Drive Profitable Growth Through Effective Sales Compensation
Ensure that target compensation levels and incentive plan mechanics are aligned to attract, retain, and motivate great sales talent to reach your business goals

Problems We See
Among the most common problems we see when evaluating sales compensation challenges...
Role Misalignment
Pay mix and payout curves not reflecting the different nature of direct sales, channel, management, and sales support roles
OTE Not Really Target
Communicated OTEs not really reflecting expected earnings
Too Many Measures
Plans with too many components decrease the focus on key outcomes and can degrade the pay-for-performance relationship
Uncalibrated Upside
Payout curves should reflect the expected distribution of performance, which likely means different curves for different roles
Poor Quota Allocation
Territory differences not reflected in goal differences, resulting in uneven earnings opportunity
Overly-Legal Documentation
Plan documents written to adjudicate edge scenarios, rather than focusing on helping reps maximize earnings
Tap Into Our Proven Expertise
Leverage our deep experience evaluating and designing hundreds of incentive plans to accelerate the success of your program.
Service Offerings
Conduct a rapid assessment of a single incentive plan that identifies key issues and creates a roadmap for potential program change.
Service Approach
- Data Gathering (1 Week): Client to provide the following to Novo Insights via our secure client portal:
- A copy of the plan document and any accompanying “terms and conditions” documents applicable to the plan
- Any existing analysis of the plan’s outcomes (aggregate spend, by payee pay-for-performance analysis, etc.)
- A roster of plan participants and plan results for the prior 2 completed plan cycles (template to be provided)
- One-hour discussion with an internal SME about the data provided to ensure full understanding
- Novo Insights Assessment (2 Weeks): Novo Insights will assess the plan relative to proven incentive design practices and analyze pay-for-performance outcomes
- One-hour discussion with a key business stakeholder (e.g., VP of Sales) to understand how plan drives strategic outcomes
- Review and analysis of provided data, using Novo Insights analytical tools to identify opportunities
- One-hour discussion with an internal SME to review draft findings
- Virtual Workshop (2 Hours in Week 4): Novo Insights and key stakeholders would participate in a discussion around Novo Insights’ assessment observations. In this workshop, we would share our findings, gather feedback, and frame what improvement opportunities might look like.
- Written Report and Roadmap (One Week after Workshop): Novo Insights will update its assessment report based on feedback received, and will include a set of recommendations for next steps. Recommendations will not be fully detailed plan design changes; rather, they will be high-level recommendations about how to approach changes or enhancements to the program for the coming plan year.
Typical Fee
$12,000 for single plan
Optional services available (rep survey, additional interviews, etc.)
Novo Insights leads the development of new plan designs
Service Approach
Our approach and timeline are customized to each client situation, but generally includes the following work steps and phases.
Assessment: Novo Insights analyzes the current state of sales compensation, understands the key drivers of profitable growth, and identifies improvement opportunities, typically including the following steps:- Data gathering and quantitative assessment
- Sales leadership interviews
- Field survey or focus groups
- Written report of observations and recommendations
- Workshop to review/refine recommendations
- Iterative workshop process with key stakeholders to review/refine plan measures, mechanics, and key conditions
- Detailed cost modeling of plan designs, including back testing, modeling of behavior change forecasting, and sensitivity analysis
- Review and approval with approvers
Implementation Planning: Novo Insights creates a change management and communications plan, and partners with the Client to create key implementation artifacts including:
- Walking deck of key change messaging
- Cascaded communications of plan changes
- Formal plan document(s)
- Plan terms and conditions document(s)
- Plan FAQs
- Plan calculator tools
Monitoring and Refinement: Novo Insights participates in the initial review of plan outcomes and governance.
Typical Fee
Starts at $35,000
Fee varies based on number of plans, cleanliness of data, and capacity/capability of internal resources.
Typical fees for a multi-plan organization with clean data but limited internal resources can reach $90,000 and beyond.
Novo Insights can lead or participate in your ongoing Business Review process, helping bridge the gap between internal expertise and the needs of your internal customers.
Service Approach
Among the services and roles we can play in your ongoing plan review process:
- Create/update plan metrics and scorecards
- Review and comment on plan metrics to identify potential areas of concern
- Participate in dispute resolutions and ongoing Plan interpretation
- Support ongoing forecasting of cash commission expenses based on plan design outcomes
Typical Fee
Starts at $2,500 per period
Fee varies based on the number and complexity of interactions, length of contract period, and Novo Insights support role in the process.
Contact us today to explore how we can help you accelerate profitable growth through effective sales compensation.
Contact Us
Send us a note or schedule time to explore how we can accelerate impact.