How does "the way you motivate" your sales org change as your company scale?

Good question! When it comes to motivation, at any stage & maturity of a sales organization, you need to make sure:

1. Purpose - your sales team understands the mission & objectives of the organizations, feels connected to the purpose of what you are trying to acheive, and most importantly, can see how their work directly impacts progress towards company goals

2. Compensation - your sales team is well compensated and that the components of that make up compensation (base salary, variable inventives, bonuses/accelerators, equity, etc.) all work together to reward the behaviors required to acheive the output the company needs

3. Development - you are continually investing in the growth of your people. All top performers want to continue to learn, grow, improve, and ultimately master their craft. Look for those opportunities to expand the experience of your team, be generous with your feedback, and invest in coaching at every chance you get.

That said, as companies & teams scale, the mechanisms & resources you have to impact motivation also evolve.

Early Stage Companies & Less Mature Sales Organizations are usually focused on trying to find product-market fit and build a go-to-market motion to support it. During this phase, compensation plans need to be simple, aligned more to behaviors than outcomes, and reward progress. There is generally a greater need to ensure alignment and connection to "Purpose", and leaders should create opportunities for their salespeople to engage with cross-functional executives, influence the product roadmap, etc.

If you are looking for a first compensation plan for your SaaS sales team, Jason Lemkin's framework can provide a great starting place.

Mid-to-Late Stage Companies & More Mature Sales Organizations can then evolve to dedicate more resources to invest in their salespeople in different ways. Things like more formal career pathing, mentorship, and management development courses become table stakes. Salespeople will have opportunities to work with larger companies, build bigger deals, and raise their skillset. And compensation can shift to allow for additional rewards and incentives through SPIFs and President's Club.

My old CRO use to say, "If your territory isn't shrinking or the company isn't hiring - you're at the wrong company." I love this mindset. As your company grows and scales, it means your equity is worth more. Motivation for AEs should be that change is a good thing, change is inevitable and change is the most constant thing in life. JFK said, "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future."

Motivation around embracing the change and your mindset around the changes within the organization is what I recommend addressing.

From a tactical standpoint, you can do the following:

• Have your CRO or CEO do email shout outs on Fridays for weekly revenue closed

• Team meeting shoutouts for progress within a deal cycle

• Slack channel shoutouts for discos conducted on a weekly basis

• If you receive an email shoutout or a customer compliments an AE on a call, just hit play in your next team meeting

• Text AEs congrats when they close their biggest deal of the quarter

It's a great question. I believe that all reps are continuously motivated by earning potential and career growth opportunities, regardless of the stage of the company.

To get more nuanced, you'll see earlier hires more motivated by the combination of equity and cash, and you'll also see earlier hires hoping to leverage their early arrival to accelerate their career growth (vs later hires).

As an aside, one of the real joys of leading and scaling sales teams is rewarding those deserving early hires with promotions, additional equity grants, etc. We've had the opportunity to do a lot of this at Vanta.

More broadly, my advice is to spend a lot of time thinking about the design of your compensation plans (revisiting them at least annually) and also to map out levels and definitions for career growth sooner vs later.

Make sure that you're putting your team in a spot where they believe they can hit their goals, and where they understand intimately what career growth means for them, and how to unlock it. Easier said than done. :)

As your company scales, the way you motivate your sales organization needs to evolve to match the growing complexity and size of your team. While incentive compensation remains the cornerstone of motivation, there are additional strategies you can employ to keep your team engaged and aligned as you grow.

Incentive Compensation:

• Foundational Motivation: The core way to motivate your sales team is through well-structured incentive compensation plans. As the company scales, it’s critical to establish the right baseline quotas that are challenging yet achievable, ensuring that your salespeople are motivated to perform at their best.

• Beyond Standard Commissions: I like incorporating additional incentives beyond standard commissions. For example, I implement spiffs (short-term sales performance incentives) tied to specific, measurable milestones within the sales process. These smaller, more frequent incentives help keep momentum and focus on progressing deals through the pipeline.

Regular Team Events and Social Activities:

• Building Team Cohesion: Maintaining a strong sense of cohesion and camaraderie becomes increasingly important as your team grows. Regularly organizing events—whether dinner, bowling, or other fun activities—helps build relationships within the team. These social settings allow team members to learn from each other, share best practices, and understand how their peers operate. This strengthens the team dynamic and fosters a collaborative culture where everyone is aligned toward common goals.

• Creating a Supportive Environment: These events also provide a platform for open communication and feedback, helping to create a supportive environment where team members feel valued and motivated.

Incentivizing Key Sales Process Milestones:

• Driving Weekly Progress: One effective strategy is incentivizing specific milestones within the sales process. By rewarding progress every week, you can drive your team to focus on the critical actions that move deals forward. For instance, you might incentivize milestones like securing executive engagement, completing technical validation, or getting written confirmation of 'Vendor of Choice.'

• Example - Executive Engagement: One milestone I prioritize is executive engagement. I track when my sales reps bring me or another senior leader into a deal cycle to meet with the executive buyer on the other side. This step often accelerates the deal and increases the likelihood of closing. By incentivizing this behavior, I ensure that my team proactively seeks opportunities to leverage executive alignment, which can be a game-changer in complex sales.

Adapting Motivation Strategies to Scale:

• Tailoring Incentives to Team Growth: As the team expands, you may need to segment incentives based on different roles, regions, or product lines. Tailoring incentives to each group's specific needs and challenges helps ensure that motivation remains high across the board.

• Emphasizing Development and Recognition: As your company scales, it’s important to emphasize career development and recognition beyond financial incentives. Providing opportunities for growth, such as leadership development programs or recognition awards, can be powerful motivators, especially for top performers looking to advance in their careers.