When it comes to success in the crowded payment processing space, scale is everything. By working with more agents, your growth is exponentially enhanced. But more individuals active within a commission-based business model necessitates a calculation system that can scale alongside your own success and expansion.

Agent mapping is the process of accurately mapping your agents to the customers MID number, Name or Code for the deals that they are responsible for, as you import transaction data into your systems. It goes without saying that within this process efficiency and accuracy are of paramount importance.

In this article, we’ll explore agent mapping (one of the more tedious and time consuming aspects of working with agents!) in more detail, and suggest a modern and reliable solution that can help payment processors and larger ISOs to solve this nagging problem – for good, and no matter how rapidly they scale.

 

The State Of Modern Payment Processing

Let’s start by examining the stakes. Payment processing is rapidly growing as we hurtle towards a cashless society, accelerated by advances and behavioural changes brought about by the recent global pandemic. Demand is increasing, and opportunities are expanding. In fact, the payment processing sector is predicted to grow at a fairly staggering compound annual rate of 10.2% between 2021 and 2026.

What does this mean for providers? With luck, an increase in interest within the sector from aspiring agents. With money to be made, we can reasonably expect an uptick in new agents seeking processors to partner with. This will be paired with a higher demand for the more experienced veteran agents working within the space. In short, it’s an excellent time to review your appeal from an agent perspective.

In order to excel, payment processors need to be more competitive and more efficient than they’ve ever been. This is especially true when it comes to the way that they work with their agents.

Happily, benefits here tend to cut both ways – what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. When processors operate more agent-friendly practices, as well as winning their approval and loyalty, they also start to see better results from their workforce. By providing agents with an infrastructure that sets them up for success – prioritising their convenience, efficiency and power to earn – payment processors set everyone up for increased success.

Although frequently overlooked, agent mapping is an area in which investment can make a real impact – to an agent’s experience, and by extension, to a processor’s bottom line.

 

Agent Mapping: What Needs To Change?

Agent mapping refers to the practice of correctly identifying the work that each agent has done, tracking sales and transactions that can be attributed to their accounts. Commissions due are calculated based on the outcomes of agent mapping so it isn’t hard to see why a reliable agent mapping process is an essential element to any commission-based business model.

Historically, this has been a complex and error-prone process. Working manually, relying on spreadsheets and lacking all the advantages of advanced automation, agent mapping is wide open to a high level of discrepancy. These issues become particularly pertinent when there are ambitions to significantly scale an operation – adding more agents, more sales, more transactions – or (with luck) all three to the equation.

Why does investing in a more solid procedure for agent mapping matter? Firstly – internal efficiency. High frequency data input with very little tolerance for error makes agent mapping the perfect candidate for a more automated process. Instantly eliminate the margin for human error and make it easier to track successful agents versus those who are struggling.

Secondly, an asset that’s hard to win, easy to lose and impossible to buy – trust.  Agents will rapidly lose faith in a processor if they’re seeing inconsistencies in their commission payouts, at best, perhaps becoming a little demotivated – at worst, switching their allegiance to a competitor and damaging your reputation by retelling their experience.

 

How A Commission Calculator Helps With Agent Mapping

With so much at stake, turning to technology is the obvious solution. Amongst a wide range of other features customised to meet the specific needs of the payment processing industry, Commissionly offers automated agent mapping. This ensures that every sale and transaction is faithfully mapped to the responsible agent – giving them accurate remuneration, and processors a process that offers more clarity, efficiency and ultimately revenue.

Saving time, money and (potentially!) your reputation, automated agent mapping comes  in addition to a whole range of additional features that help achieve similar results – such as the ability to consolidate data from multiple acquirers, access to custom reports and the ability to automate your commission calculations.

Another significant advantage of working with Commissionly for agent mapping is that multiple features can be accessed from one platform – no switching tools or juggling permissions, log ins and forgotten passwords. Just a simple, intuitive “one stop shop” for all your payment processor commission calculation needs. Our team works with your business to personalise the experience to your exact requirements, to get you up and running in as little as four weeks.

 

Payment processors – it’s time to automated your agent mapping

Payment processing is experiencing rapid growth. The opportunity to scale alongside the sector’s acceleration is significant – but those who try to do so without the backup of a dependable technological stack, designed to support their trajectory, run the risk of rapidly overextending their operational capacity.

Now is the time to double down on your digital toolbelt, automating as many time-sucking processes as possible and ensuring a more profitable future, for happier agents and healthier margins.

 

Book a call with Commissionly to discuss our agent mapping feature and more

 

RevOps within digital marketing is on the rise – rapidly becoming an established norm when it comes to internal operational management. What exactly is meant by RevOps? A contraction of “Revenue Optimisation” this term refers to an operational model designed to ensure that a business’s capacity for revenue generation is maximized. As ever, our integration partner HubSpot has some excellent resources to help you learn more about this model.

 

A RevOps approach seeks to instill full cooperative alignment between alignment of marketing, sales, and customer service teams. Rather than operating in isolation, before passing off a lead or established customer to the care of a separate team acting in isolation, a “flywheel” model is established. All teams work in closer collaboration, with a focus on end-to-end customer experience, seamless workflows and integrated systems. This removes friction and supercharges a business’s ability to scale.

 

In the case of digital marketing agencies, the benefits of an active RevOps strategy are twofold – better internal agency collaboration and outcomes, at the same time as improving client satisfaction and success. Within this article, we’ll outline some of the ways in which RevOps looks set to improve the landscape for digital marketing agencies today, and in the years to come.

 

RevOps For Digital Marketing Agency Internal Alignment 

RevOps can be implemented to help to bring a digital marketing agency into better internal alignment. Within the traditional RevOps model, accountability stops becoming a siloed practice. Instead, your account managers and support team gain better “full picture” insight into client success, measured across a wider range of metrics and markers.

 

The cyclical RevOps model means that this improved insight feeds back into sharper, more accurate marketing recommendations for clients. In turn, this helps to build up a more holistic understanding of the way that different agency teams collaborate and depend on each other’s outcomes.

 

For example, marketing team members learn about common pain points and blockers from the sales team, and are able to incorporate this into their own planning going forward.

 

Improved Digital Marketing Sales Attribution 

Knowing exactly where your success is coming from is essential within the setting of a digital marketing agency. By helping bring clarity to a dynamic process that relies upon the input of many different teams and individuals, RevOps can help improve attribution when it comes to sales success.

 

Everyone working towards your clients’ success will have a better idea of what’s working in the context of “the bigger picture.” This does more than simply helping you work out more productive, collaborative workflows – it can also have a really positive impact upon  team cohesion and motivation.

 

Digital marketing agencies are always on the lookout for ways to improve their marketing sales commission structure – by making it more efficient, more commercially appealing – or, most probably, all of the above! By adopting a RevOps model, you can apply the deeper insight gained into the roles that everyone played towards a closed deal, and translate this into a fairer compensation structure.

 

Multistage commission is a great way of ensuring that everyone involved in a deal is getting fair payment for their contribution, in a timely fashion. Commissionly’s multistage commission feature enables you to pay commissions at different stages of your sales and delivery process to different payees – keeping your teams motivated with well-timed, fair compensation for their input.

 

Enhanced Client Experiences 

The RevOps model is increasingly commonplace across a wide variety of client or customer based businesses. As a result, by adopting these principals internally, you’ll be able to “speak the same language” as your clients, who are more than likely very familiar with the benefits of such a model, and putting them into practice within their own businesses.

 

This helps to build trust and increase the likelihood of cross selling and upselling, as you gain a better understanding of their pain points and business models – and, perhaps most importantly, see how your input as an agency sits within their wider business model. An active RevOps strategy also helps to demonstrate your interest and commitment to your clients’ end results, through better account expansion and improved customer-focused campaigns.

 

Once established, a RevOps model just gets better over time. Thanks to its cyclical “flywheel” structure, improvements feed back into the start of the process. Client experience is improved in a way that is consistently demonstrated over time – no quick fixes or emergency measures – just a great, holistic agency experience.

 

Eliminated Tech Silos 

The smart leverage of data is essential to success within a digital marketing agency environment. With the rise of MarTech, this is becoming increasingly essential, as a wide variety of tools give us insight into our campaign and client success metrics.

 

By combining marketing and customer success data, RevOps enables you to see which campaigns are resonating at the same time as highlighting the elements of your marketing mix that are having the greatest impact in terms of the outcomes clients are looking for.

 

As an agency, you can leverage this insight to improve post-purchase marketing experiences (i.e. offering your clients more than just lead generation or traffic.) Data can be put to use shortening purchase cycles and accelerating sales. Commissionly is a great example of a solution that can help to power a strong RevOps strategy, allowing easy integration with a huge range of CRMs to ensure that you’re able to easily join the dots between client success and team commissions.

 

Improved Agency Success Metrics

Finally, let’s not forget the tangible lift that RevOps can bring to a business in terms of success metrics. In 2020, the Boston Consulting Group found that B2B companies implementing RevOps accelerated their revenue growth and operations efficiency with a

• 100% – 200% increase in digital marketing ROI
• 10% – 20% increase in sales productivity
• 10% increase in lead acceptance
• 15% – 20% increase in customer satisfaction
• 30% reduction in expenses

 

 

This is especially important and relevant within a digital marketing agency context, where businesses are typically looking for long-term, steady accounts that are retained with minimal effort, allowing for customer relationships that continue to grow and strengthen over time.

 

RevOps For Digital Marketing Agencies: Get Ahead

RevOps represents a real opportunity for digital marketing agencies to improve outcomes and streamline their internal processes. More effective interdepartmental communication leads to better collaboration and attribution of success.

 

By pairing a solution like Commissionly alongside the RevOps approach, you can ensure that all effort is appropriately rewarded, showing your respect and appreciation for multiple agency teams, pulling together to help bring your business great results.

 

With a focus on streamlining customer experience, and allowing for better personalisation at every stage of their journey, it’s no surprise that RevOps is increasingly being heralded as the secret to account-based business success. Digital marketing agencies have so much to gain from his model – especially when it comes to marketing sales commission structure, and motivating a commission-based workforce to see the bigger picture within an agency environment.  

Looking to kick sales up a gear? 5 Tips For A Highly Motivated Marketing Sales Team – See our next blog …

If you’re running your digital marketing agency on a commission basis, you’ll be aware of the many benefits that this kind of remuneration model can bring. Payment via commission has long been a popular option for marketing agencies, and can be a great way to ensure you’re motivating your sales team.

 

However, “commission” is a very broad term – and covers a huge variety of structures and nuanced plans that can (and should) be tailored for your business and its unique situation. Failing to pay full attention to the effectiveness of your commission structure can result a number of common issues that can cause a business to lose money or become less efficient.

 

This might be as the result of a less motivated sales team, the lack of the right incentives within their agent base, or as the result of poor back-office processes that create problems around calculation and management of commission.

 

In this article we’ll give some clear guidance on marketing agency issues to watch out for – and some advice on how to fix them within the context of your digital marketing agency commission structure.

 

1.  Too Little Flex In Your Digital Marketing Agency Commission Plans 

Don’t underestimate the importance of creating an adaptable commission framework that can flex to meet the evolving needs of your marketing agency. The typical marketing agency environment will involve many varied clients, deals, accounts opening, closing and reactivating. Similarly, you might find you have multiple agents working on accounts, with varied (or interlinked) responsibilities for success. 

 

In order to ensure that everyone on your team is rewarded in a timely manner that reflects their input and hard work, you need to find a way to appropriately scale commission payments and incentives in a way that will adapt to the changing nature of the targets, opportunities and expectations that your agents encounter.

 

This is easy to agree with – but often harder to implement. Juggling a high performing team and multiple client accounts can make the ability to apply a complex (and ever-evolving) commission structure a practical challenge.

 

Working with dedicated cloud-based commission software such as Commissionly helps makes the roll out and management of personalised, adaptive commission structures much more streamlined. Our multistage commissions feature allows you to compensate various team members for their individual contributions as a deal progresses. To make things even easier, this process can be automated with your CRM of choice, such as Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho and many others.

 

Similarly, our commission criteria filtering feature allows you to easily set commissions to pay only when certain criteria are met – perfect for the times when you need to pay different commission rates to your agents based on criteria, such as a different rate for new business or renewals.

 

2. Complex Commission Calculations Taking Hours To Manage

A responsive and nuanced commission structure is essential – but, as we’ve already hinted at – it needs to be manageable, and easy to deliver. Automation is your friend when it comes to taking the legwork out of hours of complicated commission calculations. Not only will you save time, you’ll also sidestep many of the issues associated with manual tracking and calculation, which can be much more prone to error, as well as a drain on resources that could be put to better use elsewhere.

 

Spreadsheet based management of commission is common, but it can only get you so far. Any frustrations or issues that you experience with your current system will only scale in line with your business as you expand and your team scales up.

 

Commissionly helps by offering a range of automations that take hours out of the day to day tracking, analysis and calculation of commission. These automations go beyond the “commission wizard” (which helps you quickly set up complex commission structures – whether they are flat or tiered, revenue, profit or product based). Powerful integrations with your CRMs, ecommerce platforms and more can also save huge amounts of time in assigning attribution and tracking performance.

 

The sales splits feature is another great example of the features that Commissionly offers to help manage processes that would otherwise be tricky and time consuming. Easily set up pre-defined sales splits to ensure that everyone automatically gets allocated the right amount of commission due for their role in a sale.

 

3. Calculation Errors (And Issues Resolving These)

The management of nuanced marketing sales commission plans can be complex. If you’re tracking and calculating manually, relying on Excel, problems can occur. When something goes wrong, your agents are inconvenienced, and time is lost as you work to fix the error. You also erode the trust your team has in your commission process – meaning you run the risk that they’ll be spending more time pouring over their calculations, and less time out in the field selling!

 

What safeguards can be put in place to try to reduce the wrong calculations being made in the first instance – and what can be done to ensure that the process of putting these problems right is smooth, transparent and fair?

 

Commissionly’s clawback feature is a game changer here, and can help within the context of  marketing sales. Again, offering all the time-saving advantages of automation, this feature enables changes to your payouts to be easily and swiftly calculated and put right, minimising the negative impact of an incorrect payment as the result of incorrectly reported financials or a client who bounced before the predetermined retention period.

 

4. Unresponsive Plans Leading To Demotivated Agents 

To avoid a stagnant, demotivated atmosphere within your marketing agency sales team, it is important to learn from your data and results, adapting your commission schemes accordingly – and to show your team how things are changing. What’s serving your business, your clients and your agents best? There’s a real need to ensure open communication and lots of transparency with your agents when it comes to the “why” of their commission scheme.

 

Commissionly’s CRM integrations help to shed more light on these situations by joining the dots between performance and payment. Another benefit of the Comissionly dashboard is the ability for agents to easily access their earned commissions to see how calculations have been formulated. This helps you give complete clarity here. Again – you want your agents out selling, not trying to figure out how and what they are getting paid for!

 

5. No Cloud-Based Commission Software 

Finally, consider the disadvantage you might be placing your agency by failing to work with a cloud-based commission system. The ability to access your management system from any device has never been more important – in fact, in the modern day workplace, this is a baseline expectation. Access to your commission dashboard at all times brings benefits to your management team, but also to your agents, as they can track progress and gain motivation at any time, from their own mobile devices.

 

With the spread of digital transformation and the accelerating impact of the pandemic, cloud-based solutions are a necessity for modern business – and especially important for something as critical as commission management, which is powering your marketing sales business’s success.

 

Ready To Take Control Of Your Digital Marketing Agency Commission Management?

Commissionly saves its users countless hours and removes endless frustration from the process of calculating, adjusting and processing commission based payments. Clients report the platform saving “huge amounts of time on calculating commissions” and allowing them to “set targets for my team that they can see at a glance.”

 

Described by one user as “a simple, stand-alone yet highly functional approach to managing commissions,” Commissionly frees you to repurpose your time and focus, meaning you can focus on optimising your commission structures and learning more about what motivates your agents etc.

 

Offering dependable ROI, the benefits of cloud-based commission software like Commissionly keep expanding over time and use – a safe investment that will revolutionise your commission management and remove barriers to your marketing agency scaling over time.

 

Ready to explore your free trial? Set up in 5 minutes – with no credit card details required.