Result #2: Malomo’s Head of Revenue and sales reps send referrals to partners regularly. Their partners also include Malomo in their marketing content without needing to be asked
Time to complete: one meeting with your CEO
TL;DR: Rahimzadeh asked to allocate a portion of his variable compensation for the quarter to a sales program incentive fund (SPIF) for his sales and customer success (CS) team.
Rahimzadeh spoke with his CEO about allocating a portion of his variable comp to his sales and CS team via a SPIF. The sales and CS team at Malomo report to the CEO, and Rahimzadeh says getting approval for the change was an easy, “Yes”.
“I believed this would come back in multiples,” says Rahimzadeh. “I’m fine taking a short-term hit [on comp] and passing [the money] onto the boots-on-the-ground reps who can actually make referrals.”
Rahimzadeh says the sales reps were excited about the opportunity to earn more money during the quarter. They were already working with partners a little bit, and the SPIF put partnerships even more front of mind for them.
“Without the SPIF, you’re asking them for a favor. With a SPIF, you’re doing them one,” says Rahimzadeh.
When they first implemented the SPIF, Malomo’s sales team sent a handful of referrals to a particular partner. And just recently, the partner included Malomo in their newsletter as their preferred partner of the quarter. That same partner has also sent multiple referrals to Malomo — including a large deal Malomo's sales team closed.
“We didn’t ask for anything in return,” says Rahimzadeh. “This is a clear example of that reciprocation [from partners] going into effect.”
Rahimzadeh’s comp plan changed the following quarter as a result of him joining the leadership team, and he wasn’t able to allocate any variable comp. However, the management team decided to keep the SPIF in place for the upcoming quarter.
“Our executive team saw the success and wanted to keep the program going even though it wasn’t budgeted for,” says Rahimzadeh.
Malomo’s Head of Revenue is fully invested in sending referrals to Malomo’s partners.
“[The Head of Revenue] gets it. He sent three referral emails today suggesting our partners to merchants he either recently closed or who he’s actively in a sales cycle with,” says Rahimzadeh. “By bringing in best-in-breed partners, we level up our value that we’re bringing to these merchants because we’re able to be more consultative, way beyond the solution we provide.”
Malomo has less than 25 employees, and many of its partners are bigger when it comes to their employee count and maturity. When Malomo's team refers its merchants to partners, they can ensure that their merchants are leveraging a best-in-breed tech stack for their Shopify storefront — making Malomo’s software more valuable and “stickier”.
