Uncapped Commissions: Benefits, Drawbacks, and Everything You Need to Know

How would you approach your work if you had the opportunity to earn unlimited money?

Your final pay of the month is determined by how well you perform, how many targets you achieve, and how you continue working till the last day of the month. 

Well, you will be ready to give your absolute best. 

The possibility of limitless earnings opens your limitless potential. 

This is what uncapped commission does to your sales reps as well. You remove the cap on their variable earnings and offer them the possibility to keep hitting milestones. The magic begins. 

In this article, we walk you through everything about uncapped commissions- their meaning, the difference between capped commissions, benefits, and drawbacks. 

So let's not delay more and open the wide possibilities that uncapped commission offers. 

What are Uncapped Commissions?

Sky's the limit when it comes to uncapped commissions. 

Uncapped commission refers to a compensation structure where there is no limit to the amount of commission a sales rep can earn. As long as they keep achieving their target and closing deals, they will receive incentives for it. 

This type of commission structure is mostly suitable for incentivizing high performance and rewarding top sellers. 

Uncapped commission structure is thus a powerful tool that drives sales and organizational growth. 

Capped Vs. Uncapped Commission

If uncapped commission refers to earning of commission without any limit, capped commission regulates the commission amount a sales rep can earn in a particular period.

This distinction between having a limit and not having a limit on your commission brings differences in many areas of sales management. 

Let's look at what aspects of differences come between capped and uncapped commission: 

Capped and uncapped salaries have their own advantages and disadvantages. 

Eventually, it falls on the company to make the final call. Depending on your financial capacity, commission budgeting, and resource allocation, an effective commission structure that suits your operations can be chosen. 

Top 5 Benefits of Uncapped Commission

Who doesn't like a limitless earning opportunity? 

In fact, everyone will try to make the best use of such prospects.

So let's check what are the top 5 benefits of providing uncapped commission to your employees: 

Unlimited Earning Potential

Uncapped sales commission allows unlimited earning potential based on your performance. This financial motivation will push high performers to make the best use of their skills. 

Enhanced Motivation and Productivity

When there is no earning ceiling, sales reps will be motivated to enhance their productivity and performance. This enhanced effort and performance will improve the overall sales. 

Attraction and Retention of Top Talent

High-performing sales reps will be inclined towards a commission structure without caps. It will help attract and retain motivated and ambitious salespeople in the company. 

Alignment with Company Goals

Uncapped commission structure ensures continuous sales efforts. These consistent efforts align with the larger company's strategy of achieving its goals and objectives. 

Encourages Innovation and Creativity

The drive to maximize one's sales will encourage sales reps to develop new and innovative sales strategies that help close deals, achieve higher sales, and drive company growth. 

Uncapped commission is a powerful sales compensation strategy.

When used strategically it boosts sales motivation, performance, and productivity and drives company growth and success. 

Drawbacks of Uncapped Commissions

Just like every rose has its thorns, uncapped commissions are also not without drawbacks. 

Though the benefits make it a desirable commission structure, companies must be well aware of the risks it creates. 

High Risk for the Company

An uncapped commission structure can cause unpredictable and potentially large payouts. This can severely affect the company’s budgeting and financial resources. 

Potential to Overpromise and Underdeliver

Uncapped salaries are an overpromise to your employees. The offer of limitless earnings will motivate everyone. 

But when a large commission payout comes, companies will not be in a position to make timely payments which can cause employee dissatisfaction. 

Risk of Unethical Behavior

The offer of unlimited commissions will make your sales reps short-sighted. They might be even compelled to take unethical actions to win the big lottery. 

Potential for Team Discontent

Uncapped commission might be a big win only for the high performers. This creates a difference in earnings among sales reps leading to team discontent. 

Focus on Quantity Over Quality

In the rush to close as many deals as possible, sales reps might compromise on the quality of leads. It can so happen that most of these clients fall out after a few months of contract signing. 

With the possibilities that uncapped commission offers, companies must also have a trial and check process where they ensure that employees have a healthy competitive turf. 

Only by ensuring a healthy environment can the drawbacks of uncapped commissions be overcome.  

Why should “uncapped commission” scare you?

There is nothing to be scared of in an uncapped commission structure. 

However, you need to be well aware of the challenges that an uncapped commission will pose. Being better prepared to handle these bottlenecks will help you gain confidence and comfort in using the tool. 

So what are the bases for fearing and being scared of an uncapped commission? 

• Yes, it can cause unpredictable financial payouts. 
• If unprepared it can wreck your budget and create havoc on your cash flow.
• It can put your salesforce under a lot of pressure to close deals. 
• It can push your sales reps to unethical practices to increase sales.
• It can create an unhealthy work environment and a dissatisfied workforce. 
• If not administered properly, it can negatively impact your long-term goals. 

Now, having a strategic plan to handle these challenges will help you overcome the fear of uncapped commissions.

• Set a tiered commission rate. This will help reward high performance within cost control. 
• Always conduct regular financial reviews to track your commission payout. 
• Provide support and training to sales reps to cope with work stress. 
• Implement checks and balances to ensure ethical practices in closing deals.
• Offer a base salary for all sales reps and encourage team collaboration. 
• Offer long-term incentives like Stocks to ensure sales reps focus on long-term goals. 

We fear what we don't understand. Similar is the case with uncapped commissions. 

Simply offering a limitless commission to employees for enhanced motivation and performance won't make the deal.

You need to know how to apply these tools judiciously to make the best use of them. Knowing these terms and clauses will help you leverage its full potential. 

Why You Shouldn’t Include ‘Uncapped Commissions’ in Job Descriptions?

Companies as a general practice do not include the offer of uncapped commissions in their job descriptions. 

A primary reason for this decision is to not attract the wrong candidate. 

When a job description offers the possibility of uncapped commission, there are high chances that candidates motivated by money and short-term goals will apply first. This leads to the ideal candidate being drowned in the crowd.

In case these wrong candidates get hired, they might not align with the company's values or vision. It can also happen that their idea of earning a high salary might not match the ground reality. 

The job might require a great effort for market penetration, sales journey, and closing of deals. Winning on this turf might not be a breeze.

When these company demands and the candidate's expectations are not met, it can lead to disappointment and dissatisfaction. They might feel stressed and pressured and will feel the work environment is competitive. 

To meet the required targets, candidates might take up unethical practices to close deals. This can create a great concern for the quality of work culture, team dynamics, and the company environment as a whole.  

Not able to meet these expectations and requirements, eventually, these candidates will leave the job.   

The company will be left with a high turnover rate, the recruitment cost will be futile and HR back to square one. 

To avoid all this chaos, companies refrain from mentioning their commission structure in job descriptions and tend to point out that commission details are subject to company policy.  

Is Uncapped Commission the Secret to Better Rep Performance?

Uncapped commission structure can drive sales performance. 

When applied under the right circumstances, it improves sales performance, enhances sales volumes, and increases the revenue of the company. 

But, it's also important to balance it with proper incentive management. Otherwise, uncapped commission can take a downhill course causing unethical sales behavior, unhealthy sales competition, and ruin the work environment. 

For this reason, companies must diversify their incentive program with other incentive examples - customer satisfaction bonuses, retention incentives, etc. 

Restricting your sales commission program to just one commission structure is not a healthy practice. 

The larger company choice must be towards choosing a hybrid commission structure that ensures better sales performance without compromising on the organizational values and culture. 

Why would a company want to cap commission?

To say in simple terms, capping commission is a safe and risk-free way of incentive management. 

• It helps manage and predict the OTE compensation expenses for the financial year. 
• It limits unexpected high payouts and helps stabilize cash flow. 
• Capped commission ensures fairness and equity among the sales team. 
• It does not promote ethical practices to maximize personal earnings. 
• Capped commission helps focus on long-term goals and customer satisfaction. 

From company to customer management, capped commission promotes a healthy and sustainable practice. These goals are achieved without compromising on sales performance. 

For all these reasons and more, companies choose to cap their commission structures.   

What are the alternatives to “uncapped commission”?

Uncapped commission is not the be-all and end-all of commission structures. There are a wide variety of commission examples available out there. 

Some of these alternative commissions include: 

These commissions also offer the possibility of uncapped commission earnings to sales reps while focusing on various other evaluation metrics.  

Final Thoughts

Uncapped commission offers your sales team the opportunity to earn according to their potential. 

The limitless commission boosts their performance and enhances the closing of deals. However not addressing the negative effects like stress, pressure, unhealthy competition, and work environment can undermine its benefits. 

But the larger demand for having an uncapped commission is tracking and monitoring the sales achievement and payout. 

This is required to properly monitor the value of deals, manage large payouts, and efficiently manage the incentive program. 

With a large sales force and uncapped commission examples, companies can feel overwhelmed. That is why an incentive automation solution is necessary. 

With Kennect, you can supercharge your incentives. Our cutting-edge solution automates your entire sales incentives process, saving you time and ensuring accuracy. 

To know more about our solution, Book A Demo NOW!