Pilots, trust, and change management: How Docusign drives sales comp adoption
August 26, 2025
In this episode, Nabeil Alazzam sits down with Melissa Fenner, Sr. Director of Global GTM Strategy, Planning and Compensation, from Docusign to go behind the scenes at her current organization. The two discuss Melissa's career journey, the critical importance of over-communication, practical takeaways on piloting programs to test comp strategies, and some hot takes on whether comp plans really need to change as often as best-practice suggests (or if consistency could be even better).
When you lead global sales planning and compensation for more than 2,800 reps at a company like Docusign, every decision about territories, quotas, and incentives carries weight. A small tweak can drive alignment and performance — or create confusion and mistrust.
That’s where Melissa Fenner, Sr. Director of Revenue Operations at Docusign, thrives. With a career spanning manufacturing, M&A, operational consulting, and SaaS, Melissa brings a rare blend of operational expertise and behavioral insight to the art and science of incentive design.
In this episode Melissa shares the lessons she’s learned leading global sales compensation strategy — and what operators everywhere can apply today.
That’s where Melissa Fenner, Sr. Director of Revenue Operations at Docusign, thrives. With a career spanning manufacturing, M&A, operational consulting, and SaaS, Melissa brings a rare blend of operational expertise and behavioral insight to the art and science of incentive design.
In this episode Melissa shares the lessons she’s learned leading global sales compensation strategy — and what operators everywhere can apply today.
Listen in for her takes on:
- Why overcommunication is non-negotiable: why you need to deliver the same message seven times, seven ways to build rep trust around comp plans.
- How to run pilots that build champions, not resistance: Including how to consider representative pilot groups to test major compensation changes, uncover blind spots, and create advocates who drove adoption at scale.
- Keeping planning on track when upstream inputs are shifting: Learn how Melissa’s accounts for guardrails and scenario models to design comp plans even when segmentation and quotas aren't finalized.
- When to lean into consistency vs. comp changes: Melissa shares her hot take about redesigning comp plans every year...
Chapters
01:22 — Melissa Fenner's Journey into Sales Compensation
03:45 — The Importance of Overcommunication in Sales Compensation
09:03 — The Power of Pilots
17:46 — Building and Executing Compensation Plans
22:41 — Challenging Conventional Wisdom in Sales Comp
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