As organizations close out their current planning periods and finalize their 2026 budgets, a familiar conversation is unfolding in boardrooms across many industries, but with a notably different tone than in years past.
When sales compensation professionals join with revenue leaders to ask, "Are our sellers aligned with where the business is going?" the answer typically has led to making incremental adjustments: sometimes minor tweaks, sometimes more substantial modifications. But when looking toward 2026, these discussions are increasingly evolving beyond routine calibrations to encompass several fundamental shifts in how organizations structure their sales compensation.
Likewise, chief revenue officers are expressing similar sentiments on the sales compensation. Opportunities previously existed to pursue transformational changes, say reworking incentive structures, or redefining roles, or rethinking evaluation and reward systems. But these initiatives often were deferred. Now, sales environments are evolving at an accelerating pace, and compensation plans risk falling behind when companies continue to rely solely on incremental modifications.
When both HR and Finance teams find themselves engaged in similar compensation conversations with their sales leaders, it signals a broader organizational recognition: something fundamental is changing. A wholesale reconsideration of how companies structure their sales roles and design their reward systems may be called for. And with November coming quickly, the likelihood that incremental changes will continue unless business leaders adopt a game plan to intervene.
Four compensation trends for 2026 planning
As a comparison, we offer four trends that we believe will impact sales compensation in 2026 and beyond based on our client experiences in these areas.
- Buyer DIY: Buyers are enabled to do their homework now more than ever. Before they even talk to a member of a sales team, they likely have read reviews, watched demos and compared vendors. They are also clicking through product options, configuring solutions and signing contracts online. That’s great for overall efficiency, but it changes the game for how an organization defines “selling.”
- Virtual sales engagement: Most organizations have adopted some type of approach to virtual selling and have confidence that it works. Buyers are also comfortable with it and seek new capabilities to support their needs. Virtual engagement will impact seller behavior, job content and associated outcomes.
- Data-driven prospecting: Today’s prospecting is powered by data with a targeted outreach, automated content and predictive suggestions. It’s more science than hustle.
- Rise of the customer success manager: Software as a service (SaaS) companies pioneered this creation of a customer success manager, which is now increasingly being adopted by other industries. Customer success managers are now driving renewals, usage and long-term value as critical members of the revenue engine. As these new roles mature, arrant a seat at the incentive compensation table.
Near-term actions for 2026 sales compensation
The implications of the various trends and changes to job content for sales professionals is that the associated incentives may now be misaligned to the nature of work performed. Aligning incentives with job content is not just good practice, it can be essential for fairness, motivation and sustained high performance.
For example, high-persuasion roles may still warrant high variable compensation. However, seller roles that have shifted to require lower persuasion may be more suited for “higher base-less incentive” compensation models to match pay to impact.
For new job roles, there may be a need to incorporate new performance metrics into inventive models that reflect their contributions. This is true for jobs that are focused on developing social media leads, an increasing use of pre-sales marketers as well as other product specialists. These roles may not be traditional sellers, but they are influencing revenue.
Companies also may have separate incentive arrangements for product experts, solution architects or vertical specialists. These positions can play an increasing role in guiding buying decisions. They may not be “sellers” in title, but due to the greater role they have to drive deals, they should be rewarded like sellers.
Finally, when it comes to headcount reallocation, virtual selling may have changed the companies deploy sales teams. These may impact quota or target performance and if so, changes to incentive compensation models should follow.
Longer-term actions
If a top-to-bottom review of your sales compensation strategy hasn’t recently been done, 2026 might be the year to do it. The selling environment is changing and the buyer journey is evolving. As a result, seller roles companies are developing for the future may no longer look like those of the recent past.
As such, company leaders who realize that sales compensation should more squarely reinforce behaviors that drive growth may see the value of challenging the way their company’s current plans are ready for what’s next.
Contacts:
Partner, Human Capital Services
Grant Thornton Advisors LLC
Eric Gonzaga is a Principal and practice leader for the Human Capital Services (HCS) group in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Industries
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- Healthcare
- Technology, Media & Telecommunications
- Not-for-profit & Higher Education
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- Tax Services
- Human Capital Services
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