As the year ends, the VP of Sales and Marketing asks you to review the current compensation program and to make a recommendation for the new year’s compensation program that will be presented to the full sales organization on a video conference at the end of the month. There are 8 members of the sales staff that are part of the compensation program.

For the current year, the sales staff (eight sales regional managers) was paid a base salary ($42,000) and then received a commission on a quarterly basis (6.1%) for all net invoiced orders in their region. The highest paid sales person received total salary and commission of $133,500, and the lowest paid sales person was paid $48,100. The total salary and commission for the sales team is $625,750. This resulted in profit of $1,757,500.

The company’s CFO was very happy with this program, but the VP of Sales & Marketing felt that the plan only focused on individual results. The VP felt that in order to encourage the sales staff to balance their efforts between the low-cost/high-volume items and the higher-margin new products, a new plan should reflect those goals. Both executives see the sales potential growing for the business. Both also want to begin “grooming” any current sales staff. Management wants to encourage current staff to be promoted or transferred to new opportunities. Management is aware of the growth expectation and they want the strongest team to be in place in the best positions.

You are to create a proposal that:

Outlines at least two compensation programs and then make a recommendation for which program would be more ideal.
Suggests a training program for regional sales managers to obtain leadership skills as well as reinforcing B2B skills that trainees can use to prepare for future promotional opportunities.
The training program may or may not be part of the compensation program. Identify and defend which approach you support.