Sales Compensation and Incentive Design Training Course

Sales compensation and incentive design training teaches sales leaders and compensation professionals to design a sales compensation plan that rewards the behaviour an organisation actually wants, not the behaviour the plan accidentally incentivises instead. Working through a live case study organisation whose commission structure is driving reps toward exactly the wrong deals, participants diagnose the misalignment and redesign a plan that rewards genuinely valuable behaviour. Participants move from diagnosing why the case study organisation's compensation plan is producing the wrong sales behaviour to presenting a complete redesigned structure, working the same organisation from a Day 1 diagnostic through to a Day 5 redesign presentation. The redesign work is tested against real deal and rep behaviour data, so participants confront the same unintended consequences a real compensation plan redesign has to anticipate.

A sales compensation plan is one of the most powerful behaviour-shaping tools an organisation has, and also one of the easiest to get quietly wrong: a commission structure that pays the same rate regardless of deal profitability will reliably produce reps who chase volume over margin, and a plan that pays out entirely on booking rather than on collection will produce reps who push deals that later fail to actually get paid. Sales reps are rational actors responding to the incentive in front of them, which means a poorly designed plan gets exactly the behaviour it was accidentally built to reward.

This course builds the practical compensation design skills sales leaders need to build a plan that rewards genuinely valuable behaviour. Working through a live case study organisation whose commission structure is driving reps toward exactly the wrong deals, participants leave having diagnosed the misalignment and redesigned a compensation plan themselves.

• Explain how compensation plans shape sales behaviour, intentionally or not.
• Diagnose misalignment between a compensation plan and desired sales behaviour.
• Design commission structures that reward margin and quality, not just volume.
• Balance base salary, commission and bonus components appropriately.
• Design accelerators and caps that reinforce rather than distort behaviour.
• Assess the financial sustainability of a proposed compensation plan.
• Manage the transition from an existing plan to a redesigned one.
• Communicate compensation changes to a sales team credibly.
• Present a complete redesigned sales compensation plan for a live case study.

This course is ideal for:

• Sales leaders and sales operations professionals
• Compensation and benefits professionals supporting sales teams
• Finance business partners assessing sales compensation cost
• HR business partners designing sales incentive structures
• Sales directors and VPs of sales
• Founders and business owners designing their first sales compensation plan
• Consultants advising on sales compensation design
• Revenue operations professionals
• Professionals new to sales compensation design

Case-led delivery built around a single organisation case study whose commission structure is driving reps toward exactly the wrong deals, developing across all five days from an initial diagnostic to a complete redesigned compensation plan. Day 1 opens by diagnosing the misalignment between the plan and desired behaviour; the case then carries through redesigning commission structures for margin and quality, balancing plan components, and a closing exercise assessing financial sustainability and presenting a complete redesign. The redesign is tested against real deal and rep behaviour data throughout. Cohorts typically bring together sales leadership, finance and HR perspectives, testing the plan for both behavioural alignment and financial sustainability.

Organisations implementing the programme outcomes can expect to:

• Strengthen capability to design sales compensation plans aligned with business objectives.
• Encourage sales behaviours that drive profitable and sustainable growth.
• Reduce margin erosion caused by poorly designed incentive structures.
• Improve the financial sustainability of sales compensation programmes.
• Reduce dependence on external consultants for compensation design and review.
• Increase sales team confidence in the fairness and transparency of incentive plans.
• Strengthen alignment between compensation strategy and organisational goals.
• Minimise disruption during compensation plan implementation and change.
• Enhance executive confidence in the effectiveness and cost efficiency of sales incentives.

By the end of this programme, participants will be equipped to:

• Build practical expertise in sales compensation and incentive plan design.
• Strengthen confidence in identifying and addressing unintended behavioural incentives.
• Improve the ability to balance fixed pay, variable pay and performance rewards.
• Sharpen judgement when designing quotas, accelerators, thresholds and incentive caps.
• Develop transferable skills in sales compensation, performance management and sales operations.
• Expand career opportunities in sales operations, commercial strategy and compensation management.
• Reduce reliance on external consultants for routine incentive plan design.
• Build a professional network of sales compensation and sales operations professionals across Africa.
• Communicate compensation changes with greater clarity, confidence and credibility.

At Strategic Revenue Africa, our certification goes beyond proof of attendance—it represents practical competence and measurable capability. Upon successful completion of our training programs, participants are awarded a Certificate of Completion from Strategic Revenue Africa, recognizing their ability to apply acquired knowledge in real-world settings. As an organization focused on architecting sustainable revenue and strengthening organizational performance, our certifications signal that participants are equipped with skills that drive results, not just theory.

A working understanding of B2B sales operations is assumed. No prior formal compensation design experience is required.