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Monday Memo

What you reward is what you get l New tech reframes old steps I examples of having the right team incentives
Monday Memo

A Byte of Knowledge

What you reward is what you get.

It's that simple.

Your marketing team says they're focused on lifetime value...

But their bonuses are tied to quarterly lead counts.

Your agency claims they're building your brand...

But their contract rewards impressions and clicks.

Your customers tell you they want quality...

But they keep buying whatever's cheapest.

See the disconnect?

When your incentives don't match your goals, you're fighting your own system.

It's like pressing the gas and brake at the same time.

Smart marketers audit their reward structures ruthlessly.

They ask: "What behavior is this actually encouraging?"

Not just with their team...

But with vendors, partners, and customers too.

Because when you align incentives with outcomes...

Everything starts moving in the same direction.

And suddenly, getting results becomes infinitely easier.

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Something to Ponder

We Asked – AI Answered

Our Question: 

"What are three examples of brilliant use cases of a company having the right incentives for their sales teams to drive massive growth?"

AI's Answer:

1. HubSpot: Incentivizing Sales Teams on Customer Success

📍 The Challenge:

In its early scaling years, HubSpot noticed that sales reps were incentivized to close deals, regardless of whether the customer actually succeeded. That led to higher churn and poor fit customers.

🧠 The Strategy:

HubSpot transitioned to a compensation model that partially tied commissions to customer success metrics, including:

  • Whether the customer stayed past a certain threshold (e.g. 90 days)
  • Whether they adopted the product features effectively

📈 Documented Results:

  • As referenced by HubSpot leadership (including co-founder Dharmesh Shah), retention and LTV improved, while reps became more selective about the customers they signed.
  • HubSpot’s 2014 S-1 filing shows that net revenue retention improved year-over-year, which correlated with these changes.

2. Tesla: The Tiered Referral Program (2015–2019)

📍 The Challenge:

Tesla did no traditional advertising but needed to build viral awareness and reduce CAC (customer acquisition cost).

🧠 The Strategy:

From 2015 to 2019, Tesla ran a multi-tier referral program, which included:

  • $1,000 in credit for both referrer and buyer (initial version)
  • Later versions offered Powerwalls, free Supercharging, exclusive invites, and even a free Roadster for top referrers (if they reached 50+ referrals)

📈 Documented Results:

  • According to Tesla’s public statements and SEC filings, referrals made up a significant portion of early Model S and Model 3 orders.
  • Tesla's 10-K filings note the program helped grow their customer base efficiently during periods of high demand.
  • At least a few top referrers (notably YouTubers like Ben Sullins) earned free Roadsters, later confirmed by Tesla.
Tesla Model S

3. Amazon AWS: Commission Based on Actual Cloud Usage

📍 The Challenge:

AWS, Amazon’s cloud division, sells on-demand infrastructure — meaning customers pay as they use, not upfront.

Traditional B2B sales commissions rewarded reps for large upfront contracts. But in AWS’s model, that would have misaligned incentives.

🧠 The Strategy:

AWS adopted a consumption-based sales incentive model:

  • Reps are not paid based on a large upfront contract, but on the actual usage growth over time.
  • This makes reps act more like trusted advisors, ensuring customers build and scale successfully so usage — and revenue — grows.

📈 Documented Results:

  • AWS has grown into a $90+ billion annual business (as of 2023), dominating the cloud market.
  • While internal compensation figures are private, this incentive model has been confirmed in multiple Amazon job listings, recruiting documentation, and leadership talks.
  • The sales team structure encourages long-term relationships and product adoption (see Amazon’s own leadership principle: “Customer Obsession”).

Thanks for reading the Monday Memo.

Until next time!

The AI Marketers

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