How to Track Commissions? Expert Tips for Sales & Finance

Sales commissions are a great way to incentivize your team to sell more; however, they can be a pain to track for your accounting team. We’re going to share how to track commissions in a seamless and accurate manner using helpful commission tools like SolveXia. 

Rather than having to rely solely on a sales commission tracking spreadsheet, you can alleviate many hurdles and save time when using the best commission software.

Coming Up

What is Sales Commission Tracking?

How to Track Sales Commissions?

How to Improve the Sales Commission Tracking Process?

Why is it Important to Track Sales Commission Data?

Why Invest in Sales Commission Tracking Software?

What to Look for in Sales Commission Tracking Software?

What is the Best Sales Commission Tracking Software?

Final Thoughts

What is Sales Commission Tracking?

Sales commissions are payments made to sales representatives according to how much they have sold. Commissions can be an addition on top of a salary or some positions are commission only. 

Sales commission tracking is the process that records and tracks sales transactions with the relevant sales commission calculation. Depending on the company, commissions are tracked at defined intervals that are preset. 

In order to pay commissions out on time, the sales commission tracking must be up-to-date and accurate. However, with complicated commission structures, a larger volume of transactions, and growing sales teams, this can be complex to accomplish. 

That’s why companies use commission tracking software, like SolveXia, which automates the process for you. 

How to Track Sales Commissions?

There are different methods to choose from when deciding how to track sales commissions. Let’s see what they are, along with their pros and cons. Perhaps, you’re already using one or several of them in your company: 

1. Manual Tracking 

As the name implies, manual tracking is done by hand. That means calculations are also performed manually. While the benefit could be considered saving on costs of software or tools, you may end up making costly mistakes. 

Additionally, manual tracking is time-consuming, hard to scale, and ends up in key person dependencies. Plus, it’s prone to errors. 

2. Spreadsheet Tracking

With a little technology involved, spreadsheet sales commissions tracking is the next level up from manual. In this method, accounting teams enter data into spreadsheets so that formulas can be applied for calculation. 

Even though this method may speed up some time given that there is the use of formulas, it is still relatively inefficient and can take a lot of time, especially when sales transaction volume is high. 

While spreadsheets can handle a mass amount of data for storage, they may slow down when having to perform calculations on endless rows and columns of information. 

3. Software Tracking 

If you’re looking for the most efficient and painless way for how to track sales commissions, then software is undoubtedly the solution for you. Sales commission tracking software pulls and tracks data in real-time and applies the necessary calculations with utmost accuracy. 

Additionally, when you use commission software such as SolveXia, you add a layer of transparency and visibility into your business, in which every relevant person can access the data they need to perform their duties. 

SolveXia provides an automated solution that will collect commission data and execute calculations so that you can pay out your team on time and correctly. 

Check out this case study in which SolveXia helped automate 50 steps within a sales commission tracking process for travel management companies, resulting in roughly 2 days worth of saved external accountant fees per month. 

How to Improve the Sales Commission Tracking Process?

Dealing with slow and incorrect sales commissions tracking not only results in challenges for the business’ accounting, but it also can result in unhappy employees. 

Instead, it’s beneficial to optimize your sales commission tracking process to keep everyone satisfied and the company’s finances in tip top shape. 

Let’s explore a few ways that you can improve your process when optimizing how to track commissions:

1. Standardization 

Firstly, it’s best to set up a standardized process for all commissions tracking and calculations. This way, you can iterate the same steps for each sales team member. 

By clearly outlining and documenting the process, every person who is involved will have clear direction on what to do next or in the face of an issue. 

2. Customized Reports

Providing a customized report for each sales rep helps them to better understand their data and earnings. There’s no need for each employee to have to sift through their colleagues’ commissions to get to theirs. 

A report can also show them how much they’ve earned in a certain period versus their goals to keep them on track to perform at their highest potential. 

3. Automation!

Sales commission tracking software is the best way to track commissions properly, in a timely manner, and in a standardized way. 

By eliminating the reliance on spreadsheet-driven data,automation software like SolveXia combines your data across systems, streamlines the calculation process, and saves your business time and mistakes. 

4. Simplification and Streamlining 

Last but not least, simplifying the commissions tracking process helps move things along swimmingly. Calculations should be straightforward. 

Sales commission software can pick up data from spreadsheets and other accounting systems and apply whatever calculation you have decided upon, without needing human intervention.

Why is it Important to Track Sales Commission Data?

Tracking sales commission data is imperative for employees and the business alike. Here are the top benefits:

1. Accurate Payouts

Commissions are how salespeople can know how well they are performing; it’s also part of their income! So, it must be accurate when it comes to payouts. With a clear process for tracking sales commission data, you can ensure that your team is being paid accordingly to what they’ve earned. 

2. Saved Time

Waiting until it’s time to pay your employees to calculate commissions will end up taking a lot of time. Tracking commission data as it is earned will hasten the process and keep everything in order. 

3. Better Insights

Commissions payouts are another way to see how your team is performing. Since sales are your bottom line, you’ll want to have oversight in real-time as to how your business is faring so you can make informed decisions and adjustments to boost profits. 

You’ll also gain access to insights about commission performance, sales trends, payout distributions, and more. A commission tool like SolveXia provides you with customizable dashboards and reports. In return, anyone has actionable intelligence at their fingertips to aid in decision-making and performance management. 

Why Invest in Sales Commission Tracking Software?

As your business grows, so do your transactions and commissions payouts. Having sales commissions tracking software means that you can:

1. Boost Sales and Earning Potential 

With a sales commission tracking software available, your sales team can stay in-the-know of their performance at any point in time. This helps them reach their goals and stay motivated to do well. In turn, sales go up. 

2. Save Money 

Even though software is an initial investment, you’ll end up saving money. Time is money, so the less time your team has to spend manually calculating commissions, the more time they’ll have to allocate towards value-added responsibilities. Plus, automation reduces the likelihood of costly errors. 

With the best commission tracking software, like SolveXia, you can integrate all your data and financial systems to get a clear view of commission-related data. 

SolveXia automates commissions calculations, offer timely updates for those who need it, scales as your business grows, and delivers all information in easy-to-understand, personalized dashboards and reports. 

What to Look for in Sales Commission Tracking Software?

With the various sales commission tracking software to select from, what are the must-haves versus nice-to-have features? 

You’ll want tools that provide: 

• Customization: Every business’ commission structure is different. Plus, you may need to adjust your commission structure at some point. That’s why it’s best to find a software that offers customizable commission structure and molds to your setup. 

• Scalability: When you hire more sales team members, the software should be able to accommodate your growth. 

• Visualization: A tracking system that’s easy to understand with easy-to-understand and customizable dashboards is optimal for your sales team members to have. 

• Integration: It’s likely you’re already using software for your financials and business data. Your sales commission tracking software must be able to work with your existing tools through integrations. 

What is the Best Sales Commission Tracking Software?

Now, let’s look at some of the best sales commission tracking software.

1. SolveXia

SolveXia is a low-code platform that automates your spreadsheet-driven data, including commissions. It removes the need for manual processes, prevents key person dependencies, and adds internal control and transparency into your business’ most important processes. 

When utilizing SolveXia for commissions, you can automate all the manual effort and time spent on manual calculations and data entry. In turn, SolveXia aids in ensuring compliance both interally and externally, improving accountability, streamlining workflows, and integrating all your data for a clear overview of sales figures, service information, employee details, commission rates, and the like. 

With SolveXia, your team can run processes 100x faster with 90% less errors. Accounting teams are able to unify data across systems and focus their time on providing valuable business insights and strategic direction, rather than having to be bogged down with manual and repetitive work. 

SolveXia can also be used to automate critical finance functions like: reconciliation, rebate management, expense analytics, and more. 

2. Performio

Performio is a sales commission software that offers many features, including: a commission table, custom tables, forecasting, dashboards, calculation library, auto-scheduler, API integrations, to name a few. It eliminates spreadsheets and automates each aspect of the commissions process. 

3. Spiff

Spiff, a Salesforce company, is another sales commission software that brings together the ease-of-use of a spreadsheet with automation capabilities. It integrates with your existing technologies, and streamlines your workflows at every step of the way. 

Final Thoughts

In this day and age, there’s absolutely no reason to be manually calculating commissions or using spreadsheets that require meticulous data entry and formula creation. 

Instead, knowing how to track commissions automatically with easy-to-use software can save everyone time, money, and mistakes. 

With sales commission tracking software, your finance and sales team can be aligned and seamlessly work together to accomplish business goals. 

To see how commission software like SolveXia can help you accomplish this, request a demo today!