Creating more time to close deals

Having the right mindset is essential for all salespeople. If the sales commission software you use is complicated and time demanding, it will distract staff from their real goal. Yes, their goal from a personal point of view is to make money. But how is that done? By closing deals.

The advantages of CRM driven sales commission software

Keeping tabs on existing clients and having information readily to hand on prospective clients and your communications with them is vital. So, having a sales commission software package that is based on Customer Relationship Management rather than Comma Separated Values (CSV – typically spreadsheets) is a bonus.

One significant advantage of CRM sales compensation software is that it makes it possible to incorporate product catalogues. Most businesses have multiple product lines. Each product lines carries varying commission rates based on price and sales volume. 

The use of product catalogues is twofold. Firstly, it makes it easier to target your sales force toward specific products. You can put the spotlight on the product margins and revenues that you wish to promote. Secondly, it makes it easier for individual team members to track their progress in terms of sales commissions earned. Because of this, CRM driven sales commission software programs have the edge over CSV driven software.

Don’t forget your existing client base

Business and sales, in particular, is all about establishing good relationships and communication. The same goes whether you are talking cultivating new clients or expanding business with your current customer base. Far too many salesmen and women concentrate most of their activity on finding new clients. However, this can be detrimental to existing customers, who if truth be known, are your best source of new orders.

This brings us back to communicating. By staying in regular contact and recording where you’re at on the right sales commission software, you are nurturing new business. Besides new business, you will also be encouraging repeat orders.

To find out more about the best CRM based commission tracking software, book a demo or start a free 14-day trial today.

In order to keep profits coming in, and to get the most from your staff, setting sales targets is essential. Thanks to the sales goals software built into the Commissionly app, you can quickly and easily assign goals to team members and their managers.

Create sales goals that work

Motivating sales staff to put in extra effort requires a thorough understanding of your current commission model. This includes current earnings  and sales of your sales team members, and the level of revenue needed to turn a profit per salesperson. Once you know how much your team is delivering, and your targets for company growth , you can start setting targets and goals which address the difference between the two figures and deliver the results through sales team compensation.

Always be realistic about your targets for your team. Goals that are set too high can actually reduce motivation. Staff need to feel that their targets are achievable. Be clear about the potential rewards for meeting or exceeding those targets, too. In addition to their regular commission, consider offering a bonus or treat for the best performers over a set week, month or quarter.

Using software for goal setting

With Commissionly, staff are already motivated by seeing their commission stack up in real time. You can also track their performance to ensure they are meeting their quota. However, you can go beyond this with all kinds of sales tools – such as leader boards to add a competitive element to the team setting.

Using the Commissionly app, you can set goals for staff, and amend them whenever required. You can follow a team member’s progress towards a target and automate the process of collecting sales and commission data for a faster, smoother experience. Plus, you can identify staff that are struggling to reach their targets and offer extra support – and you can create bigger, bolder challenges for your best performers, too!

While Commissionly is one of the few CRM systems that offer native commission software, we pay careful attention to alternative modes of motivating and compensating sales staff that personify the competitive environment in the UK, Europe and the United States, especially with some sectors reporting talent shortages.

As Accenture summarily puts it “When it comes to motivating people toward great performance, it’s not just about the paycheck.”   Many sales managers have known or suspected this for years, especially in downturned economies when the selling cycle gets longer. Some companies may uncomfortably acknowledge that the number of calls necessary to close a deal has also jumped.   For instance, it is not uncommon to require six or more calls to close a deal in some sectors.

And conversion rates—moving from the initial call to the presentation stage, and then converting proposals to sales—are trending down for some industries, while in others the uptick in the U.S. economy may be moving them in the opposite direction.   Regardless, there will come a point in every small business lifecycle where they will experience some of the pain points above, which has a dramatic effect upon sales force motivation and performance.

“That leads to a situation where you have to know more and sell harder, but where you may be less effective in your overall success rates,” said Accenture. Traditionally higher commission and compensation rates may sound like the most sensible way to keep your sales force stimulated, focused and closing deals.

However, recent research indicates that this may not be the case with your sales force quenching for support in basic areas including sales enablement and tools, reducing quote cycle times, getting better documentation, and developing a product that is differentiated and easier to sell.

Modern authors like Daniel Pink, have also found compelling case studies in the software development industry which support the arguments above noting that one CEO decided to completely eliminate sales commissions after experiencing a protracted increase in commission complexity resulting from salespeople gaming the system and management constantly attempting to plug the holes.

For instance, salespeople would take advantage of early commission schemes by pushing sales into the time period most advantageous for them, by underselling one month to show a bigger gain the following month.   Soon the compensation software consumed large amounts of internal resources as management attempted to fight back, ultimately removing their focus from product and service development.

Frustrated by the process and results, the CEO decided to investigate eliminating sales commissions altogether, receiving at first, mixed and conflicting feedback from his sales force regarding this dramatic proposal:

“When I explained it to Tom [not his real name] he said, ‘It sounds like a really good idea. But James would never like it; he’s solely motivated by money. Remove the commission and he’ll leave.’ James said, ‘Sounds great. But it will never work with Tom. Money is all that drives him.”

Thus, according to Pink, not only were commissioned sales not leading to better performance, it wasn’t even the arrangement salespeople themselves preferred

The CEO decided to remove commissions and instead pay his sales force a healthy salary, which gradually resulted in increasing sales. Of course, this new scheme did have some casualties, with two salespeople promptly leaving. However most stayed and are thriving – including Tom and James, referenced above.

“Rather than relying on carrots [sell more and you can buy the new car] and sticks [don’t sell enough and you won’t be able to feed your kids], we are compelled to make our salespeople’s work more interesting, to set better goals and encourage teamwork,” said the CEO.

The result was collaboration and commitment increased and they became agents for the customer rather than a salesperson. While this strategy may not work in all industries it is worth acknowledging the drawbacks with the age-old use of commission structures.

According to Accenture, financial compensation—though not, strictly speaking, a physiological need—is analogous to the lowest tier of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy. It is basic and important, but it touches upon only one dimension of motivation and a comparatively low-level one at that.