Photo By CornerStone Soft.
Sales are the lifeblood of any business. It is an economic fact that without sales a business cannot survive. In some industries there are products to sell whilst others are selling a service. Both types of sales face the same problem daily; the need to convince someone that their product or service is an essential additional to their daily lives.
There are some businesses which do not need to sell their products or services; instead they need to sell themselves. Supermarkets are a prime example of this, people need food to survive but they can choose to shop at a variety of supermarkets. Salespeople and marketing personnel are required to convince customers to shop where you want them too.
The role of a sales person
Sales personnel have always been a part of business and many businesses incentivize their staff by providing generous commission for sales brought in. The basic wage may be low or non-existent but the commission can be excellent for a good sales person. However this can bring its own issues, keeping track of the various details can become a full time job in itself:
• Different sales people may have different rates of commission
• Different levels of sales usually attract different levels of commission
• Commission is often paid when a sale is completed, not when the customer agrees to the purchase — this can be a delay of a few weeks or a few months.
• Commission is often calculated on the gross profit. This prevents a sales person giving too much discount and actually costing the company money. However, this means keeping track of the agreed sales price and the actual cost to ensure an accurate commission figure is reached.
Every business will have its own structure but, in essence, the more sales staff there are the more complicated it becomes to keep track of the numbers. Not being able to accurately tell what commission is due or what percentage of sales have been made via a certain sales person can result in a business losing money and disillusioned sales people leaving for positions with rival companies.
The solution
The solution is simple; go digital. A computer spreadsheet can calculate many of the figures but it will be complicated to set up and maintain and will be difficult to extract the necessary payment dates. Those who use dedicated software to establish a sales commission plan can calculate amounts due and date of payment, etc. The software only needs to be configured once and will then provide all the information required. These systems can also handle predicted sales and costs alongside the actual data. The result is an easy to use package providing essential information at the click of a button:
• Forecasted sales data and costs for multiple scenarios
• Actual sales data and a variety of comparison charts
• Sales commission plans can be created on an individual basis
• Automatic calculation of sales commission due and date due.
• An easy to read screen which summarizes the sales commission plan and the performance of both individuals, departments and the company as a whole.
Top 5 companies currently offering this software:
1. Cornerstone Software - This Company is a privately held corporation which was established in 1986. There is a wealth of experience in the directors and staff with a simple approach to business — everything is about the customer. They work hard to ensure the supplied software exceeds the expectations of each customer and offer a full support service. The product is aimed at companies with between ten and one hundred sales staff.
2. Cellarstone Incorporated offer a product called QCommission. They have two offices in California and one in India. The company is dedicated to being professional and transparent in all that they do — always seeking to make a product better and a happy customer even happier. Their product can link directly to Quick Books accounting software or can be used as a stand-alone package. It can also link with Excel spreadsheets or export data via CSV files. There are three different versions of the product which support a varying level of sales staff; from 50 to 20,000
3. Xactly Corporation was founded in 2005 and is dedicated to providing sales commission management software which is easy to set up and use. They have a detailed website with many guides as to how to make the most from their software and the benefits of dedicated software over either paper or Excel recording methods.
4. Halogen Software Incorporated has some excellent products with a focus on the right product for a reasonable price. They are currently ranked number one for customer satisfaction and there are many HR professionals worldwide who endorse their products. The company even offer a satisfaction guarantee and any product can be returned within six months if it does not fulfill expectations.
5. Technology Group International is a software company founded in 1990. The company offers a fully integrated ERP solution for small and medium size businesses. Part of this software is the sales commission management solution. The system automates the entire process from managing the sales to when commission is due; all dependent on the criteria set in the system. There are a wide range of variables which can be controlled such as commission overrides depending on types of products or customers. The product is built entirely in-house and the team is dedicated to supply the best customer experience possible.
Conclusion
There are other software providers on the market and it is possible to find software for free. Unfortunately the free software may be free to download but usually comes with associated costs or limitations as to use.
The above companies have been established for many years and offer a proven product with initial training, support and flexibility regarding future potential and objectives. They all have dedicated teams who will work with any company to enhance the experience and even provide a better product if possible. When choosing an important product such as this it is vital to rely on customer reviews and recommendations. It can be a very costly matter time wise setting up a system which does not do everything you expected from it.
