What the 2026 research says about plans and targets

Sales plans changed almost everywhere this year. Alexander Group's 2026 survey shows the scale. 97% of companies changed their sales incentive plans. The same survey found 57% struggle to set accurate quotas. About 65% need better governance and program management. One in five rated their 2025 plans as very effective.

Timing matters as much as design. SalesGlobe's 2026 research tracked when quotas reached sellers. Some quotas went out by the end of month one. There, 54% of sellers hit quota. Where quotas slipped to month three, about 41% did. SalesGlobe also found a habit. 60% base quotas primarily on prior-year results.

Read together, the figures describe one gap. Plans change every year. Targets arrive late and rest on the previous year. One leader in five rates the plan very effective.

Sources: Alexander Group, 2026 Sales Compensation Trends Survey, published 2026, hundreds of companies across 11 industries, exact sample not disclosed · SalesGlobe, Sales Compensation: The Big Issues of 2026, 14 September 2026, two surveys of experienced practitioners, sample not disclosed · neither discloses its country mix

Plans change yearly, and late targets cost attainment early.

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What a sales performance management system does

Gartner describes sales performance management, or SPM, in plain terms. SPM platforms help sales operations leaders plan and run two things. Its 2026 research names them: sales territories and incentives. Its Peer Insights listing names further required features. They include quota planning and pay-performance analytics. They also include self-service sales analytics.

A sales performance management system joins those parts into one loop. Four steps repeat every month.

1. Set territories and targets. Each rep gets a fair, dated target.
2. Calculate incentives. Each rep is paid on the plan as written.
3. Show performance. Reps and managers see where they stand, daily.
4. Coach. Managers act on what the numbers show.

What the coaching changes feeds next month's targets and next year's plan. The loop then closes.

Large companies run these four steps today. Each sits in a different tool, owned by a different team. Targets live in a planning sheet. Payouts live in a finance workbook. Visibility arrives as a monthly PDF. Coaching happens from memory.

A sales performance management system makes four jobs one loop.

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The four parts, and the question each one answers

Each step answers a question a CXO already asks.

The research behind the loop is old and broad. Edwin Locke and Gary Latham reviewed 35 years of goal-setting studies. Specific, difficult goals raised performance across more than 100 tasks. Those studies involved more than 40,000 participants. They also found feedback moderates the effect. Goals with feedback beat goals without it.

A target is the goal. Visibility and coaching are the feedback. An incentive plan without both leaves the rep guessing.

Target setting has its own craft. See how to set sales quotas for targets and quotas. Building targets from prior-year sales has a cost. That cost is target ratcheting.

Source: Locke and Latham, Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation, American Psychologist, 2002, review of 35 years of studies, more than 40,000 participants in at least eight countries · laboratory and field settings, few studies on commission plans specifically

Targets set the goal, and coaching supplies the feedback.

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How the loop looks in pharma, banking, insurance and FMCG

The four steps hold across industries. The inputs differ.

Pharma and life sciences

India's pharma field force is about 6,00,000 people. Targets are set by brand, territory and doctor coverage. Secondary sales from stockists drive many payouts. Visibility matters because medical representatives work alone, in the field, all day.

Banking and lending

Branch and relationship teams carry targets on several products at once. Loans, deposits, cards and cross-sell each pay differently. A sales performance management system shows each banker their mix. It also shows which product moves them to the next slab.

Insurance

Agency forces are large and turn over fast. IRDAI counted 28.95 lakh individual life agents on 31 March 2024. Insurers terminated 6.98 lakh agents in 2023-24 for failing minimum business targets. Clear targets and early feedback decide who stays.

FMCG and consumer goods

Targets run through distributors and beats. Payouts depend on secondary sales, outlet coverage and lines per call. Data arrives from the distributor management system, often late. The loop works when that data reaches the rep the next morning.

Sources: Kennect claim register · India pharma field force of about 6,00,000 as reported by Hindustan Times · IRDAI Annual Report 2024 as reported by Deccan Chronicle, 2 March 2025, all life insurers, agents terminated for failing minimum business targets

The loop holds in every industry, and the data changes by sector.

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The data a sales performance management system needs

The loop runs on five feeds. Each one already exists in a large company.

• HRMS for who reports to whom, joining dates and exits.
• CRM for opportunities, accounts and credited deals.
• SFA for calls, visits and coverage in the field.
• DMS for distributor and stockist secondary sales.
• ERP for invoices, collections and returns, often in SAP.

The principle is simple. Fill the white spaces, do not disrupt the foundation. HR stays in the HRMS. Sales stays in the CRM and SFA. Finance stays in SAP. The system reads from each and writes the payout back.

Where these feeds stay apart, three things break. Targets go out late. Payouts get questioned. Managers coach from old numbers. See how to manage sales incentives for a sequence.

The system reads from five systems you own and writes payouts back.

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How Kennect helps run the loop

Kennect is an AI-led sales performance and incentive compensation management platform. In our field teams, the four steps rarely share one source. So we bring them into one place.

Targets. Plans and targets are held as dated versions. An audit trail and change log record each edit. Targets reach every rep on day one.

Payouts. The calculation engine credits and pays on the plan as written. It recomputes and carries forward when data changes. This is the incentive compensation management software side of the loop.

Visibility. Each rep has a personal cockpit, a slab view and a what-if simulator. Next, AI-powered nudges flag a slab within reach. Leaderboards show standing across the team.

Coaching. The management cockpit shows attainment by role. Then, AI performance insights flag slipping run rates.

Return. Leadership reads the return with return on incentives paid.

One deployment had about 8,000 representatives. There, the share earning an incentive rose from 34% to 76%. In a pharma deployment, medical representatives who used the app 25 or more days a month raised attainment by 17.4%.

Source: Kennect claim register · one deployment, about 8,000 representatives, same cohort, share earning an incentive 34% to 76% · separate pharma deployment, medical representatives active 25 or more days a month, attainment 106.8% to 125.4%, a correlation from an uncontrolled comparison

When everyone reads the same numbers daily, the loop runs.

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What this means for the plan year starting April 2027

The plan for 2027-28 starts on 1 April 2027. Targets for it are being built now. Three decisions can be made before January.

1. Fix a date by which every rep has a target.
2. Connect the five data feeds before the plan goes live.
3. Give every manager one view of the team, updated daily.

Our sales performance management software is built around that loop.

Timely targets, correct payouts and live coaching make the year work.

Read more on incentive compensation management, and how Kennect works for pharma, FMCG, banking and insurance.

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