When Mark
Roberge joined HubSpot as its fourth employee, he had no sales experience but
still was charged with building the sales team. His background proved to be an
advantage, however: With his engineering training, Roberge brought an analytic
rigor to the task. And he quickly realized that the sales compensation plan
could motivate salespeople not only to sell more but also to behave in ways
that advanced the start-up’s evolving strategy. Each time the firm entered a
new stage of growth, Roberge revised the comp plan to support its changing
priorities: Customer acquisition. Early on, HubSpot needed to bring in lots of
customers and see how well its offer was working. So it rewarded salespeople
for customers who stayed at least four months, and soon grew to 1,000
customers. Customer success and retention. In the second phase, HubSpot focused
on ensuring that its product fit the market. Realizing that many customers were
jumping ship because they’d been given the wrong expectations, Roberge began
tying commission rates to the rate of customer retention. Sustainable growth.
After it fixed retention, HubSpot saw that its service worked best for
customers who made a commitment to it. So the firm’s third plan rewarded
salespeople for customers who signed up for a full year at a time. The
continual adaptation paid off: In seven years HubSpot hit $100 million in
sales.
[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]