[header] How to pay commissions to your sales staff [title] Decide on company-wide sales goals. [step] These goals represent the total sales generated by all of your salespeople. To create a sales commission plan, you need to know your company's sales and profit goals for the year. 
[substeps] Your firm's management team should formally meet to discuss the goals. While projected profits are the basis for a sales forecast, information concerning costs and profitability is generally considered proprietary and not made available to employees except on a need-to-know basis.