Incentives Are Not Just for Reps: How Incentive Plans Deliver Strategic Impact

Incentives have evolved far beyond sales commission structures. In today's interconnected business landscape, every department plays a role in driving revenue - be it Marketing generating high-quality leads, Customer Success ensuring renewals, or Product teams enhancing adoption. Yet, only 36% of organisations align their incentives across teams, leading to silos and missed growth opportunities.

Key takeaway: Cross-functional incentive plans align all departments towards shared revenue goals. By rewarding contributions like customer satisfaction, lead quality, and retention rates, companies achieve 2.4x higher revenue growth and double profitability growth. This approach ensures every team is accountable for revenue outcomes, fostering collaboration and eliminating conflicting priorities.

Why this matters:

• Revenue is a team effort: Today’s buyers interact with multiple touchpoints, making siloed incentives outdated.
• Retention and growth demand alignment: Subscription-based models thrive when Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success work together.
• Data-backed impact: Organisations with aligned incentives report 72% higher profitability and 38% better win rates.

This guide explores how to design cross-functional incentives that align teams, improve collaboration, and drive measurable business results.

Why Incentives Should Extend Beyond Sales Teams

The Changing Revenue Landscape

Today's buyers are more informed than ever, diving into digital channels to analyse marketing materials, product features, customer reviews, and support options - all before even speaking with a salesperson. Revenue generation is no longer just about closing deals; it’s the result of seamless coordination among marketing, sales, and support teams.

In industries driven by ongoing services, like SaaS, retaining customers requires more than just initial sales efforts. Continuous support and proactive relationship management are essential to maintaining a product's relevance. However, when incentive structures focus solely on sales teams, the vital roles played by marketing and support teams often go unrecognised.

Revising compensation strategies can significantly amplify sales outcomes - by as much as 50% compared to adjustments in advertising spend. Yet, only 33% of organisations align their incentive plans with overarching business objectives . This disconnect highlights the need for incentive structures that encourage collaboration across all revenue-driving functions.

Moving Beyond Sales-Only Incentives

In a world where buyers interact with multiple touchpoints before making a purchase, sales-only incentives create a narrow focus on individual performance. This approach often undermines the teamwork required to navigate complex deals.

The shortcomings of traditional incentive models are particularly glaring in subscription-based businesses. For instance, only 17% of companies offer commissions for account renewals, and just 25% incentivise upselling efforts. These gaps not only threaten long-term profitability but also fail to acknowledge the critical roles of non-sales teams in sustaining revenue .

"When incentive mechanics don't reflect the company's strategy, customer experience, or revenue model, plans backfire. Reps follow the plan, not the business priorities." - CaptivateIQ

To truly succeed in today’s revenue landscape, organisations must rethink their corporate incentive programmes, ensuring they reward every team that contributes to the customer journey.

Key Departments That Drive Revenue Beyond Sales

Today, revenue generation is no longer the sole responsibility of sales teams. Different departments now play vital roles, and when their incentives are misaligned, businesses risk losing significant growth opportunities. Cross-functional incentive plans address this by recognising and rewarding the contributions of these varied teams, ensuring everyone's efforts align with broader business goals.

Marketing and Demand Generation

Marketing plays a pivotal role in creating a steady flow of high-quality leads, which fuels the sales pipeline. However, traditional incentive systems often overlook their direct influence on revenue outcomes. Instead of focusing solely on the number of leads generated, businesses are shifting to quality-based metrics, such as MQL-to-SQL conversion rates, to evaluate marketing performance.

Quality beats quantity every time. When marketing teams prioritise lead volume without considering lead quality, sales teams waste time chasing unqualified prospects. To avoid this, incentivise marketing based on metrics like pipeline velocity, campaign ROI, and the quality of leads that convert into sales. You can also introduce cross-functional bonuses, such as rewarding marketing when specific objectives - like a high adoption rate for a new feature - are met. Keep incentive plans simple and measurable, with 2–4 clear KPIs per role. If your marketing team struggles to understand how their bonuses are calculated, the plan is likely too complex to drive the desired behaviours.

"The comp plans that work the best are those that both a) motivate employees to succeed and b) pay off the bigger goals the company is driving towards." - Heather Lohmann, Senior Content Marketing Manager, CaptivateIQ

This focus on quality metrics creates a framework that other teams, such as Customer Success, can adopt for their incentive structures.

Customer Success Teams

Customer Success (CS) teams are critical in bridging initial sales with long-term revenue growth. Their work ensures that customers derive value from your products, leading to better retention and higher customer loyalty. Effective CS incentive plans should target key metrics such as Net Revenue Retention (NRR), expansion revenue, and customer satisfaction scores.

Balancing retention and growth is essential. For instance, you could offer different commission rates, like 4% for expansion revenue versus 6% for new business . Retention bonuses tied to milestones - such as maintaining an account for a specific period - can further encourage long-term success. Strategic account managers should adopt a "general manager mindset", dedicating 30–50% of their time to internal strategy and 50–70% to direct client engagement . Below, you'll find a recommended compensation structure for CS and other revenue-driving roles.

Customer Service and Support

Customer service teams are uniquely positioned to drive revenue by identifying upsell opportunities and preventing customer churn. When their incentives are tied to retention metrics, they can shift from being reactive problem-solvers to proactive revenue contributors.

Team-based bonuses are particularly effective for customer service roles. Instead of fostering internal competition, structure incentives around overall team performance or feedback from frontline sales teams. Track metrics like customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), resolution time, and the impact of support quality on account retention. Research shows that mature organisations are 2.8 times more likely to implement team-based rewards ^[7], recognising the collaborative nature of support work. By rewarding support teams for identifying expansion opportunities or preventing high-value churn, you transform them into active participants in revenue growth.

While customer-facing teams focus on retention, internal teams like Product and Operations ensure the business delivers value efficiently and stays competitive.

Product and Operations

Though not directly involved in sales, Product and Operations teams significantly influence how quickly a company can capitalise on innovations and deliver value. Metrics like feature adoption rates and time-to-market are directly tied to retention, upselling, and competitive positioning.

For product management roles, focus incentives on Product Qualified Leads (PQLs) - users who reach specific engagement milestones within your product, indicating a high likelihood to purchase or upgrade. PQLs often convert at much higher rates than traditional marketing-qualified leads because they reflect actual product usage and value recognition . Additionally, time-to-market incentives encourage teams to prioritise speed without compromising quality, helping businesses maintain competitiveness and drive revenue faster.

Operations teams in manufacturing and delivery should be rewarded for metrics like On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) performance, first-pass yield, and overall equipment effectiveness. Companies with integrated incentive plans for operations see an 8 percentage point higher shareholder return compared to industry averages . For these roles, annual or milestone-based payouts are often more effective than frequent cycles.

Designing Cross-Functional Incentive Plans

To achieve unified revenue goals, it's crucial to align each role's incentives with the larger cross-functional framework. This means designing incentive plans that reflect the unique contributions of each role, rather than defaulting to a generic sales commission model. Metrics should be tailored to highlight the specific impact of each role.

Setting the Right Metrics for Each Role

Crafting an effective cross-functional incentive plan begins with identifying clear, actionable metrics for every role. These metrics should align with what each role can directly influence. For instance, marketing and product managers should be evaluated on outcomes within their control.

The choice of metrics should also reflect your organisation's current priorities. If you're entering a new market, marketing teams might focus on metrics like market penetration or brand awareness. Conversely, when profitability is the goal, metrics such as gross margin improvement or cost-per-acquisition take precedence. A balanced approach that considers both past performance and forward-looking indicators ensures incentives remain relevant and forward-thinking.

Take the example of a Customer Success Manager: their performance might be evaluated using metrics like net revenue retention, expansion revenue, and customer satisfaction scores. Supporting this trend, research shows that 93% of leading U.S. companies now use formula-driven annual incentive plans, up from 83% in 2019 .

It’s also important to determine the appropriate level of at-risk pay for each role. Variable pay should account for at least 8% of total compensation to meaningfully influence behaviour. For revenue-generating roles like sales, this figure often exceeds 50%, while support roles typically range from 8–12%, and strategic roles such as marketing or product management fall between 15–25% .

Once metrics are in place, the next challenge is finding the right balance between individual and team-based rewards.

Balancing Individual and Team Incentives

Focusing too heavily on either individual or team metrics can lead to imbalance. A hybrid incentive model that combines both approaches offers a more sustainable solution.

For example, a sales representative's variable pay might be split with 70% tied to personal sales quotas and 30% linked to regional performance. Similarly, a marketing manager might have their bonus divided evenly between individual campaign results and contributions to the company’s overall pipeline.

Hybrid models are particularly effective when multiple departments contribute to a shared outcome. Some organisations allocate incentives based on team workload to ensure fairness, avoiding the inefficiency of "double rewards", where the same revenue is credited to multiple quotas. This approach is better suited for short-term collaborations rather than long-term strategies.

"Mature organisations are... 2.8 times more likely to offer team-based rewards." - Deloitte 2024 High-Impact Rewards study

For roles that don't directly generate revenue - like solution architects or customer support - team-based bonuses tied to collective performance or qualitative feedback from frontline teams can work well. This reduces internal competition and encourages a collaborative culture where success is shared.

The next step is to use shared goals to further unify departmental efforts.

Shared Revenue Goals and Bonus Pools

Shared revenue goals and bonus pools align the success of different departments by linking their outcomes to common objectives.

One effective method is Management by Objectives (MBOs), where a portion of a department's payout depends on another's success. For instance, a sales representative’s incentive might partially depend on the customer satisfaction scores achieved by the Customer Success team for the accounts they onboard. This creates a feedback loop that encourages sales teams to prioritise customers likely to deliver long-term satisfaction.

Profit-sharing and gainsharing are other models worth exploring. Profit-sharing connects rewards to overall company earnings, fostering a sense of shared accountability. Gainsharing, on the other hand, focuses on rewarding specific teams for measurable improvements in operational KPIs like cost savings or productivity. For example, Boeing revamped its bonus plan in early 2025 to align all business units under company-wide metrics emphasising safety, quality, and programme execution .

Short-term incentives, such as cross-team SPIFs, can also drive alignment without requiring a complete overhaul of compensation structures. For example, offering a bonus to the marketing team for achieving high product adoption rates can ease the workload for Customer Success, creating immediate alignment.

When setting shared goals, consider using tiered performance bands such as Threshold (minimum acceptable), Target (100% goal), and Stretch (120%+ performance). This structure keeps motivation high across varying levels of achievement. Additionally, ensure controllability - don’t tie bonuses for support roles to metrics like overall company profit if they lack influence over pricing or costs.

Lastly, establish a robust governance process to resolve disputes over reward allocations. For example, one global financial services firm limits individual quota-based plans to frontline sales roles, while support roles like product specialists and solution architects receive standard bonuses based on team performance and qualitative feedback from sales teams .

Best Practices for Implementation

Crafting cross-functional incentive plans is just the starting point - success lies in how effectively they're put into action. The gap between a plan that delivers results and one that causes confusion often boils down to execution. Without aligning stakeholders, ensuring clear communication, and making ongoing adjustments, even the most well-designed incentive structure can falter.

Gaining Cross-Functional Buy-In

The first step is to secure agreement and support from all relevant departments, following compensation best practices for alignment. Build a coalition that includes representatives from HR, Finance, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Operations. Each team offers a unique perspective, and involving them early ensures the plan is grounded in practical realities, not just theoretical assumptions.

"The strategy should be driving the compensation plan and not the other way around." - SalesGlobe

Align the incentive structure with your company’s strategic objectives to ensure it supports, rather than dictates, your broader goals . A phased approach can help ease the transition. Consider a four-stage maturity journey: Launch (engage Product and Customer Success teams), Prove (show ROI to Marketing and Sales), Scale (standardise processes across functions), and Embed (integrate company-wide KPIs) . By building trust incrementally, this approach avoids the pitfalls of a forced, top-down overhaul.

Different roles are motivated by different types of incentives. While sales teams often respond well to commissions, Solution Architects or Customer Care teams may thrive on team-based bonuses or qualitative feedback . One-on-one discussions with representatives from each department can shed light on what drives their motivation and highlight potential friction points before they become obstacles .

Quick wins are crucial for gaining momentum. Demonstrating early, tangible results can help convince the C-suite and other stakeholders of the plan’s value  For instance, if the marketing team achieves measurable improvements in key metrics early on, sharing those successes can build enthusiasm and secure ongoing support.

Once buy-in is achieved, the next challenge is ensuring the plan is communicated clearly and understood by everyone involved.

Clear Communication and Transparency

After securing support, the focus shifts to making sure employees fully understand how the plan works. Research indicates that 85% of commissionable employees recalculate their earnings manually at least occasionally due to a lack of trust in the system’s accuracy. This "shadow accounting" not only wastes time but also points to a transparency issue.

The incentive plan should be simple enough for employees to grasp within minutes, without needing complex spreadsheets or manager-led explanations. A concise one-pager with clear examples can make a big difference. Walk teams through it in live sessions, and test the explanation with a smaller group first to ensure clarity. If employees can’t explain it back to you, the plan needs simplification.

"If your team doesn't understand how the plan works, they won't trust it - or use it to guide their efforts." - Everstage

Transparency also involves giving employees real-time visibility into their performance and earnings. Currently, only half of companies provide this level of insight, even though 92% of employees say clear visibility into compensation is a key motivator. Self-service dashboards can eliminate guesswork and reduce HR-related queries.

For cross-functional teams, establish clear rules of engagement. Define how roles collaborate, how credit is shared, and how revenue is divided. For example, if a sales representative closes a deal but Customer Success manages expansion revenue, clarify compensation for both parties upfront. A formal process for assessing contributions and resolving disputes ensures fairness.

Managers also play a critical role. Equip them with the tools and knowledge to act as plan ambassadors. Internal FAQs, manager training sessions, and toolkits can help maintain consistent messaging across the organisation. Regularly review support tickets or Slack threads to identify recurring questions or pain points, and address those issues proactively.

With communication and transparency in place, the next step is to ensure the plan evolves alongside business needs.

Regular Reviews and Adjustments

Incentive plans aren’t static - they must adapt to changing market conditions and business priorities. What works in one quarter may need tweaking in the next. Establish a formal review process, ideally on a quarterly basis, involving HR, Finance, and Revenue Operations to assess performance and ensure alignment with current goals.

For example, in early 2025, Boeing updated its annual bonus plan to reflect new company-wide priorities. The changes emphasised safety, quality, and programme execution across business units, fostering a unified effort and improving employee engagement. Such adjustments keep incentive plans relevant and effective.

Mid-cycle feedback loops add another layer of adaptability. Gather input from employees and managers during the performance period rather than waiting for a post-mortem review . Pulse surveys conducted every 6–12 months can help identify areas of confusion and provide opportunities for real-time course corrections .

"Incentive strategies should evolve just like the business does." - Visaka Jayaraman, Everstage

When revising plans, aim for simplicity. Limit each role to 2–3 key performance indicators (KPIs) to maintain focus. Overloading employees with too many metrics can dilute their attention and obscure what truly drives results.

Finally, ensure the adjustment process is transparent and well-documented. Keep clear records of data inputs and calculation methods to maintain trust in the system’s fairness. Use no-code tools and deep data integrations to make updates seamless and error-free across departments. This not only reduces administrative workload but also reinforces confidence in the system’s accuracy.

Measuring Success and ROI

Evaluating the success of cross-departmental incentive plans requires a focus on clear, measurable outcomes. While aligning teams is crucial, so is understanding the results of that alignment. Without tangible metrics, the benefits of these efforts remain unclear. Success can be assessed through three key areas: alignment improvements, revenue impact, and employee engagement. Let’s explore how each can be effectively measured to ensure accountability.

Tracking Alignment Improvements

The first step in gauging success is determining whether departments are collaborating more effectively. Research shows that companies with strong Go-To-Market (GTM) alignment grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable than their competitors . A good starting point is implementing shared scorecards that tie different departments to common financial outcomes. For instance, when Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success teams track metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), and net profit contribution together, it encourages a unified approach rather than siloed efforts.

A practical example is CMO Kevin Ruane’s initiative to conduct a demand process assessment. This effort led to shared lead definitions and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between Marketing and Sales, reducing friction. The result? Faster lead follow-ups and improved conversion rates .

Operational metrics also highlight alignment progress. Metrics such as project cycle durations, time-to-market, and completion rates reflect the benefits of collaboration. For example, Metal Marker Manufacturing created cost-reduction task forces with shared goals, achieving an 18% reduction in production costs while maintaining quality .

Qualitative measures like the frequency of knowledge sharing, the strength of cross-departmental relationships, and responsiveness between teams also provide valuable insights. A case in point is Filippa K’s marketing team, which implemented an automated data cleaning solution. This reduced reporting time from hours to minutes, enabling more strategic, cross-team discussions based on shared data .

"Companies with strong GTM alignment grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable than competitors." – DemandRevenue

Another useful metric is tracking SLA adherence for team handoffs, such as the speed of Marketing-to-Sales lead transfers or Customer Success follow-ups. Despite the importance of alignment, only 33% of companies align their incentive programmes with organisational goals, even though 93% use structured annual incentive plans. Clearly, there’s room for improvement.

With alignment metrics in place, the next step is to connect these efforts to financial outcomes.

Revenue Impact Analysis

Ultimately, alignment must deliver financial results. However, focusing solely on revenue without considering quality can erode profit margins by 15–20% . To ensure sustainable growth, organisations should track metrics that go beyond top-line numbers:

• Net Revenue Retention (NRR): Aiming for an NRR above 110% is a hallmark of high-performing organisations .
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Payback Period: Keeping this under 12 months ensures efficiency in acquiring customers .
• Marginal ROI of Incentive Spend: A ratio between 3 and 5 indicates effective performance .
• Balanced Scorecards: Companies using 4–6 KPIs, including profitability and retention, see 35% better long-term outcomes than those focusing only on revenue.

"A plan that drives revenue at the cost of margins, customer retention, or forecasting accuracy can harm long-term growth." – Diya Mathur, Kennect

Additional metrics like Compensation Recovery Time - the months of revenue needed to cover a representative’s compensation - are also insightful. This can be paired with metrics like Revenue per Rep and Win Rate. For instance, in 2024, Sanofi’s sales operations team saved over 210 days annually by automating their incentive compensation processes. Similarly, a global shipping company used machine learning to analyse currency and trade data, improving forecast accuracy by over 15%.

While financial metrics are critical, they don’t tell the whole story. The engagement and motivation of your team play a vital role in sustaining performance.

Employee Engagement Metrics

Beyond revenue and alignment, employee engagement is a crucial factor. Employees in collaborative environments tend to stay focused on tasks 64% longer than those working independently . Moreover, organisations with strong collaborative cultures are twice as likely to be profitable and three times as likely to lead their markets .

To measure engagement, consider tools like the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) for teams sharing incentive goals. Collaboration surveys and tracking response times between departments can also provide valuable insights .

"Top-performing leaders are 30% more likely to be those who excel at collaboration across functions." – Harvard Business Review

Transparency in compensation is another key motivator. A striking 92% of employees say that visibility into their compensation is crucial, yet only 52% of companies offer real-time performance tracking . Monitoring turnover rates and tracking innovations resulting from cross-departmental brainstorming sessions can further indicate the success of incentive plans. In fact, effective collaboration can lead to a 20% boost in innovation .

Finally, consider the role of non-financial goals in incentive plans. The inclusion of metrics like customer satisfaction and employee engagement has risen from 38% in 2020 to 57% today . This shift reflects a growing understanding that how revenue is achieved is just as important as the revenue itself.

How Kennect Supports Cross-Functional Incentive Plans

Silos in organisations often stifle revenue growth, but Kennect's platform is designed to break through these barriers. By going beyond basic sales automation, Kennect enables businesses to shift from isolated, sales-only incentive models to integrated, revenue-focused strategies. This approach ensures that incentive plans can align seamlessly across multiple functions, fostering collaboration and driving growth.

Platform Capabilities for Multiple Roles

Kennect's hierarchy management system is built to accommodate the complex needs of cross-functional incentive plans. Unlike traditional systems that impose rigid structures, Kennect offers the flexibility to manage multiple hierarchies simultaneously. These hierarchies can be tailored to reflect different business units, regions, or functional teams. For instance, Marketing might work within a campaign-driven framework, while Customer Success operates under an account-focused structure.

The platform is also equipped to handle mid-cycle changes effortlessly. If an employee transitions from Marketing to Customer Success mid-quarter, Kennect automatically recalibrates their incentive calculations. Additionally, it supports employees holding dual roles across departments, such as a Product Manager contributing to both product development and demand generation. This adaptability is crucial for organisations with overlapping responsibilities.

Kennect takes this a step further by creating role-specific incentives that align with each department's contribution to revenue. Sales teams can work with quota-based plans, Marketing can focus on pipeline generation metrics, Customer Success can target net revenue retention, and Product teams can be measured on adoption rates. All these metrics are tracked with precision and made available in real time, ensuring transparency and accountability. The platform also allows for granular tracking, enabling managers to monitor progress at the level of individual initiatives .

Flexible Compensation Structures

Kennect's scheme builder offers a powerful way to design and manage compensation plans across departments. Managers can link roles, simulate scenarios, and adjust parameters to forecast ROI effectively. For example, Customer Success bonuses can be tied to Marketing's qualified lead generation, fostering a collaborative environment. This feature not only helps secure stakeholder approval but also highlights potential challenges early in the process.

Complex revenue-sharing goals are simplified through pro-rata calculations and automated roll-ups. When multiple teams contribute to a single revenue target, Kennect ensures that credit is distributed accurately based on predefined attribution models. Managers benefit from multi-level visibility, gaining insights into how their teams contribute to larger organisational objectives. By automated incentive compensation management, Kennect significantly reduces administrative workloads, enabling programmes to scale without adding extra staff .

Real-time dashboards provide detailed insights for every stakeholder. Employees can drill down from their total incentives to individual transaction details, understanding how their efforts impact their earnings. Managers can view team-level performance, while executives access analytics at the business unit or scheme level. This level of transparency not only boosts engagement but also reduces the volume of queries.

Kennect also integrates smart nudges into existing workflows, helping teams stay focused on activities that drive revenue. These behavioural prompts are delivered directly within the tools employees already use, aligning their actions with incentive goals. The platform's AI and predictive analytics further enhance its capabilities, offering proactive forecasting and dynamic incentive structures . This ensures that cross-functional incentive plans remain effective and adaptable as business conditions change.

Conclusion

Revenue generation has evolved into a shared responsibility that extends far beyond the sales team. When Marketing generates a steady flow of qualified leads, Customer Success ensures renewals, and Product drives adoption, the organisation functions as a cohesive revenue engine. Cross-functional incentive plans make this vision a reality by dismantling silos, aligning team efforts with strategic objectives, and clarifying how every department impacts the organisation's financial success.

Research shows that companies fostering collaboration often achieve higher profitability and market dominance. With 59% of organisations expected to rely on incentive compensation programmes to fuel business growth by 2026, those that expand these plans beyond traditional sales roles are positioned to gain a critical edge. This approach not only unifies efforts but also builds a foundation for sustainable growth.

Transitioning from sales-focused compensation to cross-functional incentive plans is a strategic necessity. Rewarding Marketing for lead quality, Customer Success for retention, and Product for adoption aligns goals across departments, accelerates decision-making, and enhances the customer experience. This shift ensures that all teams work in harmony, paving the way for long-term success and future opportunities.

As highlighted, aligning incentives across functions breaks down barriers and drives tangible results. Organisations that succeed in the years ahead will be those that treat revenue generation as a collective effort. Cross-functional incentive plans provide the necessary framework to turn this mindset into actionable outcomes. With well-designed plans, clear communication, and flexible platforms, every department - from sales to product - can actively contribute to achieving revenue goals.

FAQs

How do cross-functional incentive plans encourage better collaboration across teams?

Cross-functional incentive plans are a powerful tool for encouraging collaboration among teams like marketing, customer success, product, and operations by tying them to shared revenue goals and performance metrics. When every department is rewarded for contributing to broader business outcomes - such as customer retention, pipeline growth, or product adoption - it cultivates a sense of shared responsibility and teamwork.

By focusing incentives on collective achievements rather than individual targets, these plans help dismantle silos and encourage open communication across teams. This unified approach sharpens the organisation's focus on its overall success, improves coordination, and nurtures a more connected workplace culture. In the end, aligning efforts in this way leads to stronger results and ensures that all departments are moving together toward common strategic goals.

What are the key metrics to evaluate the contribution of non-sales teams to revenue growth?

To gauge how non-sales teams contribute to revenue growth, it's essential to track metrics that tie directly to the organisation's objectives. For marketing teams, key indicators include pipeline generation and campaign performance, as these reflect their ability to attract prospects and turn them into revenue-generating opportunities.

When it comes to customer success teams, metrics like net revenue retention and upsell or expansion rates are crucial. These figures demonstrate their effectiveness in fostering recurring revenue and enhancing customer lifetime value.

For customer service and support, metrics such as customer satisfaction scores and their influence on retention rates are vital, as they help stabilise revenue over time. To gain a holistic view of departmental contributions, a multi-touch attribution model can be employed. This approach highlights how various teams work together to drive revenue, encouraging collaboration and shared accountability.

By aligning these metrics with a well-structured cross-functional incentive plan, organisations can achieve a broader, more strategic impact that extends beyond the traditional focus on sales.

Why should Customer Success and Product teams be included in incentive plans?

Including Customer Success and Product teams in incentive plans plays a crucial role in driving revenue growth and improving retention. Customer Success teams are instrumental in keeping customers satisfied and loyal, which not only boosts retention rates but also opens doors for upselling opportunities. Offering incentives to these teams encourages them to focus on strengthening customer relationships and securing consistent, recurring revenue.

On the other hand, Product teams have a significant impact by speeding up time-to-market, increasing product adoption, and introducing new ideas. By tying their efforts to incentive plans, organisations can ensure that their objectives - like successful product launches and expanding market presence - are in sync with overall revenue goals.

Incorporating these teams into cross-functional incentive programmes promotes stronger collaboration, aligns departmental objectives with strategic revenue priorities, and shifts the focus from a sales-only incentive model. This approach fosters a unified, revenue-driven culture across the organisation.

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