Scientific Definition
Volume-based pay incentivizes upselling and mis-selling at the customer's expense.
Plain-English Definition
Volume-based pay incentivizes upselling and mis-selling at the customer's expense.
Feynman Explanation
The rep gets paid before the cancellation.
Core Principle
Volume-based pay incentivizes upselling and mis-selling at the customer's expense.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Volume-based pay incentivizes upselling and mis-selling at the customer's expense.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Comp design produces sales behavior, not training does.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The rep gets paid before the cancellation.
Examples
- Wells Fargo cross-sell scandal.
- Comp design produces sales behavior, not training does.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Net-revenue or retention-based commission models.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Net-revenue or retention-based commission models.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Earn-outs designed to retain founders often demotivate the team they bought.
Funnels rewarded for new logos under-invest in retention and lifetime value.
Cuts that lift margin this quarter erode product quality and brand equity over years.
Narrowly tied bonuses get gamed; people optimize the metric, not the underlying goal.
Re-hires often get raises larger than internal promotions.
Pay tied to stock price encourages short-term price management.
CEO pay tied to size rewards deal-making even when acquisitions destroy value.
Sales forecasts under-set to ensure attainment bonus.
Capital tied to growth rates funds unsustainable scaling and unit-economics denial.
Managers measured by team size grow teams beyond need.
Awards reward visible novelty; quiet excellence goes unrecognized.
Innovation programs designed to signal innovation, not to produce it.