Summary
Spreadsheets and spreadsheet-based commission software weren’t cut out for Clari — especially after the revenue operations platform achieved a unicorn valuation and doubled its headcount in a single year. To gear up for their next phase of growth, Clari listened to their team’s request to switch to Spiff, and wasted no time in rolling it out to their 175 reps.
Key Results
- Implemented and launched Spiff to 175 sales reps in just three months
- Drastically improved commission visibility to boost motivation
- Established a process to self-manage sales commission through their next phase of growth
The Challenge
Slow, clunky commission processes were at odds with Clari’s hyper-growth and efficiency.
For Clari, visibility is mission critical. The platform leverages rich data and AI to dramatically improve revenue forecast accuracy for more than 450 organizations, including Cisco, Zoom, and 6sense. Clari saw its headcount double to over 500 in 2021, and achieved a $2.6 billion valuation in 2022.
The unicorn company was preparing to accelerate even further. However, there was a problem. Clari was tired of managing sales compensation with cumbersome spreadsheets and spreadsheet-based software— especially since their sales team had already expanded to 175 employees.
Without access to automated, real-time commission data, reps were continually checking in on the status of their payouts. It also meant Kevin Liu, Manager of GTM Finance, had to manually recalculate commissions every few days— at which point, the volume of questions reached a boiling point. Updating formulas in their former system was also slow and frustrating, especially for a hyper-growth organization.
Fortunately, Clari was aware of an alternative that was more aligned with their mission to replace disjointed, antiquated processes with streamlined visibility.
The Solution
Clari moves fast as an organization. Their decision to switch to Spiff from their former platform was no exception.
Clari signed on with Spiff in just two months— an unusually quick decision, even by tech company standards. However, Clari didn’t disrupt revenue operations by taking things slow, and already had deep expertise in boosting visibility and efficiency. Now they just needed a commission tool that could keep up.
Spiff immediately ticked multiple boxes with its real-time commission calculations, forecasting feature, and intuitive UI. “Spiff’s commission forecast function is a big differentiator. This gives reps a better understanding of what’s in their pipeline— like the minimum payouts if they were to get paid on a particular tier. Spiff shows them their potential and increases visibility, which motivates them to move even faster,” says Liu.
Jean Lee, Senior Manager, FP&A, also spoke highly of Spiff, having used it in a previous role. “We took her word on it,” says Liu.
From there, Clari was eager to hit the ground running. “Implementation was really important— not just setting up formulas the right way, but making sure my team had the ability to self-manage,” says Liu. “With our previous solution, anytime we wanted to change a formula or update a fiscal quarter, it was a whole thing they had to rewire on the backend. It was really convoluted if I wanted to do it myself.”
Spiff worked with Liu over three months to ensure Clari was set up for success. “We wouldn’t be operating as smoothly as we are now without Spiff’s implementation support,” says Liu. “If I want to make changes, I know we’ve set everything up the right way from the start.”
Spiff’s commission forecast function is a big differentiator. This gives reps a better understanding of what’s in their pipeline. Spiff shows them their potential and increases visibility, which motivates them to move even faster.
The Results
Clari’s compensation process is now run like a well-oiled machine, with vastly improved commission visibility for reps and admins alike.
Just three months after implementation, Clari is equipped with a robust commission platform that can keep pace with their rapid growth.
Reps don’t have to wait for closing to view their payouts or request status updates. Instead, they use Spiff’s visual dashboards to track and predict their earnings— independently, and in real-time— thanks to automated commission data pulled from daily SFDC object syncs. Reps also break down commission calculations with Spiff’s intuitive audit function, gaining even further clarity around their compensation.
“The visual dashboards have been a game changer,” says Liu, who can now address questions as they come up, instead of being inundated at the end of each pay cycle. “We can preemptively address more inquiries before the closing starts,” he says.
Visibility has improved for admin users as well. “It’s very clear how to use different types of breakouts on commission statements, like payout types and adjustments. This has been a significant improvement,” says Liu.
He also uses Spiff’s commission tracing feature to drill into calculations. “With tracing dependencies, you have an audit trail to see— by rep— how calculations affect rates and fields,” he says. “It’s so helpful because you can see everything right there. Spiff is like a one-stop shop for commissions.”
About Clari
Clari’s revenue operations platform combines real-time pipeline data with AI-driven predictive insights, providing unprecedented visibility into enterprise revenue engines. It also uses automated workflows to streamline revenue processes into a centralized source of truth for go-to-market teams. With more than 220,000 active users across 170 countries, Clari has reduced collective revenue leak by $9.6 billion. Its customers include organizations like Cisco, Zoom, Zendesk, 6Sense, Optimizely, and Carbon Black.
Industry
Internet
Size of Sales Team
110+