Survey Findings on Managing Sales Compensation Now Available from Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Motiva

Business Wire, August 7, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2002

Today's Incentive Programs are Hard to Change and

Costly to Administer, Study Reveals

Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Motiva, a leading provider of enterprise incentive management (EIM) software, today announced the availability of findings from a recent survey on managing sales compensation. The findings reveal that there is ample opportunity to improve today's sales compensation program management processes, many of which were characterized as unresponsive to changing business needs and costly to administer. The survey was conducted earlier this summer with a select group of sales, finance and compensation managers recruited from 30 U.S. companies with annual revenues of more than $250 million.

"Companies invest a great deal of care and effort in designing sales compensation plans, often without putting in place the processes to support them," says Steven Grossman, leader of Mercer's sales effectiveness consulting practice. "To further ensure the effectiveness of their plans, executives must also articulate a meaningful sales compensation philosophy and make sure it is clearly communicated throughout the organization."

Among the key survey findings:

-- Half of the respondents said their company has a clearly articulated
compensation philosophy that is supported by executives. However, a sizeable
minority (33%) said their company lacks such a philosophy.

-- Half of the respondents said their compensation programs and processes do
not allow management to quickly change plan design in response to changing
business needs. Only a third of the respondents said their plans allowed such
flexibility.

-- Sales compensation administration continues to be a time- and
labor-intensive effort. Half of the respondents took exception to the statement
that "very little staff time" is spent on sales compensation administration,
while just a third agreed with the statement.

-- More than half of the respondents (58%) believe there is an opportunity to
reduce costs and increase efficiency in their company's sales compensation
program by streamlining administrative processes.

-- Only half of the respondents feel their salespeople trust the accuracy of
the compensation they receive. Thus, salespeople engage in "shadow accounting,"
tracking their performance and calculating payouts because they lack confidence
in the company's sales administration process.

-- Overpayments in sales compensation are common, but because they often go
unreported, they are difficult to track. Half of the respondents were unable to
provide an estimate of how much they are losing in overpayments due to
inaccurate compensation systems and processes.

"Companies today spend a significant amount of time and effort to design their sales compensation plans, yet too often, senior executives are unable to monitor progress against their plans or evaluate the effectiveness of their plans," says Jeff Carr, president and CEO of Motiva. "Our survey highlights a range of problems associated with current sales efforts, and all of the problems point to the need for better, more flexible sales compensation administration."

"Good administration is key to aligning employee performance and corporate objectives, while keeping the cost of managing sales compensation programs low," he says.

In August and September, Mercer and Motiva will host a series of seminars in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco to present the survey findings and discuss best practices in sales compensation management. Seminar details, including dates, times and locations, are available from Motiva at 800/726-5405.

The survey report, Managing Sales Compensation: Critical Business Issues and Best Practices, is available free of charge. To obtain an electronic copy, please register at http://www.motiva.com/mercer/report/enter.asp?SEID=0-4073

About Motiva

Motiva, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise incentive management (EIM) software, enabling companies to create and manage flexible, highly targeted incentive programs that drive top-line and bottom-line results across the extended enterprise. The Motiva software solution allows businesses to rapidly align performance with strategic objectives, including sales, services, channels, customers and suppliers. Founded in 1995, as Again Technologies, Motiva is headquartered in Pleasanton, California. More information is available at www.motiva.com.

About Mercer

Mercer Human Resource Consulting is a global firm that helps organizations create business value through their people. With more than 13,000 employees in some 40 countries and territories serving clients worldwide, the company is a consulting unit of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York, Chicago, Pacific, and London stock exchanges. Visit Mercer online at www.mercerHR.com.

Note to Editors: Motiva is a trademark of Motiva, Inc.