2020 as a year with a distinct before and after. In early March, most companies’ sales projections looked a certain way. Just a few weeks later, those projections had changed significantly — and not for the better.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses across a variety of industries are revising their sales compensation models. Non-profit workforce researchers WorldatWork released a report in late April indicating that 36 percent of organizations had begun addressing sales compensation in light of the crisis and another 49 percent were developing plans to do so.

If your company is considering changes to how it compensates sales staff in a drastically changed economy, here are three of the most common actions being implemented according to the survey:

1. Adjusting sales quotas. Of the organizations surveyed, 46 percent were adjusting their quotas to account for the pandemic’s impact. For many businesses, this means providing ‘quota relief’ to salespeople who find themselves in a reluctant buying environment. Of course, any adjustment should be based on a realistic and detailed forecast of what your sales will likely look like for the current period and upcoming ones.
2. Modifying performance measures. The report indicates that 44 percent of organizations will modify how they measure the performance of their sales staffs. Whereas a sales quota is a time-bound target assigned to an individual, performance measures encompass much wider metrics. For example, you might want to amend your average deal size to account for more conservative buying during the pandemic. This metric is typically calculated by dividing your total number of deals by the total dollar amount of those deals. Also look at conversion rate (or win rate), which measures what percentage of leads ultimately become customers. Scarcer leads will likely lead to a lower rate.

3. Lowering plan thresholds. Survey results showed 36 percent of organizations intend to lower the plan thresholds for their sales teams. From a compensation plan perspective, a threshold describes what performance level qualifies the employee for a specified payout. This includes a max threshold to identify outstanding sales performances during a given period.

The pandemic-triggered economic downturn serves as a prime, even extreme, example of the kinds of external, macroeconomic factors that can alter the effectiveness of a plan threshold. When looking into corrective action, it is critical to go beyond the usual adjustments and conduct analyses specific to your company’s size, market, and industry outlook.

Setting sales compensation has never been a particularly straightforward endeavor. Businesses often tweak their approaches over time or even implement completely new ways when competitively necessary — and this is during normal times. Our firm can help you assess your sales figures since the pandemic hit, forecast upcoming ones, and design a compensation model that’s right for you.