BC Startup Sales Podcast - Resetting Quotas Amidst COVID-19 with Sanj Sanampudi (Concert Finance)

We were back in the studio this week for another edition of the Bowery Capital Startup Sales Podcast. This week we had Sanj Sanampudi from Concert Finance on to talk about resetting quotas and compensation amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The selling theatre for SaaS has completely changed and as a founder thinking about resetting quotas is likely a must. Sanj came on to the show to give us some details on how Concert Finance is working with clients around thoughtful resetting of quotas, compensation frameworks, motivations of teams, and more.

We first talked about the psychology of the current environment and where we are today amidst COVID-19. We moved on to chat about how Concert Finance and Sanj are advising companies in this environment. Specifically we spent a bit of time going through the changes necessary in your sales playbook as well as your quotas. Third, we walked through the feedback loop that Concert Finance utilizes with their customers. Next we ran through details on how quotas are directly tied to motivation and how you should tactically think about resetting these in your organization. We talked about moving towards a weekly system with your AEs and SDRs and how this can be beneficial in this market. We spoke a bit about top and bottom performers and how to handle them in this environment. Sanj spent a bit of time also talking about CS plans and how you should think about the success metrics in this environment. Towards the end we spent a bit of time talking through activity vs outcome based approaches to compensation. Sanj also mentioned how the CSO Insights survey around quota attainment (50-60% miss) is going to be a good barometer to watch in terms of sales efficiency going forward as we get back to basics in sales. Overall this was a timely podcast and we appreciated Sanj coming on and sharing his insights.

Sanj Sanampudi is co-founder and CEO of Concert, an incentive compensation platform built on the science and psychology of performance. Sanj was a speaker at the 2019 SaaStr Annual and the World at Work Spotlight on Sales Comp. He also co-authored the “How to Create Better Comp Plans in 2020” guide with Modern Sales Pros. Prior to Concert, Sanj was a CFO with deep experience in designing and administering compensation plans. He holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BS from New York University.

If you liked “Resetting Quotas Amidst COVID-19” and want to read more content from the Bowery Capital Team, check out other relevant posts from the Bowery Capital Blog.