Commissions can be a major part of small to medium enterprises (SMEs). They are a highly effective way of making sure that employees are always doing their best for the company since their pay is directly linked to sales. However, to manage commission payments effectively, specific software is required. To run your company most efficiently you need to make sure this software is a perfect fit for your business.

Here are the features for the perfect commission software for small to medium enterprises:

Sales splits

For any company where more than one person is involved in any sale, sales splits are important. Without this feature, commissions would inevitably go to the person who finalised the sale. However, a sale can be more complicated than that and requires more specifics to properly manage commissions. Multiple team members will probably have engaged with potential clients in order to get to the point of them making a purchase. So only rewarding one person can often be unfair and will have a negative on the motivation of the team. With sales splits, different employees can earn different shares of the commission, so everyone gets paid what they are due.

Manager overrides

If your SME has multiple branches, manager overrides can be necessary. Since each manager is responsible for their own team, they should be rewarded when that team does well. The best commission software will account for this and allow managers to receive a share of their teams’ sales. The best managers will earn more, and everyone will be encouraged to get the team to do better since it’s in everyone’s best interest.

Dashboard & reporting

The best commission software for SMEs will need to account for a company’s need for in-depth financial information. Smaller companies are always looking for room to grow.

In-depth reporting means that SMEs can look for areas of strength or weakness in their company and adjust accordingly, rewarding those that are doing well whilst spotting any issues. Tools to analyse business performance are always important, and good commission software should provide this.

Ultimately, one commissioning software guarantees all of this and more. With Commissionly, your small to medium business can ensure that everyone is fairly paid whilst providing the resources to grow. If you believe your company needs commissioning software like this, contact us, book a demo or start the free trial. Our reliable team of experts can advise on the right package for you, and make sure that your small to medium business can thrive.

It takes five or more interactions for 80% of prospects to convert into a customer. However, most sales teams will only try one or two times before they start to abandon prospects. This means your sales team could more than double their sales figures, every month, if they persist. So this is something you might want to consider when you create sales goals in the future.

At times, the high number of interactions isn’t even necessary. Some prospects are ready to convert much earlier, but just aren’t closed properly. Again this is missed revenue and commissions.

So, why are sale teams stopping so early? One of the biggest barriers for sales teams is the inability to read the signs that say prospects are ready to purchase. There are four main signs to look for in determining whether a customer is in a position to convert.

Nodding the head

When a prospect is nodding their head, they are agreeing with the salesperson and are aligning their thought pattern to that of the seller. It is a typical, unconscious movement that means they’re ready to purchase. To spot it, you have to have good eye contact and listen to what the prospect is saying.

They repeat benefits

This is a typical ‘ready to purchase’ signal that can sometimes be misread. This is when the prospect repeats a benefit statement for your sales team to validate the benefit. It is a key point because the prospect is letting you know that this is an important aspect to them and they want confirmation that they’ll get it.

If your team are being asked for validation, they should be looking to confirm those details and close deals.

The prospect asks for a price

This is another typical ‘ready to purchase’ signal that can be misread by your sales team. Most salespeople will think that this is an objection or barrier signal and that the prospect is price orientated. However, it could be that the prospect is working out their budget and how to get the cost into it.

However, first, your team might need to rid any last barriers to purchase by ensuring that the prospect has no more reservations. A question like “does the product meet all your requirements?” might be a good start.

They say yes

The most obvious sign. However, sale people may miss this and not close. So, if your prospect says that they’re interested in making a purchase, then the deal should be closed without delay.

Don’t let your team miss out on potential sales. Create sales goals that are double what they are currently doing and retrain them to see the key signs that a prospect is ready to purchase.

Sales performance management is always easy when your business only has a couple of sales professionals. Once you scale up though, using manual commission tracking methods or even spreadsheet tracking becomes more problematic. This will be even more tricky over coming years due to the government’s Making Tax Digital initiatives, as you probably won’t be able to evidence or back up your records properly within your digital returns.

Benefits of sales commission software

Sales commission software makes all your tracking far easier, and also gives you the digital footprint that can easily mesh with your HMRC-approved payroll. You won’t need to spend loads of your time on complex financial commissions calculations for your salesforce any longer, as this software handles all kinds of complex commission structures with ease.

It goes without saying that the main reason you pay commission is to grow sales. And, this can be a very real motivational factor for sales teams. Create an even more competitive environment, with your commission structure, when you sign up for sales commission software by:

• Structuring add-on commissions for consistent top performers in teams.
• Varying commissions for different products. If you need to push specific items at different times of the year, simply change the settings within your software.
• Base your commission payments on revenues, sales volumes, or any other metrics and watch your sales force relish the challenges!

Get all the above, and more, when you sign up for sales commission software from Commissionly!

Take time to browse the Commissionly site to learn more ways your business will benefit from top-rated sales commission software from the experts! We’re proud of our high reputation and excellent customer ratings. We offer our clients a customer forum to exchange learning experiences and tips, so you will grow your expertise and benefit from a lot of user advice and support when you register for sales commission software with us. If you’d like to learn more, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us today.

When it comes to hitting your sales targets, you’re dependent on your sales team doing their best job. It’s easy to overlook the sales manager during particularly busy times of the year – such as Christmas – when everyone seems to be pulling their weight in equal measure. However, any good boss knows that it’s the sales manager that is intrinsic to the success of their business during critical sales times, and how happy they are is ultimately the measure for how happy your workforce is.

So, how can manager overrides make the difference not just to your sales manager, but to your entire team?

Motivation

If the sales manager is recognised as the driving force of their sales team, they’ll have the confidence in higher management to keep the rest of the sales team motivated. By utilising a manager override system, you don’t need to be concerned as to whether you’re suitably compensating your sales manager or not – they’ll know it, expect it and have more faith in your business in turn.

Ambition

Moving beyond day-to-day selling motivation, having a culture of ambition within your office is key to your company’s success. If the sales team see that the sales manager is happier, as a result of dependable manager overrides on commissions, they’ll feel more driven to aim for a managerial role themselves. This creates a friendly sense of competition and emotional investment in the business long-term.

Organisation

Your employees can only be as structured as you are. By setting up a manager override system, they’ll see your commitment to ensuring the smooth operation of the business. This can only improve company morale, as it’s far easier to be committed to a business that is devoted to prioritising the organisation of sales team pay.

What Commissionly offers

At Commissionly, we’ve set up a manager override system that makes incorporating them into a commission plan as simple as possible. It’s the first step for improving employee happiness on every level, and keeping your sales manager consistently happy to boot – something that can’t go amiss this festive season! Why not contact us today to find out more?

When it comes to setting your team’s sales goals for next year, there are a lot of factors to consider. It is important to remember that this will be a new year, a time for reflection and putting the fresh foot forward for new beginnings. So it is safe to assume that a lot of your team will be making new year’s resolutions.

Capitalise on these when you create sales goals for them. This will help you to make sales goals more relevant to individuals, improve sales performance and increase revenue for the business.

How can you align your staff’s new year’s resolutions to their sales goals?

Ask them what their new year’s resolutions are

As a starting point, ask your team what their new year’s resolutions are. Most of them should have at least one and if not, ask them to come up with one. Get them to write it down on a piece of paper (with their name on it) and give it to their team leader or yourself.

Assess the new year’s resolutions and align them to your sales goals

Next, look at these new year’s resolutions and see how they can be aligned to the business. Some of them will be easier than others. A common resolution (goal) might be to earn more, so you can look at how improving their targets and motivation, will assist them in selling more.

Another could be, to eat more healthily. While you might not think you can integrate this into your planning, you could suggest that staff members eat their lunch in the staff area instead of at their desk. Eating at a desk poses long-term health risks so you can support them in this way. It is important to keep in mind that not all goals you create have to be sales or money-related.

Have a meeting with your staff

The next step would be to speak individually to your staff and give them their new sales goals. Make sure to show them how their personal new year’s resolutions relate to the new sales goals. When they see the link between the two, they are more likely to have increased motivation for both their personal and professional goals.

You can also talk through methods for how staff can improve their general performance by giving an end-of-year final report.

So finally, mixing your staff’s new year’s resolutions with your business goals, when creating sales goals for January will most likely generate positive actions which leads to improved business sales.

If you require some assistance, use Commissionly’s commission software for small to medium business.

The commission is an integral part of any sales department in an organisation. As the sales department is paramount to the success of a company, the commission is vital to the life of the sales department. Therefore, sales commission schemes determine how well the department will perform.

Here are the qualities of the most effective sales commission schemes.

The commission agreement

The sales commission agreement identifies how to compensate salespeople for their services. It highlights the terms of employment for sales personnel as well as the association between the employer and employee. The sales commission agreement is an essential aspect of a sales commission scheme because it allows the employee to know what they are signing up for, in advance. It lists the commission, duties, and other compensation the staff member should expect after the job.

The commission structure

This aspect of a sales commission scheme points out the amount of money a company is capable of paying its sales team. The sales structure and the performance of an organisation determine how it will compensate its sales workforce. Sometimes it may be suitable to offer commissions as the primary compensation for the salespeople, while at other times a basic salary combined with a commission will do better.

An effective structure

An effective commission structure motivates the sales team and ensures that each salesperson is compensated fairly for their effort.

Such a structure:

• Avoids capping commissions or setting limits to how much salespeople can make
• Is simple, straightforward, and not structured to take advantage of the salespeople
• Is designed for optimum understanding

The sales manager

Sales commission schemes are only as effective as the individual behind them. Different commission schemes are available, each with its own merits and demerits. They include any of the following; a salary-plus-commission scheme, commission-only scheme, gross-margin-commission scheme, tiered-commission scheme, commission-draw scheme, or base-rate-only scheme.

The sales manager should be familiar with as many of them as possible to determine the one that best suits his or her company, or in order to sell a particular product.

It is vital that a company be careful when selecting a sales manager since he or she plays a fundamental role in determining the company’s future through its sales team.

The bottom line is that well-thought-out and executed sales commission schemes are the difference between success and failure in companies. Effective commission schemes incorporate a good commission agreement, a thorough and strategic commission structure, and have a professional sales manager behind them.

Most managers think they know how to set sales targets and quotas, but did you know that the formula should change depending upon the time of year that you are in? Buying habits change throughout the year, and when it comes to Christmas, more people are likely to spend money.

Knowing this, managers should adjust their sales goals at Christmas. Setting individual targets for each employee can help to maximise their motivation and performance.

But how do you know what types of goals to set?

Jump on Christmas sales

If you know that sales usually increase by 15% over the Christmas period, then it’s a fair assumption that your individual performance targets for employees can increase by 15% too. In order to understand such fluctuations, requires looking at the sales data over the past five years, to get an accurate value. Looking at sales data for the previous year will produce less accurate information to work from. It’s also worth comparing data across the whole industry. So take a look at this BBC article as a starting point!

Do something different this year

Are you doing anything different this year to boost sales? For instance, a boxing day sale or a Christmas promotion. These possibilities need to be taken into account. Do some research as to whether other businesses promotions have increased their sales. If there is a trend, then consider incorporating this into your sales goals.

Remember that many stores are likely to experience increased footfall over the Christmas period too, so this may give you a sales boost. Consider your conversion rate, and use this to estimate how many customers you can encourage to buy.

Focus on employees

Remember that employees are likely to be in a different mental space during the Christmas season. Staff who love Christmas can easily get their customers into the festive spirit. These are the best people to have on shift. Other sales team members may be feeling under pressure because they have families that rely on them. So it is important to consider their needs over the holiday time. An employee that is stressed by things going on at home will be less productive.

After having considered all of these, you may realise that you require a more accurate and metric-driven plan. If this is the case, then you need Commissionly! Our easy to use system allows real-time information to be used to calculate sales goals, targets and performance management, all which can help your business thrive. For more information, take a look at Commissionly today!

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, however, for businesses it can be rather slow. Some leads are thinking more about the end of the year than they are of the next year. This can be a hard time for sales teams as they struggle to find leads willing to be closed. Which inevitably leads to a slump in sales, that can prevent you and your teams reaching business goals.

That is unless you find other ways to motivate your team. And with a Christmas theme, you can do just that.

Having a few festive fun ideas in your commission structure is a great way to keep things fresh in the office. It can act as an additional motivator, talking point and builds team cohesion. So, here are a few festive commission ideas that you can use to motivate your team.

Secret Santa commissions

Set specific sales performance goals that reward team members with a special Secret Santa commission. This is an envelope that contains a secret bonus that is unknown until the winning team member opens it. The surprise could be anything from a £10 shopping voucher to a two-hour Christmas shopping lunchtime session.

If you can make them fun, then you are more likely to get buy-in from the team and possibly even a few laughs.

The Christmas jingle

Festive commissions don’t have to only be financially motivated. Instead, you could offer team members the choice of the next few songs to be played in the office when they meet set sales goals. Music can be a great motivator and many Christmas tunes are jolly and have an uplifting presence about them.

Visualise the month’s sales performance management

Sometimes people need visual cues to get them motivated during the winter months.

You can do this through some very simple drawings. Have a line that represents a journey on a wall, at one end put Santa’s grotto and at the other put a house. Everyone has a picture of Santa that can be moved across the wall.

Now you can either move the Santa as the days progress and add presents into their sleigh drawing to represent the sales. Either way is good to represent a story of their sales, and add a little festive fun at the same time.

Imagination is your only barrier

Christmas is a great time to add a little festivity into your commissions. By adding bonuses to the financial ones you already offer, you can motivate your team and add a little joy into the office.

What is also good, is that the options above can be customised to fit any holiday time. Santa across the wall could become a plane going on holiday!

The sales commission dashboard is fast becoming the most popular way to track and analyse sales. The benefits this little tool can bring to your business far outweigh the time it takes to implement. More importantly, when using a sales dashboard, teams report better workflow and a more knowledgeable approach to sales.

Will it work for you? The following are the most impactful benefits that come with using a sales commission dashboard.

On the spot analysis

Analysis is a great way to move your sales strategy forward. It is essential to a good business plan. Whether you are a team leader or a CEO, you will come to rely on it when decision-making. But analysis usually takes time, creating a gap in the flow between the data and your company’s reaction. This gap costs you profit: sales dip and your commission staff drag their feet. A sales commission dashboard solves this problem. Because it offers real-time analysis of commission, sales and staff performance, your company’s reaction to changing sales will be lightning-fast and the best it’s ever been.

Comprehensive management

Performance management is key to a sales company running on commission. Sales data can vary wildly between staff, with down-turns quickly snowballing. Therefore, it is key that you keep tabs on how your sales team is performing. The sales commission dashboard is an excellent way to compare the sales contributions of individual staff. It allows you to react quickly to a dip in sales performance and buoys up your sales data. More than this, it allows you to respond to high sales performances quickly, which is encouraging for sales teams. This results in a virtuous circle of positive competition, and better sales.

Optimising your forecasting data

Forecasting is ever-present in every sales meeting. The sales commission dashboard is an easy way to sift data, move analysis forward, and present a persuasive set of forecasts to the team. It is necessary in providing an easy guide to future sales techniques, and in setting meaningful goals for your team.

Every sales team has the same general goal – sell more.

Consistent monitoring of sales performance is the simplest way of checking that you’re on track to achieving constant positive performance. But it is important to note that setting the right goals will empower your team, keep the budget on track, and grow your profits. While setting the wrong goals can quickly derail necessary progress.

So how can you set sales goals the right way? What kind of benefits can you expect? Let’s take a look at how to set goals that will truly grow your business.

Break down your sales goals

Bigger goals can always be broken down into smaller tasks. This makes it easier to stay on target. First, calculate your annual or monthly sales goal. Use this amount to work backwards, to create smaller targets for each week. Seasonal differences and other predictable fluctuations should be taken into account. This includes the time it takes to train a new employee, or a reasonable amount of time to “ramp up” to new targets to maintain productivity and motivation.

Working backwards from your target also helps you look at what activities are involved to reach your goals. For example, if on average you need to speak to 10 leads for each sale, that determines both a skill benchmark (converting 1 out of 10 calls) and a booking benchmark (at least 10 a day to make 1 sale).

Set sales goals the SMART way

You’ve probably heard of SMART goals, but are you implementing them? This popular acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. When you’re determining how to set sales goals, SMART is an essential strategy to implement. SMART goals, especially when staff are able to see how they tie directly into their commission, make a team easier to manage.

You should be cognizant of common mistakes when setting sales goals too. Being clear on the targets and tasks required will set your sales team and business, up for success.

To help you reach your goals, Commissionly’s straightforward solution to commissions makes it easy to manage and motivate your sales force. Learn more about how you could use Commissionly to reduce the time spent managing your team, increase productivity, and spot key insights to strategically plan for your future.