"Show Me The Money!": Executive Compensation

Tom Cruise made the line famous when he screamed it at the top of his lungs to keep a difficult but important client. While this may be an extreme made-for-the-movies example, here in the real world not much grabs a client’s attention more than showing them how your solutions impact not only business results, but also their personal results or compensation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaiSHcHM0PA So how do you do that? It starts by first understanding what drives their compensation and how your solution’s impact those related metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs). Find out:

What are your client’s executive KPIs?
How are the executives bonuses based on these KPIs?
What is the impact of your company’s solutions on these KPIs?

Company executives are often compensated based on minimum and stretch targets for KPIs such as earnings per share (EPS), revenue and revenue growth, cash flow and profit measures, and return measures such as ROI. If EPS is top of mind for your client, show him or her how your solutions affect EPS. Profitability? Give him or her the numbers. Don’t be afraid to ask what improvements to specific KPIs will add to the bonus pool. Being able to measure the impact of your solutions on your client’s business is a powerful tool, but showing executives how your solutions impact their compensation could prove persuasive. Nothing sells like making it personal. And while it may be difficult to put in dollars exactly how much more they’ll make, if you’re able to help that executive imagine him or herself in a 2013 Porsche Turbo S or enjoying the back deck of a new lake house, you’ve made your company’s solutions more personal – and you’ve “shown them the money!" By the way – the movie – Jerry Maguire. The client – Arizona Cardinals wide receiver, Rod Tidwell, played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.

This was originally posted on December 10, 2012

"Show Me The Money!": Executive Compensation - Make it Personal