Comp design is behaviour design. Every plan produces exactly the behaviour it pays for, and the gap between what you meant and what you wrote is where floors lose money.
| Model | Produces | Neglects |
|---|---|---|
| Commission only | Hunger, and high turnover | Follow-up, file quality, new reps surviving |
| Base plus commission | Stability and a longer horizon | Urgency, if the base is comfortable |
| Tiered on volume | Push through the tier boundary | Deal size — a small deal counts the same |
| Tiered on funded dollars | Bigger files | Small deals get abandoned mid-process |
| Draw against commission | A runway for new reps | Becomes debt, and then resignations |
Pay a little for the leading indicators
Funded deals are a lagging outcome that a rep only partly controls. A small component tied to what precedes them — time to first dial, cadence completion, statements collected on the call — costs little and stops those becoming the parts nobody is measured on.
Practical shape
- A base that covers a rep’s basics, so they can survive a bad fortnight without gaming the pipeline.
- The main share on funded deals, ideally on funded dollars rather than deal count.
- A small monthly component on process compliance — cadence completed, time to first dial inside target.
- Accelerators above target rather than penalties below it. Penalties produce hidden pipeline.
- Clear rules on renewals and who owns a merchant that funds months later.
The renewal rule is the one most often left undefined, and it is worth writing down before the first renewal rather than during the argument about it.
Questions brokers ask
How are MCA sales reps usually paid?
A modest base plus a share of the commission on funded deals, commonly with the split rising above a target. Commission-only exists and produces hunger alongside high turnover and neglected follow-up.
Should reps be paid on deal count or funded dollars?
Funded dollars. Paying per deal makes a $15,000 advance worth the same as a $90,000 one, and reps will rationally chase whichever closes fastest rather than whichever is worth most.
Should you pay per appointment or submission?
Only with a quality gate. Paying per submission produces submissions, including the ones that were never going to fund, and funders notice the drop in quality before you do.
How do you get reps to follow the cadence?
Attach a small part of the pay to it — cadence completion and time to first dial inside target. They are leading indicators of funded deals, and if nothing pays on them they become the first thing dropped on a busy day.
Who owns a renewal?
Whatever you write down before the first one happens. Leaving it undefined guarantees the argument occurs at the worst possible moment, with a rep who feels they have been taken from.
Alex Makowski
Founder, Infinite Bookings
Runs the lead generation operation behind Infinite Bookings — paid traffic, the funding application, and the delivery pipeline that puts records into brokers’ CRMs.
Reachable directly at alex@infinitebookings.com or 732-609-7182.