Direct-Selling Compensation Plans: Is Yours Aligned With What Sellers Want?

Direct-selling compensation plans—they’re largely complicated, rarely fun to read, and yours could be missing the mark if not structured and written for, you know, the average human brain.

Having personally spent many, many hours trying to connect the dots between companies' compensation plans and their product lines, I can tell you: we are putting a huge burden on sellers.

With the explosion of simple-to-understand affiliate programs across the retail space, it may be time to get back to basics and ask ourselves how the OG of affiliate programs can become more appealing.

I have a few additional thoughts to add to this insightful Dan Jensen article from the Direct Selling Association.

If you've made the what clear in your comp plan, have you made the how clear as well?

Say you have a simple bonus in your comp plan. For example: "Sell five packs at 200 PV each, make $500.” Great. But now your new seller is looking around. How do I sell five packs? Where do I go? What tool do I use? What do I say?

Don’t leave it up to them to connect the dots. Connect your seller to action: to ONE tool and ONE repeatable behavior to achieve that sales goal.

Personally, I love the Hussle App and have set it up and incorporated it into integrated sales and marketing strategies at two direct-selling companies. It allows sellers to share across social platforms or through SMS and maintains attribution for the sale. It's simple and effective, and gives your sellers one place to go for everything they need.

Update the app with your preferred products, packs, seasonable promotions, etc., and all the seller has to do is share. Your sales team can teach to one tool, and your sales leaders in the field can do the same, incorporating their own sales strategies on top of and in addition to any corporate-led techniques to align all your sales and growth goals.

Less confusion in the field means more focus on action and results.

What does “meaningful recognition” look like to today’s sellers?

All compensation plans include some kind of recognition for rank advancements. But how do sellers want to be recognized? What keeps them motivated?

When was the last time you asked them?

We used to feature them in magazines back in the day...big feature stories or articles that they could keep as momentos of their achievements, share with friends when they came over to their homes for parties, or when they hosted events.

It's almost 2026. We need to get up-to-speed on what people want. The companies that give it to them will be the ones that end up on top.

Some companies recognize their leaders through social posts, Zoom calls, phone calls…a walk across a stage if there’s an event. Recognition is important, but it looks different now. We need to get more creative. We need to understand people's motivations for this business, what helps them feel valued at each "level" they achieve, and how to provide them with something that's meaningful and helpful as they continue to grow.

I vote using the Cameo app and having D-list celebs do shout-outs to leaders. How fun and shareable would that be!

It's a joke. Kinda. But really. The main thing to do is ask.

Survey a broad spectrum of your sellers to get down to what they want...and then deliver. This may vary from company to company, but the main point is that how you recognize lines up with the types of sellers you ultimately want to keep and attract to your business.

People want to be rewarded with money.

Consider: if you worked really hard at your job and your boss asked if you wanted a pin and something signed by the CEO as a reward or a $200 bonus, which one would you choose?

These sellers work hard to understand the compensation plan and reach certain tiers within the organization...tiers the company has said are important. So yes, reward them with money. But it's your responsibility as the creator of the compensation plan to ensure that the reward lines up with what makes the most sense for your continued growth.

Consider:

1. These tiers should mean something to the organization. The compensation plan should be structured in a way so that by reaching this milestone, the seller has demonstrated clear competency in setting up their team for long-term success to the clear benefit of the company. This could mean helping others reach an initial success level at the company, bringing in a certain number of other sellers or customers, retaining a certain number of people for a certain amount of time, bringing in a certain number of new sellers or customers within a certain amount of time, etc. in addition to bringing in a certain amount of overall sales within a certain time frame.

2. The company should have data around what creates that tier or level of success. As in, "When a leader does A, B, C, and D, they are more likely to accomplish E, the company is more likely to make F in the long term, and G sellers are more likely to accomplish H, I, and J, and their K customers are more likely to be retained for L and buy M." Etc. Having a data-centered approach to creating the compensation plan bonuses to begin with then makes it much easier to determine how big the cash bonuses are when they achieve it and the sales strategy to bring your sellers along. You'll be able to explain the why behind the plan and give them the steps to get there.

3. Feedback from your sales leaders is great, but it shouldn't be used to create bonus structures. Their experience is going to be unique to how they sell. It may not be what's best for the company as a whole and sustainable growth. Always go back to your sales data.

This is just scratching the surface of the issue at hand in direct-selling right now: even a PERFECT compensation plan, if one could exist, would still need holistic experiences built around it to be successful: 

• Simple digital experiences to support your sellers:

  • onboarding, acquisition tools (sales)

  • optimized shops

  • retention strategies

  • easy management systems

  • leadership training that’s triggered as they grow

• Products with points that align with comp plan payouts:

  • don't make sellers rack their brains piecing together just the right products to recommend to hit their sales targets

• Experiences to support customers from the brand side so sellers can focus on acquisition:

  • onboarding

  • targeted retention campaigns based on data (Apptor-AI provides machine-learning data that’s a marketing team’s dream)

  • pathways to upgrade your best customers to sellers

I see it like this: direct sales should be simple. And fun. I believe it can be. But that means we have to look at how everything fits together, and when I say everything…everything. If we can make it all align, make the path clear with compensation, product story, and your digital experiences for sellers and customers? Magic.