One of the most common compensation missteps that we see occur in the business world of aesthetic medicine is the “incentive pay reset.” This occurs when an incentive program is developed for a sales consultant and the sales consultant achieves sales goals that are higher than anticipated thus receiving their just reward for the practice’s success. Essentially they become a rainmaker for the practice, a very valuable partner in building the business.
The problem occurs when the physician/owner decides that the “just reward” is just too much reward. When this happens the physician often times resets the incentive program making it almost impossible for the sales consultant to earn the same compensation level that they had in the past.
Every time that we have seen this situation occur the sales consultant has quit their job. Needless to say that every time a physician asks us what they should do we give them the exact same advice. Celebrate your success and be grateful that you have such a fantastic sales consultant! If you’re making $500K a year vs $250K why should you be bothered paying your sales consultant $100K?
The only outcome to adjusting compensation down is losing a great employee and worse, in this case your rainmaker. At first, he or she may only be a disgruntled employee but eventually he or she will leave. In business, it’s a sad day when it stops raining.
