When top performers start to disengage, the problem is rarely the team itself but usually the structure of the comp plan. A strong plan aligns with business goals, incentivizes the right activities, stays simple, evolves with the company, and includes accelerators that drive reps to exceed targets. At its best, compensation is more than math; it is leadership that connects effort with reward and keeps top performers engaged, motivated, and loyal.

By Mike Belin | Nacre Consulting

If your sales results are stuck or worse, your top reps are leaving, it might not be your team.

It might be your compensation plan.

At Nacre Consulting, we’ve worked with over 150 businesses across SaaS, manufacturing, professional services, and beyond. We’ve seen companies with strong products, great teams, and solid sales training fall short of their goals, not because they weren’t working hard, but because they were compensating the wrong behaviors.

Let’s break this down.

What Makes a Sales Compensation Plan Problematic ?

Here’s what we often hear from leaders:

• “We’re paying out, but not seeing the results we want.”

• “Our reps don’t seem motivated anymore.”

• “We made some changes to the plan, and now they’re constantly complaining.”

• “I’m not sure if our comp structure aligns with our new strategy.”

Sound familiar?

When a comp plan isn’t working, it’s usually because of one (or more) of these issues:

1. The Plan Doesn’t Match Your Business Goals

If your company is shifting toward new markets, new products, or recurring revenue, but your plan still rewards top-line, one-time deals, you’re setting your team up to chase the wrong things.

We’ve seen teams push low-margin deals just to hit commission tiers, while long-term relationship building takes a back seat.

Your comp plan should fuel the behavior that matches your current growth priorities, not last year’s strategy.

2. It’s Too Complicated to Understand

If your reps need a spreadsheet and a calculator just to figure out what they’re earning, your plan is broken.

Complexity kills clarity.

We often see plans that try to account for every edge case and role variation. The result? Confusion. Frustration. Distrust. And endless back-channel chatter about what’s “fair.”

Keep it simple. Make it transparent. If your reps can’t explain the plan to each other in under 60 seconds, it’s too complex.

3. It’s Built in a Vacuum

Too many comp plans get built in Excel, without input from sales leaders or others connected to the sales department.

Your salespeople are the closest to the customer. They know what’s working, what’s stalling, and where the opportunities lie. Without fair representation from the team that lives the process every day, you risk building a plan that looks good on paper but falls flat in practice.

4. You Haven’t Revisited It in 12+ Months

Your business evolves. So should your comp plan.

The economy shifts. Product lines change. Sales cycles lengthen. Margins tighten. New competitors emerge. If you haven’t updated your structure to reflect these realities, it’s probably out of sync.

At Nacre, we recommend a full comp review every year and a strategic check-in every quarter.

5. There’s No “Run Through the Tape” Incentive

Great plans don’t just motivate people to hit a quota, they encourage them to blow past it.

Without that extra gear, most reps stop once they know they’re safe, or worse, they hold back deals to “sandbag” for the next period. The result is missed momentum and revenue left on the table.

Stretch goals, tiers, accelerators, and multipliers give top performers a reason to keep pushing. They prevent coasting, discourage sandbagging, and create that extra drive to sprint through the finish line instead of slowing down at 100 percent.

A well-designed plan sends a clear signal: exceeding expectations is always worth it.

How We Can Help

Sales compensation isn’t just math. It’s leadership.

It’s about aligning incentives with vision, rewarding the behaviors you want repeated, and building a system that drives performance and retention. When plans are aligned correctly, they don’t just fuel revenue growth, they also protect profitability, ensuring that both the business and the sales team win together.

At Nacre, we help companies design sales comp plans that:

• Align with current and future business strategy

• Balance short-term wins and long-term growth

• Drive growth while maintaining healthy margins

• Keep top talent engaged, motivated, and loyal

• Avoid confusion and internal distrust

• Adjust for product shifts, market changes, and team structure

Whether you’re entering a new phase of growth, adding new roles, or simply trying to stop the turnover, we can help you build a plan that works.

The Bottom Line

Great salespeople don’t leave just because of the money.

They leave because of the disconnect between effort and reward.

If your compensation plan doesn’t make sense to your team or doesn’t match the direction you’re trying to grow, it’s costing you results, retention, and reputation.

Ready to fix it?

Schedule a 15-minute conversation with our team, and we’ll help you spot what’s working and what’s getting in the way.

Because at the end of the day, the goal isn’t just to pay people well.

It’s to pay people well for doing the right things.

👉 Book an discovery call 

Mike Belin

Mike Belin is an Executive Growth Strategist at Nacre Consulting with over 20 years of sales leadership experience spanning industries like SaaS, manufacturing, construction, and distribution. Mike also serves as the President of the Buffalo Niagara Sales & Marketing Executives (BNSME).