Dear Bob ...Mind another comment about compensation? I'm commenting on your point that companies can figure out the value delivered by the sales force ("Comp logic," Keep the Joint Running, 10/29/2007).Even paying sales people based on what they sell doesn't necessarily measure value! When they sell projects, for example, there is an assumed margin in the price, but you have to be careful that the assumptions un Dear Bob …Mind another comment about compensation? I’m commenting on your point that companies can figure out the value delivered by the sales force (“Comp logic,” Keep the Joint Running, 10/29/2007).Even paying sales people based on what they sell doesn’t necessarily measure value! When they sell projects, for example, there is an assumed margin in the price, but you have to be careful that the assumptions underlying the costs aren’t too rosy. In our business, sales always wants the price lower, since it generates more sales. There is the thought that you wait until the project is accepted and then pay the sales person based on the actual margin, but margin deterioration may occur because somebody else screwed up, not because the sales person gave away the farm.I agree completely with your article. The difficulties in measuring value for sales people simply add to your argument.– Evaluator Dear Evaluator …Good point about the sales force. I suppose I should have said companies can come closer to assessing the value they deliver. There are technique to address the issues you raised. The three imperfect ones I know are: Always base commission on net, not gross. I think there are still companies that get this wrong, although I can’t imagine why.For complex sales, especially services sales with a long delivery time, subject every deal to a red-team/green-team review. Companies should put quite a few eyes on deals that can easily blow up to look for the gotchas (the red team) and also should put several eyeball-pairs on it to look for opportunities for additional follow-up sales, to make sure the company knows when to invest in the account.Involve the delivery manager in price negotiations, to make sure the contract isn’t so thin that adherence to the contract isn’t in conflict with profitability.Since the future is involved – something that’s intrinsically unpredictable – these can’t completely solve the problem. They can certainly improve the odds, though.– BobPowered by ScribeFire. Technology Industry