Payment periods and performance periods are linked for sales compensation design (though there are a small number of exceptions to). Paying a seller each quarter is either a discrete payment or a cumulative payment. Discrete payments are better for short sales cycles. Cumulative payments are better for more frequent payments to sellers where sales cycles are longer. B2B SaaS tend to do this when they have annual quotas with quarterly payments based on quarter-to-date performance.

When picking the comp plan, align it to the sales cycles and, if segments have wildly different sales cycles, consider different comp plans for sellers in those segments (but avoid the complexity of doing this if possible).

Consultancy rating: 4/5