Sales Performance Management (SPM) FAQ

Key questions answered:

• What is SPM?
• What does SPM software do?
• What’s the difference between earnings and payouts?
• What is ICM?
• When should we switch from spreadsheets?

Sales Performance Management (SPM) helps companies plan, measure, and improve sales performance—especially the workflows behind commissions, quotas, earnings, and payouts.

This FAQ covers the most common questions about SPM, Incentive Compensation Management (ICM), and commission tracking software.

EasyComp is Sales Performance Management (SPM) software built to help teams manage commissions, payouts, and plan performance with clear explanations and fewer disputes.

Core SPM Questions

What is Sales Performance Management (SPM)?

Sales Performance Management (SPM) is the set of processes and tools used to manage sales performance and incentive programs, including quota tracking, commission calculations, payout timing, reporting, and plan governance.

SPM software helps ensure sales incentives are accurate, auditable, and aligned with business goals.

What does SPM software do?

SPM software helps teams:

• Design and manage compensation plans
• Calculate commissions accurately
• Track quota attainment and performance
• Manage payout timing and payroll handoffs
• Reduce disputes with audit trails and visibility
• Report on plan effectiveness and cost

In short: SPM software turns comp operations from a spreadsheet-heavy process into a reliable system.

Who uses Sales Performance Management software?

SPM software is typically used by:

• Revenue Operations / Sales Operations (plan management + performance operations)
• Finance / Accounting (controls, compliance, payout timing)
• Payroll teams (processing payouts correctly and on time)
• Sales leadership (incentives and attainment visibility)
• Sales reps (understanding earnings and payouts)

What problems does SPM software solve?

SPM platforms are designed to solve common commission workflow pain, like:

• Slow month-end commission cycles
• Manual commission calculations in spreadsheets
• Rep mistrust (“How did you get this number?”)
• Frequent payout mistakes and corrections
• Difficult audits and missing history
• Comp plans that are too complex to manage manually
• Inconsistent rules across teams or territories

Commissions, Earnings, and Payouts

What is commission management software?

Commission management software helps a business calculate and track sales commissions based on comp plan rules—typically using CRM + billing/invoicing data.

It’s a core component of Sales Performance Management (SPM).

What is commission tracking software?

Commission tracking software shows:

• what a rep earned
• what deals contributed
• how calculations were applied
• what has been paid out (and what hasn’t)

Good commission tracking tools focus on accuracy and rep visibility.

What’s the difference between earnings and payouts?

Earnings are what a rep has earned based on the compensation plan rules (for example: when a deal is booked).
Payouts are what the rep is actually paid (often after an invoice is paid, or on a payroll schedule).

Many companies need to manage both, especially when payout timing depends on collections.

Why do companies separate earnings and payouts?

Companies separate earnings and payouts to:

• align payouts to cash collection
• reduce risk from churn or non-payment
• follow payroll timing rules
• handle clawbacks and adjustments cleanly
• keep the process auditable

This is especially common in B2B SaaS and services businesses.

Why do reps dispute commissions so often?

Commission disputes usually happen because:

• plan rules are unclear or inconsistently applied
• spreadsheets change manually with no audit trail
• payout timing is confusing
• source data changes (deal edits, invoice updates)
• exceptions aren’t documented
• reps can’t see the “why” behind the number

A strong SPM system reduces disputes by making calculations explainable and traceable.

Incentive Compensation Management (ICM)

What is Incentive Compensation Management (ICM)?

Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) is the discipline of administering and managing sales compensation plans, including:

• commission calculations
• plan governance
• payout processes
• reporting and auditability

ICM is often a core module within Sales Performance Management (SPM).

Is ICM the same as SPM?

Not exactly.

• ICM focuses heavily on compensation plan rules, commissions, and payouts.
• SPM typically includes ICM plus broader performance tools like quotas, attainment analytics, and planning.

Most people use the terms closely together, and many tools cover both.

Quotas and Performance

What is quota attainment?

Quota attainment measures how much of a rep’s quota has been achieved during a specific period (monthly/quarterly/annually).

Example:
If quota is $100,000 and the rep closed $80,000, attainment = 80%.

How does SPM software help with quota management?

SPM software helps teams:

• define quotas by rep, team, region, or segment
• track attainment over time
• connect attainment to compensation and accelerators
• monitor plan cost and effectiveness

Evaluating SPM Tools

When should a company adopt SPM software?

SPM software becomes valuable when:

• commissions take days (or weeks) to calculate
• you’re heavily reliant on spreadsheets
• disputes are frequent
• plan complexity increases (multiple roles, products, tiers)
• payout timing depends on invoice payments
• finance needs cleaner auditability and reporting
• comp changes are common

In most cases: if commissions are a recurring monthly pain, you’ve outgrown manual systems.

What should I look for in an SPM platform?

Key things to evaluate:

• Flexibility of plan rules (without manual workarounds)
• Clear earnings vs payout workflows
• Rep visibility and “how it was calculated” breakdowns
• Audit trail and historical versions
• Exception handling and adjustments
• Reporting for Finance and leadership
• Implementation and ongoing admin effort

Can SPM replace spreadsheets completely?

For most organizations, yes.

Spreadsheets often remain as:

• a backup export
• ad-hoc analysis
• a migration tool during rollout

But the goal of SPM is to eliminate spreadsheets as the system of record for commissions.

What’s the difference between SPM software and CRM?

A CRM (like Salesforce or HubSpot) tracks deals, pipeline, and customer activity.
SPM software tracks compensation logic like commissions, quota attainment, payouts, and plan performance.

CRM tells you what was sold.
SPM tells you what was earned and what gets paid.

Is EasyComp Sales Performance Management software?

Yes. EasyComp is Sales Performance Management (SPM) software that helps teams manage:

• commissions and earnings calculations
• payout timing and workflows
• plan performance visibility
• audit-ready reporting
• clear explanations of how commissions were calculated

What makes EasyComp different?

EasyComp is built to make commission operations easier to run and easier to trust—by focusing on:

• accurate commission calculation
• clear breakdowns that explain the numbers
• earnings and payout workflows
• fewer disputes and faster month-end close

Run commissions without the spreadsheet chaos

EasyComp helps RevOps and Finance teams manage compensation with speed, accuracy, and confidence.

✅ SPM + commission tracking
✅ Earnings and payouts
✅ Clear calculations and audit trails
✅ Faster month-end workflows

‍