In a previous post on compensating inside sales roles, I kicked off my series on role-specific sales compensation with the goal of bringing attention to the complexity involved in making decisions about compensation. Inside sales has particularly been affected by Department of Labor (DOL) regulations on who is and isn't exempt from overtime, making it especially crucial to evaluate your inside sales role job content and comp plan.

Field sales has always been a bit clearer cut. You send your salespeople out into the field; they sell, and you give them commissions. But as more and more business is being conducted online, accelerated by the COVID pandemic, even field sales roles are evolving. In other words, if you haven't assessed your role descriptions and compensation plans since before COVID, it's time. In the rest of this post, I'll talk about some things that should be taken into consideration.

Understanding Field Sales Compensation

Field sales representatives are the frontline ambassadors of your company, forging connections with clients, understanding their needs, and closing deals in the field. Compensation often includes more at-risk pay than other roles, but the payoff is bigger for the organization.

A good sales rep finds this kind of setup motivating and is hungry for the sale, looking to hit target and beyond. They're the masters of their own destinies in this sense. The sky's the limit, as far as they're concerned. It's important to understand this when structuring compensation plans. You want to find that perfect balance between providing them enough security (base pay) that they feel safe to take risks and enough incentive (commissions or bonuses) to keep them focused on achieving more.

Compensation's purpose is to motivate the behaviors the organization needs to succeed in its overall objectives. That's why analyzing these roles and their corresponding comp plans is essential: each role performs differently in service to the overall strategy. Now, back to field sales.

Field Sales Compensation in the Post-COVID Landscape

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the way field sales professionals operate. Sales representatives who once relied heavily on face-to-face interactions have had to embrace virtual communication channels with the likes of seamless video conferencing and online presentations. While this shift has opened up new opportunities for reaching clients in distant locations, it has also required a reevaluation of traditional compensation structures.

This is going to look different in every sales organization, so it's important to sit down and read through all your role descriptions to make sure they still hold up in this more remote-friendly world. Some things to keep an eye on include:

Travel and Expenses

One of the most visible impacts of the pandemic on field sales roles has been the reduction in travel. This reduction in travel has far-reaching implications for compensation. Sales leaders must reassess the resources allocated for travel and entertainment expenses, ensuring that compensation packages remain equitable and reflective of the evolving nature of field sales roles. For example, field sales roles may no longer require a car or vehicle allowance if the percentage of travel required has declined based on the demands of the customer. Perhaps a home-based office allowance and improved computer is necessary instead.

Compensation Structures

In some cases, the changes brought about by a more remotely accessible world may mean making a complete reassessment of the compensation package for field sales roles. If a field sales representative is no longer traveling extensively and instead focusing on remote sales activities, their compensation structure may need to be recalibrated to align with their revised responsibilities and performance metrics.

For instance, if a significant portion of a field sales rep's compensation was previously tied to travel-related activity bonuses or incentives, these components may need to be adjusted to reflect the new reality of remote selling and the virtual aspects of the sales process. Similarly, if the shift to remote sales has led to changes in sales targets or performance expectations, compensation plans will need to be redesigned to incentivize shifted organizational needs with their corresponding behaviors and outcomes.

Balancing Remote Work with Field Visits

Compensation structures must strike a delicate balance between rewarding remote sales activities and maintaining incentives for in-person field visits where necessary. Sales leaders may consider introducing new performance metrics that capture the effectiveness of virtual sales engagements, such as conversion rates from virtual meetings or customer satisfaction scores for remote interactions. You may need to re-learn the perspective of the customer here.

Be sure to align the customer's and prospects' preferences for engagement with the job content. The belief is that the best outcome is aligned with the way the customer wants to interact and engage with your organization. Be sure to deliberately establish expectations for the job to ensure the appropriate level of face-to-face or virtual interactions that translate to the best outcomes for the clients as well as your organization. And the comp should follow that mix.

So, what do you do about field sales compensation after the analysis?

We've pretty much touched on your options, but once you've revisited the job content of your field sales role, if you're lucky and nothing has changed, then you're all good. But if you've found you need to make some significant changes to bring your sales program back into alignment with organizational strategy, you basically have two choices.

1.       Change the role

2.       Change the comp structure

Obviously, that's an over-simplification because within each of those choices is a whole task list full of things that have to get done, but that's why I wrote my first book, Starting Simple: Sales Compensation. In it, you get a simple rundown of everything you need to walk through and consider when establishing OR revising your plans.

Try out a free sample through Amazon Kindle, or grab your copy here: