Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney suggested this week that political leaders – in particular the president if he should land the job – should earn incentive pay.

Politicians, he told libertarian radio host Neal Boortz, need to recognize that they weren’t going to be rewarded unless they did what they were elected to do.

Regardless of what incentives any politician’s body of work could earn– or not – we were moved by the idea of linking incentives to goals.

(For what it is worth, the presidential salary of $400,000 a year is mandated by an act of Congress and must be paid by law, according to CNN.)

While the ultimate feedback of any politician’s work happens not in her paycheck but at the ballot box, the same isn’t true of sale people and sale leaders.

For political leaders it may not always be clear what the goals should be or how they should be achieved. That is the stuff of polemics and debates.

Unlike in Washington, there should not be different constituencies demanding different outcomes in your sales department.

To make sure everyone on is on the same page, you need to return to those incentives and goals and make sure you are rewarding the behavior you want.

A clear, easy-to-understand sales compensation plan will keep sales people from gaming the system, while keeping them focused on what benefits the company.

Want to know more about making that process work? Check out Sales Transformation – A Simple Process to Align Business Goals with Sales Compensation.

No matter your party, it is a webinar that will help you get better alignment and better sales.