The Sales Compensation Show Pilots, trust, and change management: How Docusign drives sales comp adoption
Aug 26, 2025
32:11
When you lead global sales planning and compensation for more than 2,800 reps at a company like Docusign, every decision about territories, quotas, and incentives carries weight. A small tweak can drive alignment and performance — or create confusion and mistrust.
That’s where Melissa Fenner, Sr. Director of Revenue Operations at Docusign, thrives. With a career spanning manufacturing, M&A, operational consulting, and SaaS, Melissa brings a rare blend of operational expertise and behavioral insight to the art and science of incentive design.
In this episode Melissa shares the lessons she’s learned leading global sales compensation strategy — and what operators everywhere can apply today.
That’s where Melissa Fenner, Sr. Director of Revenue Operations at Docusign, thrives. With a career spanning manufacturing, M&A, operational consulting, and SaaS, Melissa brings a rare blend of operational expertise and behavioral insight to the art and science of incentive design.
In this episode Melissa shares the lessons she’s learned leading global sales compensation strategy — and what operators everywhere can apply today.
Listen in for her takes on:
- Why overcommunication is non-negotiable: why you need to deliver the same message seven times, seven ways to build rep trust around comp plans.
- How to run pilots that build champions, not resistance: Including how to consider representative pilot groups to test major compensation changes, uncover blind spots, and create advocates who drove adoption at scale.
- Keeping planning on track when upstream inputs are shifting: Learn how Melissa’s accounts for guardrails and scenario models to design comp plans even when segmentation and quotas aren't finalized.
- When to lean into consistency vs. comp changes: Melissa shares her hot take about redesigning comp plans every year...
Chapters
01:22 — Melissa Fenner's Journey into Sales Compensation
03:45 — The Importance of Overcommunication in Sales Compensation
09:03 — The Power of Pilots
17:46 — Building and Executing Compensation Plans
22:41 — Challenging Conventional Wisdom in Sales Comp
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