The Sales Compensation Show GitHub's VP of global RevOps Betsy Matthies on comp plans that change behavior
6 snips
Mar 9, 2026 
Betsy Matthies, VP of Global Revenue Operations & Enablement at GitHub, is a sales-to-RevOps leader who builds comp plans that change behavior. She discusses redesigning incentives into three clear buckets, avoiding complexity bloat, and why change management and stakeholder buy-in matter. Betsy also shares her hot take on AI’s role when data is clean.
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Three Bucket Fix Turned Price Takers Into Growers
- Betsy overhauled a 100% commission food-and-beverage plan by piloting three buckets: new business volume, account penetration, and high-margin private label payouts.
- The pilot used top sellers as change agents and produced double-digit incremental revenue and lasting industry adoption.
Communicate Then Follow Up To Earn Trust
- Communicate the business case and follow up after a comp change to earn trust and ensure sellers believe they can still make money.
- Pulse-check outcomes regularly rather than shipping a plan once and never revisiting it to avoid unintended behavior and attrition.
Don't Use Comp To Patch Product Or Enablement Gaps
- Avoid using compensation to fix non-comp problems like product-market fit or lack of enablement; doubling commission won't create demand.
- Keep plans simple—Betsy recommends a three-bucket max and being able to explain the plan on a napkin in 30 seconds.
