In a prior article, I talked about technician pay plans. Now, I want to shift gears and talk about the rest of your team—your advisors and managers. And right out of the gate, let me say this: there is no single “right” way to pay these roles.

I see it every day, working with top-performing shops. About half of them pay their advisors and managers a flat salary and do just fine. The other half use some form of commission or performance-based pay—and they do just fine too. So if you came here looking for a one-size-fits-all answer, you’re not going to get it.

What I can do is help you think through what actually works—and more importantly, what to watch out for.

Start With This: What Are You Trying to Motivate?

At the end of the day, these are human beings. We’re building pay plans to motivate behavior. If you don’t know what motivates your people, you’re already behind.

I said it in the episode and I’ll say it again: “Do not set up a plan without talking to them first.”

Your advisors and managers already have defined targets—sales, gross profit, maybe even net income. The key is aligning their compensation with things they can actually control.

Because here’s the mistake I see all the time: shop owners incentivize people on metrics they don’t influence.

Paying on Sales: Simple… But Risky

Let’s start with the most common approach—paying based on sales.

It’s popular for a reason. Sales are easy to measure, easy to forecast, and easy to understand. I walked through an example in the episode where a shop owner wanted to increase sales from $2M to $2.5M and reward his manager accordingly.

We built a plan with:

• $150K base salary
• 2% commission on sales

If the shop hits $2.5M, the manager earns $200K total.

Clean. Simple. Easy to implement.

But here’s the catch.

“Sales don’t pay your bills, gross profit does.”

If you only incentivize sales, you risk encouraging behavior that drives revenue without profitability. A $20,000 ticket with no profit pays the same commission as one with great margins. That’s a problem.

That’s why many shops add guardrails—like minimum gross profit thresholds or only paying on sales increases.

Paying on Gross Profit: More Accurate, More Complex

If you want tighter alignment with profitability, gross profit is a better metric.

The structure looks almost identical to a sales-based plan, but instead of paying a percentage of sales, you pay a percentage of gross profit.

In the same example:

• $150K base
• 4% of gross profit

If the numbers hold, the payout ends up being very similar—but now you’re protecting the business. If margins drop, payouts drop too.

The tradeoff? Complexity.

Gross profit is harder to track, harder to forecast, and harder for your team to fully understand day-to-day. If your people don’t understand how their actions impact their pay, the plan loses its power.

Paying on Net Income: Sounds Smart… Usually Isn’t

This is the one everyone asks about—and almost no one actually uses.

On paper, it sounds great. Tie compensation directly to profitability. But in reality, it breaks down quickly.

Here’s why.

First, it’s complicated. Most people—even owners—struggle to fully understand how daily decisions impact net income.

Second, and more importantly, it’s often unfair.

Your manager likely doesn’t control all your overhead. So why would you penalize or reward them based on decisions they didn’t make?

I put it bluntly in the episode: tying someone’s pay to something they can’t control is just as flawed as paying a technician based on total shop sales.

And there’s another layer—perception. Even if you’re making smart business decisions, like investing in equipment or taking a tax deduction, your manager might feel like those choices are cutting into their compensation.

That’s a dangerous place to be.

Keep It Simple, Keep It Aligned

If there’s one takeaway from all of this, it’s this:

Build pay plans around what people can control—and make sure they understand them.

If the plan is too complicated, it won’t motivate. If it’s misaligned, it can actually hurt your business.

And if you’re not sure where to start? Don’t overthink it. Start simple, communicate clearly, and adjust as you go.

Because the goal isn’t just to pay your team—it’s to get the right behaviors that drive a healthier, more profitable shop.