You have set the expectation from the word go that anything below achievement of quota is unacceptable. Your salespeople need to hear this again and again, over and over and over. Sound like a broken record, its OK. You never want anyone to not know what minimum expectations of performance are. More importantly, you never want them to not know what is expected (i.e. excellent and far above quota) performance looks like.

Remind them of their goals constantly. Keep their goals in your tasks in your PDA or Blackberry. Know what they are and expect them to be accomplished. Remind your salespeople constantly. Then when they are talking about any sort of new business relate it back to the comp plan, then to their goals. Nothing motivates quite like money and achievement.

Master your bonus plan. If you don’t know it, get to know it. Know it inside and out. Take a whole day out of the field to know it and study its intricacies and details.

 Know these details:

• What is being measured?
• What premises is it based on?
• Is the plan volume driven or market share driven?
• If the plan is based on dollars is it actual dollars or net or billed dollars?
• What actions/activities does it reward?
• If a salesperson combines sales activity and timing, does it matter?

Get your compensation plan administrator on the phone and ask all these specific questions. Better yet, meet with him or her and discuss all the nuances as this is hugely important. Discuss with them hypothetical scenarios and what ifs. Talk to them about it until they are exhausted.

 Post a comment below. Do you always remind your sales people about their goals?