A kicker is an additional commission that is triggered when a seller delivers particularly good results. Where regular commission rewards ongoing effort, a kicker acts as an extra layer on top, a reward for surpassing expected goals.
A kicker, for example, can be activated when a seller hits 120 percent of his quota or closes an extra-large deal. It provides a disproportional reward that clearly signals that the company values and wants to promote top performance.
In practice, kickers are often used to drive growth during periods when one wants to push results beyond baseline. This can be in connection with the launch of a new product, the pursuit of annual results or when you want to reward sales to strategically important customers.
For the employee, kickers create a strong psychological effect. Knowing that extraordinary effort triggers more than the regular commission may be precisely the motivation that leads salespeople to squeeze themselves the last piece. For the company, it is a flexible tool because the expense only arises when extra results are created.
Boiled down, a kicker is an incentive that reinforces the motivation for the best performances. It is a tool that makes commission more dynamic and can be critical to driving growth in a competitive sales organization.