#36 - More Performance Through AI? The Future of Incentives & Sales with Caroline Rocha

#36 - More Performance Through AI? The Future of
Incentives & Sales with Caroline Rocha





"AI will increase sales performance."





That assumption does also have an impact on sales compensation
plans.


Raising quotas for example as a natural consequence.





Gregor and I talked with Caroline Rocha, a sales compensation
expert, about what AI is actually doing inside revenue teams.





Here is what we learned:





Some companies assumed sellers would close more once AI cleared
the prep work. It didn't pan out.





Why?


Top reps were already doing that work.


Just at 10pm on a Sunday.





AI didn't unlock hidden hours.


It gave people their nights back.


That's a different thing.





Which means the comp argument flips.


If AI is absorbing invisible labor instead of generating new
output, then raising quotas isn't automatically justified.





A rep doing the same number with less burnout is still a result.


And if research, admin, and follow-ups get automated, what's left
is harder to measure - judgment, the ability to read a room,
knowing when to push and when to shut up, navigating a deal
that's about to fall apart.





That's not a productivity story.


It's a different job.


And most comp plans aren't built for it.





While companies in the USA are already thinking about AI's impact
on commissions, most companies in Germany are still not making
use of sales compensation.





Gregor and I see it every day when we talk to decision makers at
for example manufacturing companies. It's usually just a bonus at
the end of the year, that's not an incentive for sales.





The ones that figure out that commission is actually an enabler
to steer the sales team in the right direction and drive company
goals will ask a different question: what behavior are we
actually trying to incentivize now?





For those that have already understood that, here's a high level
overview of the podcast episode:





1) AI’s real impact on sales productivity





2) How AI changes sales compensation and quota setting





3) AI inside compensation operations and tooling





Now online on Spotify and co.