There is no doubt that sales organizations are becoming more complex. As companies continue to grow, branch out into new lines of business, or enter new markets, it’s increasingly common to see multiple sales roles in the same territory (e.g., AE, SE, CSM, Channel). This increases coverage and specialization, providing a higher level of customer touch. However, it can also lead to a number of challenges: how to fairly compensate people with overlapping roles, while still driving collaboration and achieving the best results?

This article will cover some of the key considerations and best practices when designing incentives for teams with overlapping roles.

Why Overlapping Roles Exist?

Before getting into specific incentive design, let’s discuss why this trend of having salespeople with overlapping roles is happening in the first place.

It is not unusual to have specialized functions. For example, a sales organization may have “hunters” who are responsible for new logo acquisition, and “farmers” whose job is to grow an account once it is closed. Additionally, many customers are more complex and require support across various functions throughout the buyer journey (e.g., product specialists). Lastly, there is a growing trend of hybrid sales models (i.e., direct and indirect), with companies using both internal sales teams as well as partner or distributor organizations, and often even the two teams operating in the same territories.

Overlapping roles increase coverage and depth of expertise. However, they can also cause confusion about who owns what and whose credit should be given where, as well as challenges in allocation and contention over payouts.

Common Challenges When Incentivizing Overlapping Roles

a.Credit Disputes and Ownership
How do you give credit to the person who really closes the deal? Salespeople will fight over ownership or opt-out of helping the team when their value is unclear.

b.Lack of Collaboration
When incentives are not aligned, the team may not share data or information, hurting the customer experience.

c.Unaligned Metrics
Since people have different objectives (e.g., AE is measured on bookings, CSM is measured on NPS or renewals), it is difficult to develop a single incentive structure that motivates.

d.Quota Setting Difficulties
Because territories are overlapping, it can lead to double counting or missing quotas, which can hurt motivation and the forecast.

Best Practices for Incentivizing Salespeople with Overlapping Roles

1. Define Roles and Accountabilities
The most important first step to successful overlapping roles is to establish clear definition of what each role is responsible for, as well as who is accountable for what stage of the sales process and what the team has influence on.

Example: At a SaaS company, the Account Executive is responsible for closing new business. The Sales Engineer helps with technical validation and the Customer Success Manager works on onboarding and renewals. When it is clear who is responsible for what part of the customer life cycle, it becomes easier to assign incentive, and avoid the friction.

2. Use Collaborative Quota Structures
Sales managers do not want to pit team members against each other. Therefore, use a shared or overlay quota when it makes sense, rather than incentivizing for each role in isolation. This fosters collaboration and joint success.

Example: In a region with a team of salespeople, the overall quota for the team is set at a total annual quota. Each member of the team has their own quota, but 20% of their incentive is also tied to the team performance. The team is aligned, but each person is still accountable.

3. Use Influence-Based Credit Models
In the case of complex deals, we cannot simply take a black and white approach to credit allocation. Use influence-based crediting models that share credit based on the contributions of the parties involved.

Types of credit models:

a.Primary / Secondary Split (70/30)
b.Equal Split between stakeholders
c.Stage-based allocation (pre-sales, close, post-sales)

Example: In a B2B manufacturing company, a Product Specialist was responsible for pre-sales work. The Territory Sales Manager would get 80% of the total commission and the Product Specialist 20%. This split was clearly documented in the CRM so that there was no argument about it.

4. Use Incentives that Align to the Role-Specific KPIs
Don’t try to force everyone into a single goal. You can have KPIs that align to their role and function and that support the ultimate sales outcome indirectly.

Examples:

a.Sales Engineer: Incentive for deal win rate and POC conversion
b.Customer Success: Incentive for retention rate and upsell opportunities
c.Channel Manager: Incentive for partner-led revenue growth

5. Leverage Technology for Transparency
Use a centralized sales performance management (SPM) or incentive compensation management (ICM) platform to drive crediting logic, settle disputes, and make everything transparent.

Example: An enterprise tech company leveraged SAP Commissions to implement a rules-based credit engine. Based on deal attributes and engagement logs, credit was automatically allocated to AEs, SEs, and Partner Managers. It eliminated shadow accounting and manual adjustments.

Case Study: Aligning Overlapping Roles at a Global MedTech Company

Background:
A global MedTech company had Field Sales Reps, Product Specialists, and Clinical Support Teams operating in the same hospital systems.

Challenge:
Each role had a different definition of what success looks like. Product Specialists wanted credit for the technical win, but Field Reps claimed all quota credit. The Clinical Team had no incentive alignment even though they were critical to post-sale adoption.

Solution:
A three-tiered incentive model was developed:

a.Field Sales: 60% of quota on bookings, 20% on team performance, 20% on adoption metrics
b.Product Specialist: 40% on technical win rate, 30% on deal involvement, 30% on team success

c.Clinical Support: 50% based on post-sale utilization, 30% on customer feedback, 20% on renewals

Results:

a.15% increase in cross-role collaboration
b.8% reduction in customer churn
c.25% improvement in forecast accuracy

Governance and Communication are Essential

In order to make overlapping roles work, strong governance and communication are critical:

a.Document compensation rules and role alignment in the compensation plan design document (CPDD)
b.Train your sales managers on the rationale and mechanics of the credit allocation
c.Have a dispute resolution process and timeline to handle potential escalations
d.Transparency in plan design and ongoing communication prevent confusion and foster trust.

Final Thoughts

Overlapping sales roles are a reflection of modern, customer-centric selling models. However, without the right incentive structure, they can cause friction, demotivation, and revenue leakage. It’s time to transition from siloed, role-based compensation to a more holistic, collaboration-based incentive model.

To do that, consider:

a.Defining accountabilities
b.Using shared or hybrid quotas
c.Incentivizing based on contribution, not just closings
d.Using technology and governance to make it happen

When done right, it creates a collaborative sales model that improves the customer experience, increases win rates, and maximizes territory potential.