Business Success with Effective Sales Compensation Plans

A growing number of customers are using Makana Motivator in place of their spreadsheets to build their incentive plans. The companies below are good examples of the benefits a wide range of busineses are now seeing from more effective sales compensation planning. 

Wilson Tile and Stone Increases Sales

Wilson Tile and Stone, a leading residential and commercial provider in the Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana tri-state area, used Makana Motivator to design and model a new sales compensation strategy that has resulted in an increase in sales.  "The depressed demand for residential and commercial building required an overhaul of our comp plans, which did not motivate the ‘hunter' behavior needed for these tough new business conditions," said Matt Wilson, general manager of Wilton Tile and Stone. "Within hours of using Motivator, we were able to generate new plans. With the clear communication that Makana Motivator provides, we were able to focus our sales team's attention on the opportunity to increase their income with a greater mix of incentive pay, rather than on the reduction in their base salary. We were able to hire two new reps with the overhead savings, so we now have more reps, each more productive. I am certain that Motivator had a big role in the numbers produced for the month of March 2008, which was the first month we had it in play. Our numbers were up 15 percent in just one month. I think the second quarter will show an even greater increase."

Empathica Supports Growth

Empathica, Inc., a Toronto, Ontario-based leader in customer experience management software that serves over 90 of the world's leading brands, uses Makana Motivator to support its rapid growth.  "Our workforce has grown more than 50 percent, and our sales force even faster," said Steve Prodger, VP of sales for Empathica. "Makana Motivator really opened our eyes and helped us to design the new job roles and associated compensation plans to fuel our growth. The cost-modeling capability enabled us to easily manage to a cost structure far more effectively than the spreadsheets we previously used. Motivator also helped us tackle the sales comp challenges in a subscription-based revenue model we use as an application service provider."

DSG Canada Models Costs

DSG Canada is a leader in diesel engine performance services and engineering. Headquartered in Saskatchewan, Canada, DSG uses Makana Motivator to avoid some of the costly compensation errors made in the past.  "Last year, we significantly overpaid incentive compensation because of errors in our spreadsheet cost model related to seasonality of sales," said Percy Hoff, president and CEO of DSG Canada. "Motivator made it really easy. We found it on the web, took advantage of the free trial, and purchased a subscription online. Within no time, we were building 2008 plans that enabled us to skew the incentive comp properly and use the cost modeling to avoid past mistakes."