The Multi-Product Sales Dilemma (Part 2)

?? Hello to our 100 new subscribers who have joined us since our previous edition!

Welcome to Closing Thoughts - the Sales Performance Management Newsletter from Everstage. Subscribe here to receive our upcoming editions in your inbox.

What's your summer looking like?

If you'll be in or around SF City on August 19, we have something exciting in place that you’d enjoy being a part of. Find out more about this below!?

In our last edition, we explored the potential pitfalls of multi-product sales. Today, let’s look at how you can operationalize multi-product sales effectively, and create powerful commission plans. Curious? Check it out!?

Enjoy the read, and I'll see you in the next Closing Thoughts!

The Multi-Product Sales Dilemma: Why 80% of Companies Get It Wrong (And How to Be in the Top 20%) - Part 2

We saw why multi-product sales is very complex and the need for stronger operational practices to make it successful in part 1. That begs the question: What are those practices, and how do you structurally operationalize for multi-product sales??

Here are a few broad themes we can identify from the challenges of multi-product sales:

Getting reps out of their comfort zone

Structural solution:

• Clear Communication: Ensure leadership consistently emphasizes the strategic importance of the product.
• Strategic Bundling: Create packages that naturally include high-profit items.
• Enhanced Training: Provide robust support for selling new or complex offerings.

Why it Works: By simplifying the decision-making process and providing clear direction, reps can spend more time selling and less time figuring out their comp plans.The strategic direction of the new product shouldn't exist just on paper. By creating an environment where the entire organization is invested in the success of the new product, your reps will naturally start pitching in too.

Incentive-driven solution:

• Weighted Quota Achievement: Make $1 of the strategic product count as $1.50 towards quota. Accelerate quota attainment based on the product you want to push.
• Tiered Commission Rates: Pay higher commission percentages for high-priority products.
• Cross-sell Incentives: Reward reps for successfully attaching new products to established ones.

Why it Works: These approaches directly tie increased effort to increased rewards, motivating reps to push beyond their comfort zone

Highlight and recognize the reps who deliver on the new product

Quick-fix SPIFs and additional quotas may work temporarily, but they can impact broader revenue goals. You still have to incentivize reps in the short term. So how do you do that? Here are a few solutions:?

Structural solution:

• Recognition Programs: Implement non-monetary rewards for selling strategic products.
• Success Story Showcase: Regularly share case studies of successful strategic product implementations.

Incentive-driven solution:

Graduated Incentives: Increase rewards as reps reach higher cumulative thresholds for strategic products. For instance, the first rep to sell $500K of the new product wins an iPhone, and the first rep to sell $1M gets a trip to Ibiza.

Why it Works: This approach creates a culture of sustained focus on strategic products while also providing immediate positive reinforcement.

So, now you’d have a better understanding on how to structurally operationalize multi-product sales.?

Creating compensation plans for multi-product sales isn't about a one-size-fits-all approach. It's about aligning your reps' actions with your strategic goals. Use the solutions above to craft plans that are effective and adaptable. The best plans are simple enough for your reps to understand over morning coffee and don't need a supercomputer to calculate.?

Also, remember, just because you have one successful product doesn't mean every new product will be easy to upsell or cross-sell. To quote a leader of an enterprise SaaS firm with around 20 products: "Product-market fit isn't something you achieve at the company level."

Google's 30 failed projects, Salesforce's many discontinued products are all great examples of such scenarios. So, make sure to treat each new product as its own line of business, and you'll likely do just fine.

Everstage’s Corner ?

Join us for Sales Comp Sail Away in SF City!

Uncappd, our exclusive community for Sales Compensation professionals, is turning one! We’re celebrating the occasion on a luxurious yacht in the Bay Area. This is your chance to connect and network with industry experts while marveling at the breathtaking views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the SF skyline. Reserve your spot now to be part of this one-of-a-kind experience!

RSVP Now

Pro Perspectives

Dominic Jawroski’s Tips on Marketplace Strategies & Cross-functional Teamwork

Dominik Jaworski , VP of Business Strategy & Operations at Matillion , joined us on the latest episode of the Go-To-Masters show. Drawing from his 15 years of experience, Dominic spoke about two key ways to enable cross-functional collaboration, leveraging the market place as a channel of growth, and the differences between consumption-based and a traditional SaaS model. Tune in to the insightful conversation here!

Listen Now

RevOpportunities ??

Revenue Operations Manager at MaintainX (Remote)

Head of Revenue Operations at Tropic (Remote)

Revenue Operations Manager at SAP LeanIX (Hybrid - Boston, MA)

Senior Revenue Operation Analyst at Homebase (Hybrid - Denver, CO)

Revenue Operations Manager at FalconX (Hybrid - New York, NY)

Senior Analyst, Revenue Operations at Rippling (Onsite - San Francisco, CA)

Revenue Operations Manager at Quantum Metric (Remote)

VP of Revenue Operations at Interplay Learning (Remote)

Senior Revenue Operations Manager at Similarweb (Hybrid - New York, NY)