You can find the weaknesses in your sales team

If you have a well established and rigorous system in place for working out how well each individual member of staff is performing, it can become a lot easier to find the weak points in your sales team. With software such as Commissionly, you can easily see how much each team member is selling and take action by encouraging them or further training individual staff members into working better. Previously, you might have struggled to see where your weaknesses are before it is too late. Now you can easily find and solve the problem.

Push your hard workers to the next level

Sometimes you’ll have employees that push even further than your highest expectations, and applying the same sales targets and quotas to them week after week won’t lead to improving results. Instead, your business could be left unmoving and stagnant. With adaptable sales goals software, you can adjust each individual employee’s sales goals to get the most out of each and every worker in your company. Rather than being settled and complacent, your salesforce can be constantly challenged and kept on their toes, which is much better for business.

It makes forecasting easier

As sales goal software is based on the current abilities of your employees, you can get a rough idea of how much each salesperson can make in a given time period. From this, it becomes a lot easier to estimate your revenue. A detailed revenue estimate can allow you to plan for your financial future with no fears about whether or not you’ll make enough to afford upgrades you might want to make. This could be done manually, but software such as Commissionly streamlines the process of sales targets and quotas, making the whole financial side of your business easier.

Changing how we work

The problem is; the standardised way we work out how to set sales targets and quotas can cease to be fit for purpose from month to month. Compare December to January, for example. One is slow due to holiday festivities while another represents a new year and new goals. Yet they are only a month apart. Previous targets and KPIs may be unrealistic, if not completely unachievable, so penalising our salesforce is never the answer.

We may not be able to control the shifting sands of time, but we can influence buying habits through marketing, and we can control what we do as a business. It’s important to keep in mind that this is the industry we choose, and such seasonal occurrences should always have been factored into our strategy.

What businesses can do

Every industry needs to prepare for a ‘sales boom’ as well as potentially quieter times. People go through boom and bust as well as businesses, and those living frugally are going to be keen to make up for the lost time when they can. We need to be ready when they do!

One method is to refocus on our salesforce. This is a great opportunity to provide training. Feedback and coaching are essential aspects of performance sales management. Do you do this enough? Your salesforce is the lifeblood of your business, so take this time to sharpen their skills and knowledge of your industry. Up-skill where you can and dig into each sales person’s strengths and limitations.

Finally, always maintain consistent but sensible levels of marketing. While it’s tempting to cut budgets during off-peak times, this risks becoming irrelevant. Customers need to know we still exist. They need to miss you, to know that you’re still open for business. Be seen and continue your marketing efforts as usual, particularly around your social channels. If you don’t, your competitors will, and they’ll also reap the rewards.

Still using a spreadsheet to calculate commission? If you’d like a simpler, more efficient way to manage sales performance, why not consider Commissionly?

You can benefit from a free trial with a demonstration on how to improve your sales performance management. With a host of powerful features, like sales territory management, sales quota management, and sales objective management, you’ll soon find yourself wondering how you ever managed with a simple spreadsheet.

Sales commission schemes are a great way to get your employees putting in extra effort towards reaching their sales goals. However, it is difficult to decide on the type of incentive you should offer your staff, especially if you are relatively new to the scene.

1. Design your sales commission scheme appropriately

Explain to your employees that alongside their base salary, the sales commission scheme will grow and develop alongside the business’ success. Therefore, the greater effort put in early on would prove beneficial to all.

This is a useful way to start as it will be based on the real numbers being achieved, as opposed to a number sucked out of thin air.

2. Be careful with stretching goals

Offering audacious goals or targets beyond 100% can be a great way of getting staff already achieving to push themselves even further. However, if someone is struggling to meet targets this may cause further frustration. It is important to be optimistic but also to be realistic. And tailoring these ‘stretched goals’ to the individual will be far more effective in the long run. This is because people don’t work the same or have the same motivation. So essentially you’re helping them help you.

3. Properly incentivise your sales team

There can be a lot to calculate when starting out, and an easy mistake is to offer an incentive that is either too low to adequately motivate, or too high that you end up out of pocket.

Using sales commission management software is a fantastic way to alleviate these time-consuming tasks, therefore giving you more time to build your sales team’s confidence and ability. You can continue to recalculate commission rates with the software as your sales team grow in success and your profits rise.

So it is important to maintain a commission structure that works best for everyone through using real-time performance figures. ANd here at Commissionly, we offer many useful software packages and tools that can make the running of your business much more seamless. Our software is able to calculate complex commission values efficiently and accurately that can be tailored to the needs of your business.

Create and track incentive compensation

When developing your incentive compensation plan, your decision-makers will need to work hard to create a system which attracts the best sales talent, motivates and encourages the right business decisions. However, incentive compensation plans can become complicated, particularly when they involve several different performance measurements – or if you have different employee levels, for example. Your sales compensation calculator within Commissionly can help speed up the process.

The benefits of incentive compensation

Incentive compensation is incredibly effective when it comes to encouraging desired behaviour in employees. It allows organisations to promote upselling, incentivise customer interaction and the use of a variety of different sales techniques.

Here’s how a sales compensation calculator within our compensation software could help your company to benefit:

Help align your incentives with your business objectives.
• More likely to meet long-term and short-term targets of the business.
• Focus attention on the behaviours and working culture of the business.
• Encourage your teams to plan ahead and highlight any expectations.
• Attract more sales-driven candidates for vacancies within your business.
• Save money related to salary rises through the allocation of funds for when goals are achieved.

Creating the perfect incentive compensation plan

While incentive compensation is a great concept for improving productivity, it can be difficult to implement without the right commission calculation software.

It’s virtually impossible to manage different commission parameters with manual systems or spreadsheets. This is where a sales compensation calculator comes in. With our commission calculation software, your organisation can ensure that employees are rewarded accurately and on time, to help keep them motivated to continue hitting those all-important sales targets.

For more information on how Commissionly could help you to develop your incentive compensation strategy, please do not hesitate to contact us today.

Here are 3 of the most common causes you may need to address;

1. Over-the-top expectations

Sales, by nature, is a high-pressure area to work in and no one ever applied to a sales job expecting an easy ride. However, when your sales team has over-the-top quotas and expectations hanging over their heads, it should be no surprise that people start jumping ship.

Quotas should always be challenging in a way that gets the most from your team. But they should never be impossible.

As a starting point, analyse your sales targets and compare them against your team’s output. From there, you can set targets that will still get great work from your sales team, without sacrificing (vital) morale.

2. Uncompetitive compensation

Compensation is obviously a major factor in sales performance management. With salary and commission being such a fundamental part of sales work, perfectly competent sales managers can be at risk of missing the forest for the trees in this area.

Obviously, the ever-changing landscape of your industry will mean that simply offering higher basic wages or commission is not always an option. But this is never an excuse for poor compensation that isn’t as good or better than what your sales staff can get elsewhere.

Be sure to assess how you’re compensating your staff regularly, both in terms of salary and commission, and various benefits and frills.

3. Poor training

Your bright new prospects won’t last long if they’re not given adequate training. A hardcore sink-or-swim method of sales performance management can make some salespeople thrive, but they will always be the minority. For the rest of your team, this will only cause stress and more errors, leading to a negative snowball effect.

Be sure to invest in thorough, personalised training to get the best results from your team members. More importantly, remind them that they are an asset; worthy of investment and long-term personal development.

Commission is motivating

The idea that staff should prioritise the company above their own interests is a nice one, but it’s simply not grounded in the facts. Motivation is essential if you want staff to perform at their best. Remember that for a lot of people, more money is a strong motivator.

And, naturally, your sales staff are the team you want to motivate the most. Without them, your business can dry up fast.

Commission means more revenue

Companies that object to a commission-led environment usually see the size of commission payments from their industry and wince. However, they’re not thinking in terms of what those commissions really mean.

Imagine paying out $100,000 a year to your top salesman. Now that’s a LOT of money, for sure. To a small business, it’s a massive payment. Nigh impossible. But now imagine that this salesman has made you $2,000,000 in revenue; then, $100,000 is just his cut of 5%. Would you get rid of that salesman? Of course not!

Don’t think of commission… think of just how much bigger the revenue will be to the company.

Commission gives more certainty

Measuring results gives employees and companies more certainty. It’s motivating for staff to know exactly what they’re contributing to the company. This motivation is intrinsically linked to the company’s success.

Reviewing staff performance for many businesses is too subjective. They grade staff according to how they ‘think’ they’ve performed. This can be awkward for the company, and frustrating for the staff member who’s put in years of extra work but doesn’t get rewarded because ‘subjectively’ the company isn’t sure how their work is paying off.

Commissions require specific tracking, which lets everyone know where they stand.

Commission attracts the best staff

The best salespeople thrive on competition and measured performance. They want to excel, and to be rewarded for excelling.

In a commission environment, you’re giving your staff everything they need to thrive and reap the rewards. The best salespeople will go where the rewards are, so you give yourself a better chance of attracting them. Commissionly is the first step.

Modern technology can come to the rescue. For managers, there is excellent commission software, and for salespeople, there are new ways to generate leads and build strong connections that can reduce the sales process and improve conversions.

So, in what ways can modern technology be used to help staff meet sales performance goals? Here are three ways.

1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a very common way that sales people can actually find leads online. The social media channel has a lot of important information on it that can help identify and communicate with social media users who are decision-makers within their businesses or homes.

Just a few minutes a day and salespeople can connect with dozens of people and communicate with them quickly. Salespeople can prepare three or four standard messages they can use to introduce themselves and the services offered. These can be used to start conversations.

2. Blogging

Research has shown that blogging can result in higher lead generation (up to 67% more leads than not blogging). And sales people can get involved. If they write just one blog post per week, they can get traffic to the company website. At the end of the blog post, they should include their contact information. And then, when people contact them, they can initiate the sales process.

Alternatively, salespeople can subscribe readers to an email list they can use to start the process of selling to them.

It should be noted that the more times that a company blogs, the more sales they’re likely to get. To get the best results, businesses should be blogging at least every other day. But, if there are multiple sales people within a company, this can be easily achieved.

3. Quizzes

People love quizzes and salespeople can use quiz technology to find out more about prospects and collect contact information. Quizzes can be developed for free using website software and other apps.

At the end of the quizzes, the contact details can be collected and the salesperson can then speak to the person.

By using the above three options, salespeople can quickly find more leads, with more information about the contact than is possible through cold calling or using an old database. Then, using this information, salespeople are more likely to meet sales performance goals.

Generally speaking, most companies have to compete for their slice of the pie. Which is why it’s not surprising that the pressure is always on the sales team to land orders.

When faced with all of that pressure, it leads many sales operations to work at a frantic pace. Sales personnel throw more time and effort in, in order to maintain a high order intake, but there is only so much they can do. There comes a point when the return on all that effort begins to diminish. Growth slows and salespeople become over-exhausted, and that helps no one. It’s time to work smarter.

More than just a sales commission software tool

Most businesses operate some sort of sales commission or sales compensation process. There are various software programs (some Cloud-based) to help with calculating and keeping track of commissions owed.

But the latest cutting-edge programs now include a lot more than just tracking software. They include CMR software and innovative apps that allow their programs to be linked to other departments and disciplines. So, what is often branded as sales commission software can be so much more. If properly leveraged, they can help your sales staff to work smarter.

Making CMR work for you

It’s all down to the CMR module. This module can be used to store all sorts of key data about existing and potential clients. Things like who are the main points of contacts, contact details (phone numbers, email addresses, etc.), size of spend, consumers’ profiles, etc.

New sales commission software programs are also great news for managers too. They make keeping tabs on the levels of commission per head a breeze. They also handle all of the calculations – no matter how complex they are.

These new programs also empower managers to set commission rates as they see fit. It means they can steer the sales focus very efficiently. In addition, the new breed of sales compensation software can be used for setting targets and creating sales forecasts.

One of the most intuitive, Cloud-based sales commission programs around right now is available through Commissionly. If you want to work smarter and achieve more in doing so, contact Commissionly today.

However, the software now available can do so much more than just track and provide live updates on sales compensation figures. It can also offer team leaders and financial management information that will facilitate sales forecasting. This same data can also be used for planning strategies.

Increase sales efficiency

Leveraging the Cloud for software programs is the way to go. Programs can easily integrate with other applications. This provides you with a powerful tool that can improve the efficiency of any sales operation. Enabling frontline staff to keep tabs on their commission, creates incentives that drive sales staff to greater heights.

Linking accounts into the loop makes the commission payment process much more manageable. It also provides managers with important information relating to running costs and the impact on profits and losses.

Access the benefits of built-in CRM

If you choose a commission software program that incorporates CRM, it can really revolutionise the sales process. When your sales team uses the dashboard to update their sales compensation progress, they can also access all sorts of other data. This data includes; who orders what, how frequently they order, who the main contact points are, what the accumulative spend is, etc.

This is all insightful information that your salespeople can have at their fingertips. Managers and team leaders can share the same information. Using this, they can create strategies and assemble sales targets.

If accounts are tied into the data too, they can use it to drive their cash flow predictions. The more integration that takes place, the bigger the potential efficiencies and benefits.

Software for all industries

Commissionly sales commission software has been expressly designed to create benefits and efficiencies in industries across the board. By including the Zapier App, you can integrate seamlessly with as many as 2,000 apps and programs, including the likes of Hubspot, Insightly, Quickbooks, Sage, Salesforce, and Xero.

If you are not yet using Commissionly sales commission software, it’s about time you started. For more information, contact us and set up a free trial today.

Here are three things to look for:

1. Software that runs the way you want it to

Each business has its own way of doing things. The end goal is always the same, but the way it needs to be achieved is always very specific depending on the business. This is a universal problem, which is why sales commission software is flexible to suit your needs. When you choose the right package you will be able to enjoy the advantages already built-in. And experience far less hassle maintaining the system.

Take manager overrides for example. Many companies grant their sales managers small override commissions on the sales their teams make. This is something that can be easily set up in some of the leading sales commission software programs.

2. Out with the old and in with the new

A lot of businesses still use spreadsheets to calculate sales commissions. There is nothing wrong with spreadsheets per se. However, they do take time to set up and maintain. In addition to which they are not easily shareable and are error-prone in terms of inputting data.

By switching across to a specifically designed program for capturing and calculating outstanding sales commissions, you can make life a whole lot easier. Easier for both management and employee too.

Calculations will be error-free. With each member of staff being able to get real-time updates. As a result, everyone can measure their performances against their targets.

3. Integrate and share data

There is something else that is very attractive about the latest sales commission software. It integrates with most other existing systems, and it’s easy to install. Leading state-of-the-art software will also integrate with other disciplines. It can be linked to customer relationship management and accounting software. Sharing data in this way obviously has many benefits.

If you would like to discover more about how you can tailor the latest sales commission software to your business needs, contact us or peruse our website for more information.