On the last day of the quarter, two executives claimed the same booking. One had met the buyer at a site-visit in March. The other had taken the final call and collected the token-cheque. The sales-head listened to both, split the credit down the middle and annoyed everyone. Three weeks later, the one who lost out stopped sharing leads.
Executives focus on whatever the incentive scheme rewards. If it rewards bookings alone, they chase bookings, hoard leads, avoid hand-holding and argue over credit. If it rewards a mix of site-visits, bookings and clean closures, they behave differently. The scheme is a quiet instruction manual for the sales floor.
Where disputes start
- Lead credit. A lead from a hoarding, a channel-partner, a walk-in or an earlier executive. Who owns it, and for how long?
- Shared bookings. Two or more people worked the same buyer. How is credit divided?
- Cancellations. A buyer cancels after the token and the first demand-letter. Is the incentive returned, and from when?
- Timing. Paid at booking, at agreement, at first payment, or at registration? The gap fuels distrust.
- Target resets. A slab designed for a launch-weekend carried into a slow quarter.
What disputes cost
Time first. A sales-head spends hours on credit arguments that a one-page rule would settle in minutes. Then trust. The executive who feels shortchanged shares fewer leads and works against colleagues. Then exits, since the best executives have options. Finally brokers: when in-house staff and channel-partners compete for credit, brokers hear of it and may take the buyer elsewhere.
Designing a scheme people trust
- 1
Decide what to reward
Site visits completed, bookings, clean closures, collections on time. Choose three at most.
- 2
Write the credit-rule
Who owns a lead, for how many days, and what happens when it is worked by two people. Include channel-partner leads.
- 3
Write the cancellation-rule
What is returned, from when, and how it is recovered. Put it in the offer letter.
- 4
Fix the payment-date
One date, same every month, tied to a milestone people can see on a booking-form.
- 5
Test it on old bookings
Run the rule on ten past bookings, including two awkward ones. If you cannot settle them in a minute each, simplify.
- 6
Publish an example sheet
Three worked examples with numbers made up for illustration, shown to the whole team.
- 7
Review yearly
Adjust for new products, price changes and market shifts. Announce changes in advance.
Working with brokers and in-house staff
Brokers bring volume, and in-house executives do the closing. Define who handles broker queries, who attends site-visits and how credit is shared. A small team of broker-support staff can own the relationship and keep executives from competing with channel-partners. See the performance management page for apartment developers and the mixed-use developers compensation page for how the pressure differs by product.
A few things that rarely get written down
- Site-visit credit. If an executive hosts the visit but another books, who gets what? Decide in advance.
- Referral bookings. A buyer referred by an existing owner. Does the referrer's executive get credit?
- Discounts. Who may offer one, up to what limit, and does it affect the incentive?
- Team leaders. Do they earn on the team's bookings, and does it dilute the executives' share?
These four lines cause more arguments than the headline slab. Write them on the same page as the main rule. A short note on role structure for team leaders and broker-support staff helps as well.
Reading the mood of the sales floor
Disputes rarely start loudly. They start as a silence at the Monday meeting, a lead not shared, a booking form held back until the last hour of the quarter. Watch for these quiet signs. Ask each executive once a month what part of the scheme feels unclear. Keep a log of every credit decision with the reason, and review it with the director each quarter. If the same type of dispute repeats, the rule has a gap, not the people.
Pay attention to the newest joiners. They see the scheme with fresh eyes and often say what the veterans have stopped noticing. Ask them to explain the rule back in their own words after a week. If they cannot, it is too complicated.
Keeping it fair after launch
The scheme should survive a quiet quarter. Consider a modest base that rises with site-visit completions, so a slow month does not empty a pay slip. Review the targets with each executive in plain numbers. Good performance and incentive design makes the scheme visible and fair.
Where to start
Take ten past bookings, including the messiest, and see whether your current rule settles each in a minute. Where it does not, write the missing line. The developer hub lists the other pressure points sales teams face.
