Claim OwnershipThe Sales Compensation Show
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Description
Welcome to The Sales Compensation Show with Nabeil Alazzam!
A podcast where we dive deep into the world of sales, incentives, and enterprise performance management in some of the most in-depth, data-driven conversations in the industry.
Stay up to date on the research, advice and philosophies of leading experts, so you can drive your business forward in any economic environment.
A podcast where we dive deep into the world of sales, incentives, and enterprise performance management in some of the most in-depth, data-driven conversations in the industry.
Stay up to date on the research, advice and philosophies of leading experts, so you can drive your business forward in any economic environment.
48 Episodes
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Ever wondered what truly great sales performance really looks like in practice? In this special episode we break from our usual format to spotlight a candid conversation with enterprise leaders building world-class global sales performance programs. Forma.ai's own Shawn Rossi, VP of Strategic Services, sits down with Dennis Johnson, the CFO at Qlik, and Dr. Robert Bieshaar, Head of Go-to-Market Performance Management at Autodesk. Together they unpack what it takes to run effective sales compensation at scale — beyond the expected baseline of processing payouts. From quota setting to territory design, to system modernization and governance, the discussion gets tactical and unfiltered.
Topics include:
✔ Admin excellence as table stakes—and where you need to be shifting your time instead
✔ The toughest parts of sales planning (and how to get it right)
✔ How you know it’s time to leave Excel behind
✔ How to spot misalignment before it derails performance
✔ How to involve sales leadership (and the field) early and ensure sales planning runs on schedule
✔ Managing complexity while keeping plans simple
✔ Breaking the habit of “rogue comp” and last-minute incentives
As you up-level your SPM strategy or work to earn cross-functional buy-in, this episode is packed with real-world insights you won’t want to miss.
In this episode, Nabeil Alazzam sits down with Melissa Fenner, Sr. Director of Global GTM Strategy, Planning and Compensation, from Docusign to go behind the scenes at her current organization. The two discuss Melissa's career journey, the critical importance of over-communication, practical takeaways on piloting programs to test comp strategies, and some hot takes on whether comp plans really need to change as often as best-practice suggests (or if consistency could be even better).
When your company is growing rapidly, sales planning can quickly turn into chaos. In this special episode from our Sales Planning Summit event, you’ll hear how two industry leaders navigate constant change without losing alignment or sales team momentum. Sid Kumar (Area Vice President, GTM Strategy & Planning, at Databricks) and Michael Duncan (Sr. Director, GTM Strategy & Operations, at Gong) share proven tactics for scaling processes, keeping Sales, RevOps, and Finance in sync, and driving execution at speed.
Finance and revenue leaders don’t always see eye to eye—but when it comes to setting sales targets, quotas, and comp plans, alignment is non-negotiable. In this special episode of The Sales Compensation Show, senior leaders from ZoomInfo, Red Hat, and Klaviyo share how their teams navigate the complexities of cross-functional planning.
Moderated by Forma.ai’s David Gerardi, the conversation explores: How finance and revenue teams approach sales planning differently, balance growth targets with fiscal responsibility, consider quota setting, comp plan design, and forecasting risk, plus how these leaders recommend building trust—and avoiding misalignment—between GTM and finance.
This candid panel will give you a window into how real, high-performing companies tackle the planning process *together*.
Knowing how and when to change your sales plan mid-year—based on performance signals or market shifts—can make the difference between hitting quota and missing it. In this timely episode, leaders from Zoom, Snowflake, and Siemens share how they detect early warning signs, realign territories and quotas, and adjust comp plans without derailing performance. If you’re in the thick of sales planning, this is the episode you need to hear!
Midway through planning season, sales compensation leaders are under pressure to get it right—aligning with RevOps and Finance, building data-driven plans, and adjusting for what didn’t work in H1.
In this special episode of The Sales Compensation Show, recorded live at our Sales Planning Summit, leaders from LinkedIn, Docusign, and Atlassian share how they navigate these exact challenges at scale. Tune in to hear how world-class organizations coordinate cross-functional planning, build trusted data foundations, and leverage past performance to inform their strategies. You’ll also hear how AI and automation are reshaping planning cycles—and what to watch for to avoid the most common breakdowns.
If you’re deep in the weeds of planning or trying to future-proof your approach, this conversation is a must-listen! Subscribe to catch even more episodes from the Sales Planning Summit series.
In this special episode, three powerhouse compensation and revenue operations leaders from Microsoft, HP, and SAS share how they use data—not gut instinct—to design smarter territories, quotas, and incentives. Recorded live at the Sales Planning Summit, the discussion features insights on analytics-driven planning, AI forecasting, and real-world strategies from best-in-class orgs.
What does it really take to become a VP of RevOps? As the RevOps function continues to rise in strategic importance, the path to VP is becoming both more visible—and competitive. We spoke with three RevOps leaders—Andy Mowat (Carta), Danny Schonfeld (Glia), and Esther Friend (Udemy)—about their personal career paths to VP, key skills defining leadership, and how to stand out in such a competitive field.
This episode's perfect for aspiring leaders and current RevOps pros ready for the next step.
Ali Rastiello, VP of Revenue Operations at Health Catalyst, has seen just about every side of RevOps.
In this episode she shares how she scaled RevOps in a high-complexity health technology environment—with a high-stakes, reputation-sensitive buyer pool, extended sales cycles, and system-level decision-making. Learn how she approaches exec buy-in for data investments, automates data cleanup at scale, and considers comp plans reflecting real GTM structure.
What does revenue leadership really expect from RevOps in 2025? In this special episode of The Sales Compensation Show, we’re bringing you three powerhouse CROs to discover exactly how they see this role's evolution and what's required today.
Joining Forma.ai's Founder & CEO Nabeil Alazzam we have Susan Rothwell, Chief Revenue Officer at Epsilon, Allison Metcalfe, Chief Revenue Officer at Cloudinary, and Latané Conant, Chief Revenue Officer at 6sense.
Together, they unpack how the RevOps-CRO partnership is changing—and what today’s leadership truly needs from operations teams.
You’ll learn how RevOps can elevate beyond execution—actively shaping strategy and influencing outcomes, the metrics CROs care about most in 2025 (and what’s being deprioritized), how to walk the line between operational rigor and strategic agility, and why forecasting accuracy is not simply a nice-to-have anymore.
If you're a RevOps leader (or aspiring to be one), this episode is terrific for understanding what the C-suite wishes they could tell you about how to partner with them.
From carrying a quota at Microsoft to leading global GTM planning, comp, and systems at Snowflake, James Jackson has seen every side of high-growth—from scale to recalibration.
In this episode, he joins Forma.ai CEO Nabeil Alazzam to unpack why sales comp plans should express (not set) strategy, how he helped rightsize GTM at Docusign post-hypergrowth phase, and the metric he used to do it. Plus: rebuilding comp credibility, translating exec priorities for the field, and designing for agility in a consumption-based world. It's a must-listen for GTM, RevOps, and sales comp leaders navigating complexity at scale.
Welcome back to the Sales Compensation Show! We’re breaking format to bring you a special conversation from RevOps Kickoff, our digital summit for revenue operations leaders. Originally recorded live, our panels brought together top minds in GTM, Sales Comp, and Strategy—and the response was too powerful to let the insights fade.
So, we’re repurposing the best of those discussions here on the podcast.
In this panel hosted by Kyle Webster, Chief of Staff at Forma.ai, you'll hear from:
--> Christina Straggas, Head of Global Sales Compensation at Equinix
--> James Jackson, Global Head of Sales Planning, Compensation, and Systems at Snowflake
--> Nabeil Alazzam, Founder & CEO, Forma.ai
Listen in to hear about:
--> The unseen drivers of quota shortfall
--> Compensation’s role in rep confidence
--> Early signals to act on before targets are missed
--> Aligning Sales, Finance, and Strategy to course-correct in real time
If you’re in RevOps today, you’re juggling real challenges: aligning cross-functional KPIs, automating insights without losing context, scaling systems without adding fragility—and doing it all while navigating AI disruption and economic uncertainty.
In this episode, Alana Kadden Ballon, VP of Revenue Operations at Sprout Social, shares how she’s built resilient RevOps functions that bend but don’t break.
From SDR at Salesforce to leading ops at Duo Security, Wiz, and now Sprout Social, Alana’s seen—and solved—the full range of challenges scaling SaaS orgs from $10M to $500M+.
You’ll hear her philosophy on making data actionable, embedding redundancy into your operating model, and rejecting silver-bullet thinking in favor of real, scalable systems.
In this special episode from our RevOps Kickoff 2025 series, we explore how to position Revenue Operations as the strategic driver of your go-to-market engine. Hosted by RevOps Co-op Founder Matthew Volm, the panel features leaders from Birdeye, Sprout Social, Bottomline, and Cloudinary—sharing how they align teams, drive cross-functional accountability, and elevate RevOps from a support function to a central force in GTM success.
If you're responsible for building scalable systems that connect planning to execution, and continually looking for ways to move beyond tactical firefighting to long-term GTM leadership, this one's a must-listen!
Welcome to a special edition of The Sales Compensation Show, where we’re breaking from our usual one-on-one deep dives to bring you live panel discussions from our RevOps Kickoff 2025 digital conference.
In this episode, Forma.ai's own Deniz Karadadas hosts a powerhouse panel of RevOps executives to unpack how top revenue teams planned for 2025 from the start.
Tune in to hear from:
Sowmya Srinivasan, VP of Revenue Operations at HubSpot
Ali Rastiello, VP of Revenue Operations at Health Catalyst, and
Tessa Whittaker, VP of Revenue Operations at ZoomInfo
Together our seasoned experts cover:
- Emerging RevOps trends and innovations for 2025
- Lessons learned in 2024—what worked and what didn’t
- How to balance daily execution with long-term growth
- Ways to drive cross-functional alignment using your tech stack
- Factors that matter across the entire GTM motion
This panel is packed with both tactical insights and executive-level strategy you don't want to miss!
Brandon Farb—named one of the Top 50 Sales Comp Leaders to Watch in 2025—joins The Sales Compensation Show to unpack what happens when Sales Planning and Compensation operate as one unified, holistic function. As the leader of both teams at Allstate Canada, Brandon shares how this (often rare) structure drives agility, trust, and real results.
From shifting to quarterly planning cycles to designing segmented comp plans that actually motivate, Brandon breaks down his data-driven, field-tested approach to building better sales performance. Whether you're redesigning comp, aligning GTM strategy, or just trying to simplify your payout logic—this episode is packed with insight.
Digital-first companies like Spotify thrive on data. And in the world of media and advertising, sales operations leaders must navigate shifting buyer preferences, regulatory changes, and the increasing role of AI—all while ensuring their teams are aligned for revenue success.
Wade Jastremski, Head of Revenue Management & Forecasting at Spotify , sat down with us on The Sales Compensation Show to take you behind the scenes of one of the world’s most influential media platforms.
From forecasting ad revenue across volatile global ad markets to building a comp structure that scales with Spotify’s ad-supported model, Wade shares how Sales Ops at Spotify balances speed, scale, and data precision.
In this episode discover how Spotify triangulates forecasts with 96% accuracy, lessons from scaling Sales Ops in emerging and international markets, why Spotify centralized RevOps (and the impact), what Wade believes AI in Sales Ops actually requires as a pre-requisite, how he thinks about quota setting, and much more!
Whether you're in SaaS, fintech, or media, this is a great conversation on operational excellence.
What does it really mean to be data-informed in sales compensation? And what does jazz have to do with sales comp?
In this episode, Kenny Smith, Sales Incentive Plan Design Lead at Red Hat, shares how to structure data, balance analytics with intuition, and design comp plans that align with strategy — not just statistics. Learn how to reframe metrics, guide stakeholder discussions, and operate as a true strategic advisor in your org.
With countless ways to configure territories, quotas, and sales incentive plans within traditional ICM systems, scaling sales performance management can often feel like a huge tradeoff.
You can (seemingly) either have highly customizable plans that are technical, difficult to change, and require deep expertise—or simpler, rigid plans that sacrifice flexibility for ease of administration in legacy ICM software.
Which raises a crucial question: Are the endless customization options of traditional ICM systems worth the operational burden? Or is there a better way to balance adaptability and efficiency? How is the landscape evolving for the needs of the business and sellers?
In this episode, we unpack flexibility and scalability with Brian Le from Notion. How does he tackle scaling comp at organizations of various sizes? We’ll explore specialized expertise, and ways brands are approaching flexibility. Join us as we discuss how to strike the right balance between adaptability and operational efficiency.
As a revenue or sales operations leader, you're tasked with enormous responsibility—ensuring every piece of the go-to-market strategy functions smoothly. The backbone of alignment, you shoulder the burden of driving efficiency, data accuracy, and forecasting, while also enabling sales teams to perform at their best.
In this episode we’ll explore how Akira Mamizuka, VP of global sales operations for SaaS at LinkedIn proactively breaks down silos, improves communication to streamline GTM execution, drives revenue growth, ensuring every functional team is working toward the same objectives. Listen in for Akira's practical lessons learned for fostering collaboration and creating a unified approach to GTM success.
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