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NUDGE 2024

A virtual summit on the behavioral psychology behind sales incentives

Bringing together revenue, sales ops, and sales comp leaders over five days in five sessions, this virtual conference discussed how behavioral psychology impacts sales performance and motivation.

With 17 sales performance management experts hailing from 14 incredible organizations, the week was packed with actionable takeaways on sales, incentive planning, and change management.

Now, you can access all the recorded sessions on-demand.

Join our session on activity-based-incentives

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What we'll cover

Featured sessions

Revenue psychology: The behavioral science of incentives

Sales incentives bridge GTM strategy and execution. But not all sales incentives are created equal. The most effective incentives are rooted in the psychological principles of motivation. For example: loss aversion is often more motivating to reps than the opportunity to make more money (e.g. If you miss X, you'll lose Y). In this panel, learn about the psychology underpinning incentives, and how theories from behavioral and decision sciences research can be applied to your incentive plan.

Sales comp horror stories: When incentivizing seller behavior goes wrong

We invited operators from leading revenue orgs (Cisco, Unity, and Databricks) to dissect several real-world examples (submitted from community members) of when motivating and incentivizing the sales force failed. Our speakers shared how they would have avoided these disasters. Tune in to hear more on avoiding gaming in comp plans, unbalanced territories and quotas, upside-down sales comp budgets, and a discussion around the real costs of “selling at all costs”

Mid-year SPIFs: Strategies and tactics from the world’s best revenue orgs

Revenue organizations tend to lean on SPIFs as a crutch throughout the year, but often they’re poorly done and don’t move the needle or drive compliance from sales at all. The best organizations have foresight into SPIF planning and use them as strategic revenue levers that can be pulled, measured, and reported on as needed. This session shares expert-level knowledge on the do’s and don’t of SPIFs, with lessons from leaders who have rolled out hundreds of them over their careers. Learn why certain SPIFs fail, the characteristics of SPIFs that work well, and data-driven SPIF design (components, timing, etc.).

Sales science: How to design incentives that optimize seller performance

Gone are the days of gut-feel decision-making in sales strategy. The integration of data and analytics into sales compensation planning is no longer a nice-to-have but an absolute necessity. Understanding how to leverage this data to design incentives that truly optimize seller performance is key to driving performance in 2024 and beyond.

Next-gen incentives: Trends & predictions shaping the next decade

Between changing go-to-market models and access to new tech, we'll continue to see more innovation in the way organizations incentivize sellers and maximize motivation in the coming years. In this session, thought leaders from leading revenue organizations delve into the latest trends and predictions, including on topics like the individualization of comp plans, the increased velocity of incentives (annual, quarterly, monthly), activity-based incentives, choose your own plan, consumption-based incentives, and more!

With your hosts:

Dr. Robert Bieshaar

Sr. Dir. of Worldwide Incentive Compensation and Mergers & Acquisitions, Autodesk

Robert Bieshaar is the Sr. Dir. of Worldwide Incentive Compensation at Autodesk, a multinational software corporation for the construction, manufacturing, engineering, architecture, and entertainment industries.

Bethany Rucker

Director, Sales Incentive Compensation, Thomson Reuters

Brian Bolt

Sr. Director - Incentives, Performance & Analytics, Red Hat

Brian is currently the Senior Director - Incentives, Performance, and Analytics at Red Hat where he's held roles in Corporate FP&A and Incentives since joining the company in 2019. Prior to Red Hat, Brian held various financial leadership roles at MetLife, BASF and Progress Energy. Brian has a BBA from the University of Toledo, a MAC from UNC-Chapel Hill, and is a licensed CPA in NC. He resides in Raleigh, NC with his wife Sally and is about to enjoy experiencing the life of an empty nester as he sends his youngest of 4 children to college later this summer.

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Christina Straggas

Head of Global Sales Compensation, Equinix

Cortnie Giambrone

Vice President, Global Compensation & Equity, ZoomInfo

Dal Sidhu

Head of Global Sales Compensation, Zoom

Frank V. Cespedes

Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School

Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School and for 12 years was Managing Partner at a professional services firm. He has worked with many companies around the world on go-to-market and strategy issues, and has been a Board member at consumer goods, industrial products, services, PE and VC firms. He has written for numerous publications, including Harvard Business Review, European Business Review, Organization Science, California Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He is also the author of six books including Aligning Strategy and Sales which was cited as “the best sales book of the year” (Strategy & Business), “a must read” (Gartner), and “perhaps the best sales book ever” (Forbes). His newest book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing (Harvard Business Review Press).

Kristina Plane

Sales Compensation Strategy & Planning Leader, Cisco

Kristina is a distinguished leader in the field of sales compensation, currently spearheading compensation design and implementation at Cisco within the specialist organization. With over a decade of experience, Kristina has a proven track record of developing innovative compensation models that drive sales performance and align with organizational goals. Throughout her career, Kristina has been instrumental in designing and implementing sales compensation plans that not only motivate sales teams but also ensure fair and effective reward systems. Her expertise spans across multiple facets of sales compensation, including incentive plan design, quota setting, and performance metrics. She is known for her analytical prowess, strategic thinking, and ability to navigate complex compensation challenges in dynamic business environments. In her role at Cisco, Kristina continues to lead transformative initiatives that enhance sales effectiveness and drive business growth. She is passionate about leveraging data-driven strategies to create compelling compensation plans that align with both company objectives and sales team aspirations

Kyle Webster

Chief of Staff, Forma.ai

Kyle is the Chief of Staff at Forma.ai and has 10+ years experience in the Sales Performance Management space. Prior to Forma.ai Kyle was in management consulting, working with Fortune 500 companies to develop and operationalize various sales effectiveness strategies, with a specific focus on sales incentive compensation. His experience spans multiple industries, with deep experience in software/technology, distribution, and retail.

Les Reif

Senior Director, Sales Compensation, Rogers Communications

Maria Oczko-Canant

Head of Global Sales Planning, Compensation and Performance Analytics, Workiva

Nabeil Alazzam

Founder, Forma.ai

Nabeil Alazzam is the founder and CEO of Forma.ai, the only Sales Performance Management (SPM) platform that leverages AI and data science to optimize and individualize sales compensation for large enterprises. With over $1 trillion spent each year on sales compensation in North America, he founded the company in 2016 with a vision that AI could disrupt the wasteful legacy approach to incentivizing and motivating sellers. Forma.ai’s SPM platform now processes billions in commissions annually for customers worldwide. Prior to starting Forma.ai, Nabeil was a sales force effectiveness consultant for Fortune 100 companies and developed a deep understanding of the inefficiencies in enterprise sales organizations and the way they manage sales compensation.

Pauline Xu

Sales Compensation Leader, Unity

Phillip Wiseman

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Texas Tech University

Rick Butler

Vice President, Global Sales Compensation, ServiceNow

Rick L. Butler is currently Vice President, Global Sales Compensation with ServiceNow. His team is responsible for the design and administration of the sales compensation program covering over 5,000 individuals.Prior to this position, Mr. Butler held similar positions at Cisco Systems, EMC, Black & Veatch, Dell, and Lucent Technologies.Mr. Butler is a member of World@Work’s Sales Compensation Expert Council and is a frequent presenter at Spotlight on Sales Comp and Total Rewards.He holds a BA in Physics from St. Louis University and a BS Electrical Engineering and MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Vince DaCosta

Director, Global Sales Compensation Strategy, Operations & Systems, Databricks

Vince has 13+ years of experience managing complex sales performance initiatives across multiple industries driving outstanding results in each of his roles. During his consulting tenure, he conducted over 55 unique SPM assessments, vendor selections and implementation projects. As a leader, Vince has directed annual Sales Compensation programs (+$200M budget and +2k payees) while managing multiple national remote Sales Compensation/Operations teams. Vince earned his CSCP (Certified Sales Compensation Professional) through WorldatWork, and has extensive experience in both the healthcare & high-tech software industries.