Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation in sales: Ryan Farber on pay curves, quotas, and culture
November 3, 2025
What if the very thing you use to motivate sellers is unintentionally distorting behavior? In this episode Barracuda’s Director of Sales Compensation, Ryan Farber, joins host Nabeil Alazzam to pressure-test sales incentives—then rethink or offer up pragmatic models and guardrails. The two get into intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, exponential vs. logarithmic pay curves, what comp plans simply can’t replace, and how to fix segmentation, pricing, and delivery so the plan stops getting blamed for upstream problems. The episode closes with a peek at adaptive, deal-level incentives powered by cleaner data.
Listen in for real quotes, usable frameworks, and a debate that lands in a place with ideas you can actually ship.
What if the very thing you use to motivate sellers is unintentionally distorting behavior? In this episode Barracuda’s Director of Sales Compensation, Ryan Farber, joins host Nabeil Alazzam to pressure-test sales incentives—then rethink or offer up pragmatic models and guardrails. The two get into intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, exponential vs. logarithmic pay curves, what comp plans simply can’t replace, and how to fix segmentation, pricing, and delivery so the plan stops getting blamed for upstream problems. The episode closes with a peek at adaptive, deal-level incentives powered by cleaner data.
Listen in for real quotes, usable frameworks, and a debate that lands in a place with ideas you can actually ship.
Host: Nabeil Alazzam, CEO @ Forma.ai
Guest: Ryan Farber, Director, Sales Compensation @ Barracuda
Resources mentioned
Listen in for real quotes, usable frameworks, and a debate that lands in a place with ideas you can actually ship.
Host: Nabeil Alazzam, CEO @ Forma.ai
Guest: Ryan Farber, Director, Sales Compensation @ Barracuda
Resources mentioned
- Punished by Rewards — Alfie Kohn
- The New Human Rights Movement — Peter Joseph
Chapters
- 00:05 – Ryan’s hot take: “Are comp plans actually driving growth?” Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation
- 11:00 – The trouble with “Let the plan weed people out” (Re: leadership avoidance)
- 17:50 – What elite sellers really optimize for
- 32:08 – Pay curves: exponential (x²), logarithmic, and thoughts on a hybrid
- 40:47 – Private aviation lesson: operations, price perception, and the experience reps sell
- 46:13 – Segmentation by buying motion (not company size)
- 50:12 – Book recs and resources
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