While a significant number of companies change their sales compensation plan annually, our own research shows that the majority of changes are made to features or elements of an existing plan type, rather than undertaking a fundamental change in plan architecture. A change from one type of plan (commission) to another (bonus) is much less common. In fact, we find that, absent a major business change that directly impacts the sales organization, (examples: merger/acquisition; new sales model, e.g. hunter/farmer; product sales specialists, new product launch after long period of none), a change in plan type does not receive careful consideration. This raises two questions: first, are fundamental differences in commission and bonus plans well understood by management; and, second, does the plan type really matter when it comes to motivating behavior and rewarding the desired business performance? The purpose of this White Paper is to address each of these two questions.