Sales management · Compensation
Know what the market pays for your sales role before you make the next offer.
Sales pay benchmarking compares what you pay a sales role, fixed and variable, with what comparable employers in your city and trade pay. It covers the sources to use, how to build a benchmark table, and ends with a recommended total pay figure the owner signs.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Sales pay benchmarking compares what you pay a sales role, fixed and variable, with what comparable employers in your city and trade pay. It covers the sources to use, how to build a benchmark table, and ends with a recommended total pay figure the owner signs.
A candidate for a field sales role at a Coimbatore textile-machinery firm turns down the offer. The owner is told the number was ten thousand below a competitor's. Nobody at the firm knew the competitor's number because the salary had been set on what the last hire accepted.
Benchmarking is a table with a source for every row. Define the role, the city tier and the trade. Collect at least three data points. Set your own average fixed and variable pay beside them and decide where in the range you want to sit. The owner or the HR person owns it, accounts gives the actual payroll figures, and you do it before every hire and at least once a year.
It replaces the 'whatever feels fair' number. It comes before the pay-mix page, which splits the total into fixed and variable, and next to the benefits inventory, which adds the cost of everything else.
Where this sits
Topic 7 of 14 in sales management: compensation. Designing and checking the sales pay plan.
- The topic before
- Motivation and coaching
- The topic after
- Sales expenses
If you want this done for you
Your incentive plan rewards activity that has nothing to do with what needs selling.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Job portals give a range, not a price”
Salary pages on job portals and review sites are self-reported and skewed by the biggest employers. Use three or four, read the spread, and add what your competitor's rejected candidates told you.
“Compare like with like”
A rep selling a one-lakh machine to a factory and a rep selling a three-thousand-rupee product to a kirana are different jobs. Match the buyer, the ticket size and the travel, not the job title.
“Cost of living differs between city tiers”
A figure that works in Bengaluru will overshoot in Belagavi and undershoot in Gurugram. Benchmark in the city where the rep works and note what they need to live on, not just what the market pays.
“Fixed pay has a legal floor”
State minimum wage rules and how wages are defined for PF and gratuity change what you can fix and what you can vary. Check the structure with your CA or labour adviser before you finalise it. Rules differ by state and change.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The role profile
Job title, what the rep sells, to whom, city, travel, years of experience asked for and the industry. Half a page.
Result: Finished when two people reading it would picture the same person.
The benchmark table
Rows for each source with date, location, fixed pay, variable pay and total, plus competitor offers you have seen. At least three dated sources.
Result: Finished when each number has a source and a date.
The current pay comparison
Your average fixed and variable pay for this role, next to the benchmark low, middle and high.
Result: Finished when you can say where each of your reps sits against the range.
The recommended pay figure
One total-pay target for the role, with the reason for placing it where it is. Signed by the owner and dated.
Result: Finished when you could give the number to a recruiter tomorrow.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Where do I find salary figures for my trade?
Should I match the highest figure?
How often do benchmarks go stale?
Do we need a consultant for this?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of compensation
Or read all of sales management.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.