Bigger is better, right? Well, if you’ve ever had a salesperson land an unexpected, out-of-scope sale, you probably fall into the “more money, more problems” camp. Sometimes large deals cause issues, especially if they weren’t planned for in your compensation plan design.

What’s Wrong with a Bluebird Deal?

A bluebird sale is another name for an unexpected, large sale. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve known many sales people that resent the term entirely, but there are a few potential problems with this type of sale:

• Large deals generally require the efforts of a larger crowd of players. If your comp plan doesn’t account for splitting the rewards, one person may receive disproportionate amounts of credit or compensation while others are left with little or nothing.
• The profit margin on large-scale sales may be smaller than other sales due to the expenses involved in getting the deal closed and servicing the larger transaction. Bigger revenue doesn’t necessitate a bigger margin!
• The sale may not have taken any longer time or any different work effort on the salesperson’s part than the usual sized sales, making their potential commission out of alignment with the amount of work put in – meaning it was out of the scope of the design of quota or the sales process expectations.

So if you haven’t accounted for this particular scenario, now’s the time.

Best Practice: Amend Your Compensation Plan to Account for these Out of Scope Transactions

Ultimately, compensation for a windfall sale needs to align with the role, level, and plan. So if your plan doesn’t yet account for this eventuality, it’s a good idea to make some changes. There are a few additions you can make to your incentive plan, including:

• Modifying payment timing or defining a maximum payout ensure that the reward is commensurate with the financial contribution to the organization.
• Include rules for a deal team to make sure that the unique or special group of participants is compensated for their efforts (likely special deals require special effort).
• Create and document a “bluebird clause” outlining the definition of and parameters for a windfall sale as well as the compensation procedures.

What to Do if a Bluebird Sale has Already Occurred

If your compensation plan doesn’t include any verbiage on what to do in the event of an unexpected, large sale, you may be feeling stuck or frustrated.

In this case, it’s important to remember your organizational values. No matter what those values are, it’s a fair guess to say that they are meant to promote a profitable, efficient workplace with low turnover and high employee satisfaction.

That being said, if a large sale has caught you by surprise, the best practice is to pay your salesperson according to the agreed-upon comp structure, even if it hurts. If possible, compensate the deal team as well.

And then, as soon as it’s over, make an amendment to your sales compensation plan and communicate that change to your team.

Remember, this isn’t a penalty for successful salespeople; it’s financial protection just as much as it is clarity of operations and resetting expectations on how normal sales activity is to be paid.