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A Guide to Inside Sales Compensation Plans - RevOps Co-op
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Volume metrics can help verify a salesperson's disengagement from their job and are used in performance improvement plans, but they are the lowest priority. In our experience, volume quotas lead to padding numbers—not higher meetings booked. We should all care about quality, which is measured by productive meetings and can further be validated by pipeline generated. “AI is an excellent research tool, but an inside salesperson should always validate the information.” We get that, historically, the role has been turned into a statistics game. Only 5% of our target market is in-market at any given time, and we’re trying to reach those people at the right moment through cold outbound. Those messages only help if they resonate with your buyer. Otherwise, you’re burning equity.
Volume metrics can help verify a salesperson's disengagement from their job and are used in performance improvement plans, but they are the lowest priority. In our experience, volume quotas lead to padding numbers—not higher meetings booked. We should all care about quality, which is measured by productive meetings and can further be validated by pipeline generated. “AI is an excellent research tool, but an inside salesperson should always validate the information.” We get that, historically, the role has been turned into a statistics game. Only 5% of our target market is in-market at any given time, and we’re trying to reach those people at the right moment through cold outbound. Those messages only help if they resonate with your buyer. Otherwise, you’re burning equity.
Business Development Representatives are responsible for targeting accounts that are both in and out of market and generating more interest for the account executives. “In smaller companies, the same person is expected to perform both tasks and split their time between the two according to the volume of leads per representative.” We’ll examine how to compensate these roles competitively and the importance of proper oversight and enablement. But before we do so, let’s consider the pressure they face in today’s market.
We used Mike Cuilla’s excellent list of metrics and modified it a bit: “Time to first outreach (SDR specific) - How quickly do SDRs follow up with inbound inquiries?” Overall Connect Rate (SDR specific) - What percent of inbound inquiries do SDRs make contact with?
How should BDR and SDR compensation differ? “Typically, outbound selling is considered much more difficult and generally leads to a slightly lower target for the BDR if you also have SDRs focused on inbound.” You can also help make outbound selling easier by providing your BDRs intent data from providers like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius. Giving them access to deanonymized website signals and ranking the pages by intent (for example, product pages are more meaningful than a career page visit!) gives them the ability to chase accounts that are already aware of your company and have a higher probability of being in market.
Overall Connect Rate (SDR specific) - What percent of inbound inquiries do SDRs make contact with? “Attempts - How many attempts are made by each inside salesperson each day/week/month/quarter?” Daily Connect Rate- What percent of all attempts made (emails, calls, INmails, text) in a given day result in a response or conversation? Track both positive and negative responses separately.
More effectively convert inbound leads “In larger companies, cold outbound and inbound coverage is split between two distinct roles:” The Inside Sales Representative (ISR) takes the inbound lead portion and is responsible for weeding out the leads that don’t meet qualification criteria.
More effectively convert inbound leads “In larger companies, cold outbound and inbound coverage is split between two distinct roles:” The Inside Sales Representative (ISR) takes the inbound lead portion and is responsible for weeding out the leads that don’t meet qualification criteria.
In larger companies, cold outbound and inbound coverage is split between two distinct roles: “The Inside Sales Representative (ISR) takes the inbound lead portion and is responsible for weeding out the leads that don’t meet qualification criteria.” Business Development Representatives are responsible for targeting accounts that are both in and out of market and generating more interest for the account executives.
The Inside Sales Representative (ISR) takes the inbound lead portion and is responsible for weeding out the leads that don’t meet qualification criteria. “Business Development Representatives are responsible for targeting accounts that are both in and out of market and generating more interest for the account executives.” In smaller companies, the same person is expected to perform both tasks and split their time between the two according to the volume of leads per representative.
As every RevOps consultant will tell you, it depends. Typically, outbound selling is considered much more difficult and generally leads to a slightly lower target for the BDR if you also have SDRs focused on inbound. However, that can vary due to the BDR’s level of experience and historical performance. “Giving them access to deanonymized website signals and ranking the pages by intent (for example, product pages are more meaningful than a career page visit!) gives them the ability to chase accounts that are already aware of your company and have a higher probability of being in market.” Remember, you must have a suitable growth plan for every salesperson you hire.
Demo Held Rate- What percentage of demos scheduled are held? “Pipeline Generated- How much pipeline was generated on inside salesperson-created opportunities?” Not all of these are KPIs. We don’t recommend showing all of these metrics to the inside sales team or prioritizing all of them equally. KPIs should include Demos Scheduled, Demos Held, and Pipeline Generated.