Sales commission software is a great way to motivate and incentivise your sales team. But can it benefit your business?

Let’s take a look at the top 4 industries that utilise this means of employee performance tracking:

1. Financial services

Whether your team sells merchant payment services or helps others to better invest their money, sales commission software can reward those reps who go the extra mile in discovering the best opportunities for their clients. It can also integrate with existing cloud bookkeeping services such as QuickBooks and Xero. And if you work with referral bodies and agents on varying sales splits, sales commission software helps reduce error.

2. Tech industry

Offer solutions and services in the tech industry? Log conversions and manage targets for multi-tiered package and software scenarios easily with commission software. From ‘Software as a Service’ to cloud storage and cybersecurity products, a gamified sales team is the perfect means to convert leads.

3. Digital services

Track the performance of account managers or departments selling PPC, online advertising or SEO services. Integrate reps’ performance with your CRM, set targets in line with the latest data analytics and adjust them based on experience. It can even be adjusted whether your commission structure is recurring or varied.

4. Medical sales

Medical practices are keener than ever to use their budget wisely, and sales reps are having to work harder to make those (all-important) conversions. Sales commission software enables reps to see their targets and track their own performance. Sales commission software can also be based on multiple currency conversions for those that sell at home or globally.

Sales commission tracking software is a great option for any business looking to improve their sales conversions. Whatever you sell, maximise your team’s potential with Commissionly today.

Whether you’ve been part of a business for twenty years or are just getting started in setting up your own, it’s critical that you have software to help make your day-to-day tasks easier. However, it can be difficult to find such a solution if you aren’t sure what tools the ideal solution should have.

Luckily for you, the team here at Commissionly have rounded up a list of tools that every good sales commission dashboard should have.

Multi-currency support

Every business wants to reach as wide an audience as possible. This includes appealing to potential customers from all around the world, which in turn means having the ability to support a variety of currencies besides the local one.

Recurring commissions tool

If you’re a sales commission-based company, it’s key that you build a rapport and reputation with every client. This way, you’re likely to entice them to remain loyal to you, earning recurring commissions. When this is the case, it’s key that you have a tool that allows you to track such recurrences; doing so means you can pinpoint who to offer promotions and loyalty rewards to.

Sales rep tracker

If you employ a number of people to help fulfil commissions – whether it be securing them, or carrying them out – then you need a tracker to ensure that everything is running smoothly. You should look for a tool that easily and effectively lists each team member, the commission jobs they have assigned, and whether or not these commissions have been fulfilled.

Choose Commissionly

No matter what size or stage your company is at, Commissionly is a platform with a sales commission dashboard that’s intuitive and broad enough to suit a wide variety of needs. Our dashboard boasts all of the features listed in this blog post and more, so you can be certain that you’re the boss of every aspect of your business. Get in touch with a member of the team today.

Building a sales performance management strategy could sound intimidating and like a lot of pressure if you’re unsure of what to do. You don’t want to come across as overbearing or pushy – but you also don’t want to seem floundering or lackadaisical. However, ensuring that you find the right balance is easier than you expect.

Here’s how you can manage the sales performances of your employees effectively.

1. Assert your goals from the get-go

From the beginning, be clear with your employees on what your expectations are, regarding their sales performances. What is their daily target sales quota? How long do you expect them to spend with each client? What should their priorities be? Laying all of this out on the table means your employees know what you want. This means that it’s easier for you to track inconsistencies because an expected timeline and/or goals has/have been established.

2. Remember to schedule events and goals

So often, people rely solely on their memory. This can backfire quickly because the human brain is not as effective at retaining information as, say, a piece of intuitive management software. Keeping track of your to-do list means that you can reflect upon each one as and after it’s passed, meaning you can manage performances and outcomes with ease.

3. Be a leader – not just a boss

If you want to truly understand why an employee is falling behind in their sales performance targets, often the best stance is not to be intimidating. Instead, try adopting more of a mentor figure. Ask them why they think they’re failing, what you can do to help. This will build a rapport in the office, and help your employees feel more at ease. When they feel like this, they’re likely to be more confident and perform better.

4. Use Commissionly

Commissionly is a flexible, advanced platform that will help you keep track of, and manage, all your sales performance targets. Not only this, but you can use Commissionly to send out questionnaires to your employees and clients in an unintrusive manner, gleaning results quickly and effectively. Commissionly can be tailored to the individual needs of your SME, growing with you as your business grows.

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.

Regardless of your company size, sales performance goals should be an intrinsic part of day-to-day activities within the sales department. Without sales performance goals, the sales team will remain unfocused and undriven – implementing such goals will encourage hard work with a great payoff.

What types of sales performance goals should you be incorporating into your company as we launch into the new year?

Reduce cycle time

Cycle time is the amount of time taken for a deal to be closed. Whether it be a transaction or negotiation, you should be aiming to have as short a cycle time as possible. The sales performance goal of reducing cycle times is essential – this is because it ensures your team are working at optimal levels.

Improve customer retention

As your business grows, so too will your target audience change. One sales performance goal that should be set, is to improve your customer retention. More importantly, you want to demonstrate to your clients that, even as your company evolves and changes, their loyalty will be worth it.

Increase sales by achievable amounts

Whether you choose to do it on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, your sales team should be focused ultimately on increasing sales. Whatever specific sales performance goal is set regarding this, make sure the target is tangible and achievable. For instance, setting a sales performance goal of improving sales by 8% by the end of Q1 is achievable – an 80% increase by the end of Q1 is not.

Whether an SME or an independent business, why not decide on your new year sales performance goals using the SMART method? No matter how you choose what goals to set for 2020 and beyond, consider Commissionly to see them through.

Commissionly is a reliable, intuitive platform that can help you motivate and pay your workforce as and when you need. Through quick surveys, you can gauge workers’ enthusiasm and drawbacks; additionally, through Commissionly, you can set sales performance goals and strategically plan how to ensure such goals are met.

If you’re a small to medium enterprise (SME) then you’ll know that every sales target and quota matters and that setting achievable goals is vital to success.

Communicate sales expectations between employees

Whether you’re the manager of the business or an employee, communication is key. Studies have endlessly proven that excellent communication in the workplace drives sales. This is because it creates a rapport between staff members, improving respect and an understanding for each others’ roles.

Therefore, communicating your sales expectations between one another will allow the team to feel bonded and more on the same page – increasing the drive to succeed.

Consider all the factors when setting sales targets

As an SME, you have to get sales targets right. Too low, and employees may start to slack as they feel they exceed expectations. On the flipside, set too high and employees will feel dejected and have low morale. To set effective sales targets, consider the following elements:

• Realistic timelines
  Should you set daily sales targets, weekly, monthly, yearly? If you set a daily sales target, remember that this will be different to a weekly one, and a weekly one to a monthly – and so forth. Adjust expectations accordingly.

• Revenues
  Calculate the revenues needed for the business to succeed. Also, don’t feel let down if these are more varied than you expected. A path of income is income nonetheless. Remember to input all revenues into your sales targets if you want accurate outcomes.

Look at what sales quota suits your SME the best

If you want to drive profit, you have to implement an effective sales quota. Here are the four most common types of sales quota, and what they can be used for.

1. Sales quota based on activity
   Best for SMEs with a variety of touch-points, this style of quota works by measuring how much of an activity an employee does. For example, this could be the NUMBER of sales in a day, HOW MANY calls an employee takes, etc.
   
2. Sales quota based on volume
   Ideal for those SMEs focusing on growing revenue, a volume-based quota focuses on just that – the volume. It tallies up the total generated revenue over a given amount of time. Additionally, it may look at the number of units sold.
   
3. Sales quota based on cost
   If you’re an SME focused on expense control, this is the sales quota for you. It revolves around looking at an employee’s effectiveness at reducing costs. Such factors that implement into this include time efficiency, time invested, and additional opportunities taken.
   
4. Sales quota based on profit
   This is the best quota for the SMEs that offer a range of marketable products or services. This is because a quota based on profit looks at the sales performance of employees, therefore working best when an employee has multiple things to sell.

If you’re part of an SME and wondering how to set sales targets and quotas, consider Commissionly. Commissionly is a platform that aims to simplify the inner cogs of a business. Whether it be ways to pay, motivating your team, or integrating a new aspect, Commissionly does it all. As an SME, any help you can get could make a world of difference. Commissionly is the smart, affordable hand that you can take while going on your business venture.

When working within a sales environment, one of the most important thing you will need to have is goals. However, goal-setting can often be easier said than done, as there are many factors that come into play when setting these.

Keep in mind the acronym ‘SMART’ to give you and your team the direction you need:

1. Specific

Goals are hard to achieve when they are vague. It is much easier to lose motivation with a vague and flimsy goal. By making it specific, you are getting right to the point of what you want. For example, rather than having your goal as “I want to encourage my team to perform well”, it should be “I want to set my team targets which are reasonable and encourage them to meet and exceed them”.

2. Measurable

Having a goal which is measurable is crucial. Being able to measure your progress will also indicate how far you are from achieving your goal. A goal which you cannot measure will not motivate you, as you will have no way of seeing how much you have achieved and how close you are to reaching your goal. By having targets and KPIs, it is a very easy way of measuring sales targets and performance, which will highlight any troubling areas.

3. Attainable

Attainability is important when setting a goal. If you cannot possibly achieve your goal, what motivation will you have for pursuing it? This is the side of you which can aim high but needs to also be realistic. You have the best understanding of your business, and what is achievable for your team. For example, within a sales role, it would be unrealistic to set a goal to overcome all objections.

4. Relevant

Many businesses have many different goals, so making sure that the goals you set are relevant to your business is vital. For example, if your sales team needs to build rapport with clients before making a sale, setting a goal in regards to first contact sales would have very little point. Alternatively, if your sales team are encouraged to make a sale as quickly as possible, then you would want to monitor the team’s conversion rates.

5. Time

Working out the time frame in which you will achieve your goal is one of the most important things you can do, as this will dictate how long you measure your success. It is often recommended to have a few short-term goals, and one or two long-term goals, so you can stay motivated on the present as well as the future.

Keep reading Commissionly’s blog posts to find out more about making the most of your sales team.

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.

When it comes to sales performance goals, it’s all too easy to make the mistake of being overly aggressive at every opportunity. Which essentially is a loss of sales commission. It’s important to rectify this because approaching sales with a “one size fits all” approach is a recipe for missing out on your targets.

It is necessary for your team to give some thought to other approaches, in order to meet those all-important sales performance goals. One such approach is the ‘soft sell’.

What exactly is a ‘soft sell’?

Not to be confused with an 80’s synth-pop band with a similar name, the soft sell is almost self-explanatory in its simplicity. Yet many sales teams still neglect using this sales approach. The soft sell is based on casual persuasion and subtle language, which offers an all-round much lower pressure experience for your prospects. It’s designed to make them feel more comfortable and is less likely to turn down the opportunity due to feeling pressurised.

Knowing when to ask for a sale

The soft sell should not be mistaken for passivity. Rather, it’s about understanding when to attempt to close a sale with the requisite level of persistence that will ensure you meet your sales performance goals.

It involves balancing persistence with the knowledge of the product and/or service with a feeling of relatability for the prospect. During the soft sell, self-awareness and empathy are core skills. Being able to read the prospect in such a manner, as to help you keep your conversational tone comfortable. This, in turn, helps to keep the prospect at ease and makes them feel like they may want or need the product or service on offer offering. This is effective as they do not feel under pressure to make a decision.

In it for the long haul

It’s worth remembering that the soft sell is a long game. Prospects might not immediately decide to make a purchase when presented with the soft sell. However, it’s an undoubtedly useful technique for encouraging repeat sales and establishing long-term working relationships with customers.

Why not encourage your sales team to employ the soft sell technique this week? It might be worthwhile utilising your sales commission software from Commissionly to identify potential soft-sell prospects, before using to it track your success against those all-important sales performance goals.

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.