Can’t pay, won’t pay!

1st July 2015 |   Alan Coffey

Why it has become commonplace for organisations to seek to avoid paying commission earned by salespeople?

Commission payments seem so simple in concept: the salesperson wins a deal and the employer pays a certain percentage of its value to reward him or her for this success and the benefit it brings to the company. In reality, incentives are a minefield: consider the following real-life scenario….

A well-known global IT company hires a top sales executive for his experience and personal network. Within six months, he lands a breakthrough deal with a major international bank; without him the company would not even have bid, let alone won.
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Alan Coffey

Alan Coffey is an experienced international business executive, who has established and developed businesses for global corporates and smaller emerging companies in Asia, Europe and the United States. He has worked in banking and for IT/business services providers predominately in sales and marketing leadership roles.

After a successful period as a sales executive he was asked to join an IBM sales think-tank/advisory executive team in 2001 and subsequently won a significant sales leadership award with IBM North America in 2002. Since leaving IBM, he has built highperforming sales teams for HP, Logica and the TMF Group. His last two roles had global sales responsibilities as Chief Sales Officer for Logica and the TMF Group.

He is passionate about brand integrity – doing the right thing for clients and employees – and is currently advising boards of global companies.