From most organizations’ perspective, perhaps no other set of decisions are as visible or as consequential for the success or failure of an organization. From a cost perspective alone, effective management of employee compensation is critical given that it often represents the single largest cost incurred by an organization.
Whether it is Executive Compensation or Sales Compensation, The Vantage Group approaches all compensation study projects with a people-centric approach of continuous improvement that goes beyond just looking at the base salary. What this means is we “work with you” and don’t “do to you.” Our results have proven this to be a highly effective approach to delivering both an immediate return and the long term results you are seeking.
Addressing Compensation is Multi-faceted. We Break Our Approach Down Into Four Main Phases:
COMPANY RESEARCH
Seek to Understand
DIRECTIONAL ALIGNMENT
Confirm Desired Goals
MARKET & RISK ANALYSIS
Competitive Intel and Data Comparisons
FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Pull it All Together
“We were really happy with our selection of the Vantage Group for our sales compensation study. They took a personal approach to understanding our organization from our people, to our process, to our culture. As a result, we were able to work collaboratively through each phase of the project leveraging their broad background and experience to achieve the desired outcome we had hoped for.”
Coke Irwin
Senior VP of Sales and Marketing
Irwin Seating Company
1. COMPANY RESEARCH
Compensation is a tool in your toolbox. Understanding what the job looks like guides you to the right tool to grab from the toolbox. During the research phase, we seek to understand by collaborating with you, your teams, and key stakeholders. We spend time listening and learning about the culture of your organization, the work being done, and the processes in place. The research phase helps paint the picture of your current state so that we can help move you forward to your desired future state. This collaborative and intentional focus is a large part of what sets us apart.
2. DIRECTIONAL ALIGNMENT
Directional Alignment is a critical step to determining what the right tool to leverage might be. After reviewing your current state, we quickly move to developing clarity around where you want to be; your desired future state. This phase helps to identify any critical shifts that need to be made for driving the high performing results you want to achieve.
3. MARKET & RISK ANALYSIS
Market and risk analysis is about gathering competitive intel and identifying compensation-related trends in the market. We utilize all of the intel gathered to compare your existing compensation plan to the market. Based on the desired future results we have collaboratively identified for your business, we develop multiple scenarios to highlight strengths and pinpoint risks for various options.
4. FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Pulling it all together, we present a comprehensive overview of your current condition, desired state, and competitive intel. Our final recommendations take into account the competitive advantage you need to attract and retain top talent. Our detailed report of suggested next steps gives you a clear path forward on not only communicating how to introduce the plan to key stakeholders, but plans for implementation over a specified period of time.
Our collaborative approach allows you to be involved throughout the full compensation study at a meaningful level while also ensuring a higher degree of buy-in and support to the end result. When we work with you rather than doing to you, the path forward is clear for everyone involved.
While working with The Vantage Group over the past five years, my company has grown an additional $2.5MM, we’ve established a national client base, and our net margin as a percent of revenue doubled. Their advice, sympathetic ear, external perspective, and occasional kick-in-the-pants has been a critical part of our success.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to engage leaders in creating an environment for their people to flourish and therefore own and deliver their part in the strategy of the organization.
The result is a unified team that has high morale, clarity of purpose and focused goal execution and an organization that attracts top talent as well as “raving fan” customers.
Vantage has been instrumental in helping us with our succession planning. We now have a clear roadmap for development and leadership preparation for future generations of our family.