By Dave Thomas, Visp.net Director of Client Relations

Motivated salespeople are essential in every industry. They keep the cash machine rolling, whether you are intent on expansion or just want to maintain your current subscriber base.

An effective ISP sales incentive plan to keep new subscribers coming in and stay ahead of turnover is critical – but is it worth discussing a commission? After all, there’s no point motivating sales reps if you don’t have the installers to set up and activate new subscribers.

But let’s assume you’ve got the installers so there’s no delay with activating new subscribers, so you want your salespeople selling.

When you hire good staff, retention is important because losing them can cost you on average 50% to two times their salary. (1) The good news is, there are ways to balance sales motivation, qualified staff availability and retention.  

Hire the Best

Limited talent and big competitors don’t have to be permanent blockers to attracting and keeping the best salespeople. When you advertise for sales positions, do your best to provide these motivators:

1.    Opportunity
   
2.    Flexibility
3.   Family-style Work Culture
4.   Money

Yes, cash is king, but it’s not everything. Employees care about being part of a bigger mission. Making a difference by contributing to a big goal – like closing the U.S. internet gap – can be just as important as cash.

But let’s be logical, money is a big reason to take a job – it’s just not the only one. 

Before advertising for a sales rep, plan out the budget and make sure there are no obstacles to your ISP’s growth: 

1.   Do your territories have prospects to warrant hiring a new sales rep? The ROI on the salaries and benefits paid must be worth it.
2.   Estimate the number of activations your installers can handle. Don’t create a backlog situation otherwise customers will be unhappy.
3.   How’s your churn? If you’re losing subscribers to a new competitor or service, then you want to replace them. Figure out how many new customers are required per month or quarter to keep up with the turnover.  

Customize Your ISP Sales Incentive Plan

Your plan should include two basic elements – Salary and Commission. 

Some sales experts say an all-commission plan will motivate the hungriest pros. The disadvantage to commission-only is it could lead to an aggressive sales approach, which is a definite turn-off. (2)

Use commission-only or high-commission sales plans when you have hefty expansion goals.

On the other hand, an all-salary approach doesn’t give your staff enough incentive to go above and beyond. The best approach is to create a balanced “commission-salary” plan.

Compensation in Your Sales Incentive Plan

Detail earnings to include base salary, commission, additional incentives and frequency of pay.

As you build the plan, take into consideration each team member’s role, experience, and targeted customers (individual, business, MDUs). Also, consider:

• ·         Budget
• ·         Competitors’ sales pay
• ·         Cost of living
• ·        Business goals

As mentioned earlier, if your goal is to expand into new territory, a higher commission would reflect more aggressive sales goals.

Your staff should know how each part of the plan works. Here are the sales incentive plan structures to consider:

Base Salary Plus Commission

Base salary provides a measure of security for your sales pros and makes it easier to plan expenses. 

You can require employees to perform non-sales duties if compensation isn’t based just on sales quotas. You can require them to help train a new hire, answer phones and provide customer assistance.

Base salaries should be determined by:

•  Available budget
• ISP experience
• Cost of living

The commission is based on:

•  ISP sales requirements and expectations
• Packages sold
• Install capacity

Base Salary Plus Bonus

Bonuses provide a reward when sales reps exceed a predetermined sales quota, which incentivizes them to over-achieve. These rewards should be paid out regularly – you determine whether to pay every month, quarter or after the fiscal year.  

The same factors to calculate commissions should be used to determine what to pay in bonuses.

Performance Contests

It’s not all about sales. Contests are ideal to raise performance – like measuring how well your staff is taking care of your customers.  

Example – at Visp.net, we reward our customer service staff if they meet the SLA requirement to respond to a support request from a client within 10 minutes. 

An idea your ISP can leverage would be to give a prize for staff who get a predetermined number of new testimonials or multiple 5-star ratings on Google Reviews in a month.

Contests should be time-limited otherwise, staff will expect extra rewards to do their jobs – that’s what their salaries are for. The most effective contests target a specific behavior and run for a month or two.

Retaining the Best Staff – the “Good Job” Reward

Show your hard-working staff that you value them. They’re the ones who show up, put in the work and over-deliver. If you could duplicate them, you would and they deserve extra recognition.  

Even if you can’t pay them in cash payments, an unexpected gift card in their pay envelope or a sincere expression of thanks can go a long way. Good employees stay where they are valued. (3)

Balance goals and your budget to ignite high performance in your staff. Combine these factors, along with recognition for a job well done, and you’ll have a sales engine that feeds your ISP’s longevity.

Dave Thomas, Visp.net Director of Client Relations

I’m a customer service guy with a 30-year sales career that I built from principles learned from business gurus, like Jay Abraham, Stephen Covey, Peter Drucker, and Anthony Robbins. But, my passion for excellent customer service is the key to my success. Right now, I manage customer service, sales, and marketing operations for Visp.net. But, I’m really just a principle-centered, service-focused dude who loves his family, dogs and working with people who have the drive to succeed.

1.  Sourced 7/15/2021 from: https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/human-resources/employee-turnover-statistics.shtml

2. Sourced 6/21/2021 from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-commissionbased-incentive-plans-73006.html

3.  Sourced 6/21/2021 from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295860