MCPInstall

sales-compensation

Help users design sales compensation plans. Use when someone is hiring their first sales rep, restructuring sales comp, trying to align sales incentives with business goals, or dealing with comp plan issues like sandbagging or churn.

Installs
1.5K
Last 24h
—
Trending rank
—
Security
Not audited

Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/refoundai/lenny-skills --skill sales-compensation
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads sales-compensation automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Sales Compensation

Help the user design effective sales compensation plans using frameworks from 2 product leaders.

How to Help

When the user asks for help with sales compensation:

  1. Understand the business model - Ask about their sales cycle, ACV, and customer retention patterns
  2. Identify current problems - Determine if there are misaligned incentives or retention issues
  3. Design aligned incentives - Help them create comp plans that drive the right behaviors
  4. Consider ramp and quotas - Guide them on structuring pay for new hires

Core Principles

The standard 50/50 split is a starting point

Jason M Lemkin: "It's usually 50/50, right? 50% base, 50% bonus for a sales rep." The standard OTE structure is 50% base salary and 50% variable commission. This is a common baseline for quota-carrying roles.

Traditional comp plans are misaligned

Sahil Mansuri: "Sales comp plans are stuck in the stone ages... What we haven't done is built a modern technical sales compensation plan that actually aligns the needs and incentives of the business, the customer and the rep." Consider designing comp that rewards long-term retention and net dollar retention, not just closed deals.

Align incentives with customer success

If your business depends on customer retention, comp plans should include components tied to customer outcomes, not just initial bookings. Reps who close churny deals should earn less than those who close sticky customers.

Ramp periods matter

New sales hires need ramp periods with guaranteed draws or reduced quotas while they learn the product and market. Typical ramps are 3-6 months for SMB and 6-12 months for enterprise.

Simplicity drives behavior

Complex comp plans with many variables lead to confusion and gaming. Simple plans where reps understand exactly what actions increase their pay are more effective.

Questions to Help Users

  • "What percentage of new deals churn within the first year? Does your comp plan account for this?"
  • "Is your comp plan so complex that reps don't know how to maximize their earnings?"
  • "What behaviors are you trying to incentivize? Does your comp plan actually reward those behaviors?"
  • "How long is your sales cycle, and how does that affect cash flow for reps?"
  • "What's your ramp structure for new hires? Is it working?"

Common Mistakes to Flag

  • Incentivizing only bookings - Paying for closed deals without considering customer quality or retention
  • Over-complicated plans - Too many variables that confuse reps and enable gaming
  • No ramp protection - Expecting new hires to hit full quota immediately
  • Misaligned accelerators - Bonuses that kick in at the wrong thresholds
  • Ignoring churn - Comp plans that don't account for customers who don't renew

Deep Dive

For all 2 insights from 2 guests, see references/guest-insights.md

Related Skills

  • sales-qualification
  • product-led-sales
  • pricing-strategy

FAQ

What does the sales-compensation skill do?

Help users design sales compensation plans. Use when someone is hiring their first sales rep, restructuring sales comp, trying to align sales incentives with business goals, or dealing with comp plan issues like sandbagging or churn.

How do I install sales-compensation?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/refoundai/lenny-skills --skill sales-compensation in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/sales-compensation/ (personal) or .claude/skills/sales-compensation/ (project).

Which AI agents can use sales-compensation?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is sales-compensation safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains sales-compensation?

It is published by refoundai in refoundai/lenny-skills. It has 1,537 recorded installs.

More from refoundai/lenny-skills

View all →

personal-productivity

refoundai/lenny-skills

Help users manage their time and tasks more effectively. Use when someone is overwhelmed with work, struggling with focus, trying to balance multiple responsibilities, or asking how to get more done.

writing-prds

refoundai/lenny-skills

Help users transform abstract ideas into actionable project specs that align engineering and design teams on the problem and success metrics.

Docs & Writing3.3K installs

ai-product-strategy

refoundai/lenny-skills

Help users decide where to apply AI effectively, manage the transition from deterministic to probabilistic software, and build long-term defensibility through verticalization and proprietary data.

2.7K installs

competitive-analysis

refoundai/lenny-skills

Help users understand and respond to competition. Use when someone is positioning against competitors, evaluating market threats, running competitive war games, or deciding how much to focus on competitors versus customers.

2.7K installs

founder-sales

refoundai/lenny-skills

Help users master the transition from product development to active selling by leveraging their unique status as founders to bridge the trust gap and define a scalable sales motion.

Business & Finance2.7K installs

analyzing-user-feedback

refoundai/lenny-skills

Help users convert massive volumes of qualitative and quantitative feedback into high-confidence product decisions through rigorous synthesis and internal immersion.

2.6K installs

Popular business & finance skills

View category →

sales-enablement

coreyhaines31/marketingskills

When the user wants to create sales collateral, pitch decks, one-pagers, objection handling docs, or demo scripts. Also use when the user mentions 'sales deck,' 'pitch deck,' 'one-pager,' 'leave-behind,' 'objection handling,' 'deal-specific ROI analysis,' 'demo script,' 'talk track,' 'sales playbook,' 'proposal template,' 'buyer persona card,' 'battle card,' 'battlecard,' 'competitive one-pager,' 'win-loss analysis,' 'why are we losing deals,' 'loss reasons,' 'how do I respond to this objection,' 'prospect just said,' 'help my sales team,' 'sales materials,' or 'what should I give my sales reps,' 'cold call script,' or 'voicemail script.' Use this for any document or asset that helps a sales team close deals. For public competitor comparison pages, see competitors. For running buyer interviews or churn research, see customer-research. For marketing website copy, see copywriting. For cold outreach emails, see cold-email. For the offer being sold (bonuses, guarantees, pricing structure),

Business & Finance119.5K installs

revops

coreyhaines31/marketingskills

When the user wants help with revenue operations, lead lifecycle management, or marketing-to-sales handoff processes. Also use when the user mentions 'RevOps,' 'revenue operations,' 'lead scoring,' 'outbound pipeline stages,' 'lead routing,' 'MQL,' 'SQL,' 'pipeline stages,' 'deal desk,' 'CRM automation,' 'marketing-to-sales handoff,' 'data hygiene,' 'leads aren't getting to sales,' 'pipeline management,' 'lead qualification,' or 'when should marketing hand off to sales.' Use this for anything involving the systems and processes that connect marketing to revenue. For cold outreach emails, see cold-email. For email drip campaigns, see emails. For pricing decisions, see pricing.

Business & Finance114.1K installs

sales-funnel-blueprint

autonnel/autonnel-skills

Turn an offer into a concrete multi-step sales funnel spec - page-by-page structure, price ladder, copy outline and the metrics each step must hit. Use when asked to build a sales funnel, marketing funnel, landing page flow, lead magnet funnel, webinar funnel, tripwire or VSL funnel, when planning a product launch page flow, or when someone asks "what pages do I need" for selling something online.

Business & Finance104.5K installs

pricing

coreyhaines31/marketingskills

When the user wants help with pricing decisions, packaging, or monetization strategy. Also use when the user mentions 'pricing,' 'pricing tiers,' 'freemium,' 'free trial,' 'packaging,' 'price increase,' 'value metric,' 'Van Westendorp,' 'willingness to pay,' 'monetization,' 'how much should I charge,' 'my pricing is wrong,' 'pricing page,' 'annual vs monthly,' 'per seat pricing,' 'should I offer a free plan,' 'pricing page teardown,' 'pricing page audit,' 'is my pricing page AI-readable,' or 'can AI read my pricing.' Use this whenever someone is figuring out what to charge, how to structure their plans, or wants to audit a pricing page (for humans and for the AI agents that shortlist tools). For in-app upgrade screens, see paywalls. For offer construction (bonuses, guarantees, value framing, naming) on services/courses/coaching/high-ticket B2B, see offers.

Business & Finance80K installs

cross-border-ecommerce

nexscope-ai/ecommerce-skills

Cross-border e-commerce expansion advisor. Scores target markets on 8 weighted dimensions (market size, ecommerce penetration, competition, regulatory complexity, logistics infrastructure, payment ecosystem, cultural distance, IP protection), compares 5 fulfillment models with cost and transit data, provides country-by-country tax/duty compliance guides (EU VAT/IOSS, UK VAT, US sales tax, CA GST, AU GST, JP consumption tax), maps local payment preferences by market, and builds a phased expansion roadmap. No API key required.

Business & Finance62.9K installs

pricing-strategy

coreyhaines31/marketingskills

When the user wants help with pricing decisions, packaging, or monetization strategy. Also use when the user mentions 'pricing,' 'pricing tiers,' 'freemium,' 'free trial,' 'packaging,' 'price increase,' 'value metric,' 'Van Westendorp,' 'willingness to pay,' 'monetization,' 'how much should I charge,' 'my pricing is wrong,' 'pricing page,' 'annual vs monthly,' 'per seat pricing,' or 'should I offer a free plan.' Use this whenever someone is figuring out what to charge or how to structure their plans. For in-app upgrade screens, see paywall-upgrade-cro.

Business & Finance61.2K installs