Most comp plans buy the wrong behavior in a usage-based world—and the results show up as stale pipelines, noisy dashboards, and hunters who drift into farming. We sat down with seasoned sales ops leader Chuck Lee to unpack how to pay for outcomes that actually matter: a clean start, a predictable ramp, and a scalable hand-off that sticks.

We trace a real transformation inside a large inbound motion where reps were incentivized to chase the oldest leads and obsess over consumption they didn’t own. By stripping the plan to a simple, action-focused design and shutting off post-implementation pay for AEs, the team saw a 40%+ lift in conversion. Chuck explains why high-velocity sales demands fewer choices, not more; how to align quotas to volatile demand without eroding trust; and the telltale signs your plan is buying noise instead of revenue.

Then we go deep on usage-based mechanics. The true “deal won” is when the customer starts using the product, and the second milestone is the ramp to forecast. Chuck shares how to set the AE’s window in the deal using historical ramp curves, why FP&A should co-own the model, and how SLAs between sales and CS prevent credit confusion and dropped hand-offs. We also confront the perpetual commission trap that turns hunters into farmers, and outline a cleaner split: hunters own start and ramp-to-target, farmers own adoption, expansion, and problem-solving.

If you’re wrestling with comp design for usage-based sales, this conversation gives you practical guardrails, from monthly quota tuning and points-based payouts to role clarity that protects new logo growth. Subscribe, share with your revenue team, and tell us: what behavior is your comp plan really buying?