Sales departments predict a 9 percent increase in revenue for 2016, according to the Alexander Group’s “2016 Sales Compensation Trends Survey.” This number is up from the 7.5 percent in revenue growth that was projected and obtained in 2015.

More than 150 sales departments participated in the 14th annual survey. A new survey section featured questions on sales compensation employment status practices. Thirty-two percent of the participants assign the full quota to new hires; 18.8 percent assign a lower but ramping-up quota to new hires.

“Sales leaders expect compensation costs to grow 3 percent in 2016. Actual annual costs often exceed the expected cost by 2 to 3 percent,” said David Cichelli, survey editor and senior vice president of the Alexander Group. This year’s survey took a deep dive into how employment practices affect sales compensation payments. Cichelli suggested, “The many companies who responded ‘varies by incumbent’ should make investments to further define their incentive pay practices regarding new hires, transfers, promotions and terminations.”

Other highlights from the survey:

3 percent is the planned median increase in base pay for 2016.
3 percent is the planned median increase in total earnings for 2016.
49.3 percent of the surveyed companies plan to increase headcount in 2016.
62.9 percent of the reporting companies plan to give base pay increases in 2016.
85.4 percent reported sales revenue as the key performance measure for the primary sales job.
40.9 percent of the survey participants do not have a published windfall/bluebird policy.
72.5 percent of all companies report having access to adequate or better market survey data to price sales jobs.

Read more about the latest sales compensation trends in the Executive summary. Download a copy at http://www.alexandergroup.com/resources/survey-findings/comp-2016-sales-compensation-trends/.

About the Alexander Group, Inc.

The Alexander Group (www.alexandergroup.com) provides revenue growth consulting services to the world’s leading sales and marketing organizations, serving Global 2000 companies across all industries. Founded in 1985, Alexander Group combines deep experience, a proven methodology and data-driven insights to help revenue leaders anticipate change, align their go-to market resources with company goals and make better informed decisions with one goal in mind—to grow revenue. The Alexander Group has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Scottsdale and Stamford.