It happens to everyone at some point, no matter how you create sales goals, there is a period when sales performance drops. When this happens, there can be a loss of morale, which can further hamper efforts to recover performance and return to winning ways. In the long term, this can seriously affect the business’ profitability.

So, how can you help a team (member) recover from a sales performance slump? Here are some solutions.

1. Understand why the sales performance slump happened

The first thing that you need to do is understand why there has been a sales performance drop. It could be due to frequent illnesses recently or taking a holiday, or something that is related to industry performance. Sales commission software should be able to identify trends and/or changes in sales performance.

Other factors may be the addition of a new sales process and staff have struggled to close prospective clients. This is often the case when new processes are implemented, as staff take time to align their work behaviour to the new processes.

2. Resolve issues

Once you’ve found the reasons for the sales slump you can take action to resolve the issue. If, for instance, you’ve noticed that a staff member has taken a lot of time off because of illness, then you can look for ways to assist them in getting them back to work.

Or, if there is a problem with a new sales process that is hindering the close of sales, you can look at ways to improve said sales process.

3. Create sales goals to inspire people to improve

The next step is to inspire your staff when you create sales goals for the next sales period. You should always create sales goals that slightly increase the performance from the bad sales period. For instance, if they sold only once in that period, then increase it to two in the next period.

It is important that you don’t increase your expectations too much. This can be a stressor for staff and could continue the trend of poor results. Instead, smaller, sustainable (but higher) sales goal can result in happier staff who will perform better.

So when a team, or just one person, suffers from a sales performance drop, you need to act to ensure that they recover. This is done through careful management, analysis and taking time to create sales goals that will help teams grow in confidence to recover.

Commissionly is a leading sales commission software service that can assist you. If you want to find out more information about how we can help you to reward your staff, contact us now.

When you sit down to develop your staff bonus structures, you often think about how you can create sales goals. However, it isn’t just sales commission that is important for the performance of your staff. There are other bonuses that you can give to help motivate and grow your business.

Offering rewards for responsibilities, other than sales, makes team members think more about their work. They will endeavour to improve their behaviour and perform at a higher standard.

Your compensation software can reward bonuses in the following areas.

Training bonus

Knowledge is power and you can easily add in a training bonus to your compensation software. Staff enjoy the process of learning new skills and research has found that by offering educational opportunities to your staff, you can improve loyalty to your organisation.

Rewards can be given for successfully completing courses as well as an additional bonus for getting a high score in the course. The bonus can be manually added to their monthly pay by a manager.

Customer service award

Attracting a customer and making a sale is one thing, but the next step is to make sure that their expectations are exceeded. Customers who are happy will remain loyal to your business and buy from you time and time again. This makes them a more valuable customer.

If your customers rate your services highly, then your sales team have obviously set the expectations at the right level and should be rewarded. This can be done on a recurring commission basis, or it could be done via a special one-off payment.

Time served bonus

Too many employees are leaving organisations after short periods of employment, sometimes within a year. There’s a high cost to bringing in new employees and could also impact your organisation’s potential sales.

One way to encourage staff to remain with your company is to offer a bonus for time served in your organisation. Good milestones to consider rewarding include one year, two years, three years, five years or even ten years.

Keep in mind that bonuses don’t have to be kept for commissions only. Rewarding staff for a variety of responsibilities can improve morale throughout the organisation and lead to better performance when it comes to sales. Other bonuses can also help increase employee retention which will lower staffing costs and likely increase profits.

Large sales companies spend a lot of time each month calculating their commissions manually. Small businesses are not exempt from this laborious and inefficient task, as the manual computation of commissions is subject to errors and low levels of transparency.

Commission management software is an essential component of sales planning that makes the process of tracking commissions less complicated. Sales managers will, therefore, spend less time disbursing commission to their sales representatives.

Below are some advantages of the commission management software.

Boosting employee performance

Managing commissions using commission management software can have a direct motivation on the sales of the team. The software allows each person access to monitor their earned commission, from their devices at any time.

An efficient commission management system indicates all deals that have been closed, making the commission calculation process transparent. This will be a motivating factor to sales team members to improve sales, in order to earn more than previously earned.

Enhancing the accuracy of commission payments

Inaccuracies generated by outdated methods of calculating commission and compensation are a primary cause of financial losses in companies.

The use of accurate software ensures real-time access to data. This increases the efficiency and accuracy in the process of calculating and paying out commissions. Companies that have employed this software are more likely to pay commissions within two weeks from a sale being made.

Saving time with automation

Automation of the sales representative payrolls, including their commissions, saves the sales manager the headache of manual calculation. The staff can also freely focus on making more sales without having to, regularly calculate their commissions. The automation will save time, which will be of great advantage to the organisation as the number of sales per representative increases .

The payment of commissions causes fluctuations in the monthly wage payments. This makes an efficient management system, to ensure the cash flow is kept constant, a crucial requirement. An accurate and easy-to-use commission management software will ensure this process is smooth and automated, minimising errors and ensuring the sales representatives are paid timeously.

For more insights, such as the steps of establishing a successful sales compensation strategy, feel free to browse through our website.

Some businesses don’t offer their employees individual sales-based targets. Instead, they create sales goals based on a team’s performance. When the team reaches the goal, they all get rewarded. But if the team fails, no-one gets any compensation.

There are some advantages and disadvantages to this strategy. What are these and can you benefit from that strategy? Or should you stick to creating sales goals based on the individual’s performance?

Teams can work better together

When you set team goals, you are building a working culture which is more integrated. This allows your team to work off each other’s strengths and weaknesses more naturally. It also improves your team’s level of engagement and general morale. Businesses that employ this strategy notice that it can improve productivity.

Team goals also allow for larger rewards that salespeople can work towards. This can result in a bigger sense of accomplishment when goals have been achieved. Plus, team members will find that achieving those goals means more to them.

Added to this, goals for a team creates more flexibility as there are more paths to success. Staff aren’t micromanaged and so can choose who completes what parts of the sales process, based on their expertise, strengths and other aspects. The more paths there are to succeed, the higher the chance the team will do well, which gives an overall morale boost.

Team goals have the potential to reduce sales success

There are some aspects of a team-based sales goal that aren’t positive.

There is the possibility that at times some team members may not pull their weight and others could feel that their hard work is benefiting those who are less conscientious. This can cause friction within the team and conflict might arise. And if one person isn’t contributing to the team, it poses the possibility of reduced success.

Compensation management can be a challenge, especially when you have new members of staff starting, or staff leaving the organisation. Or, you could have issues if a team member has been ill or on holiday during the target period. If they contributed to just part of the month do they get the full reward or part of the reward? It can be hard to know how much of their participation has contributed to the success of the team. After all, not all contributions are accurate.

Also, setting individual goals, rather than team goals, gives the team members no excuses and greater accountability for their own performance. Due to the fact that it creates a competitive environment that can push staff productivity which can reach higher sales goals.

So while some businesses create sales goals based on team performance, it is not a strategy that ensures success for all businesses. In fact, most businesses will probably find that individually set sales goals would be better, with some form of additional minor team goals.

How effective are you when it comes to sales performance management? To be an effective sales manager, you need to do more than just monitor your team’s performance. You need to inspire them to go the extra mile and close deals daily. Here are 7 habits of effective sales managers:

1. They lead by example

How do you contribute to the success of your team? If you want to take your team’s performance up a level, you need to be part of the action. Effective sales managers don’t give orders from behind a desk — they show their team how it’s done.

2. They know how to calculate sales targets

How realistic are your sales targets? Are they achievable? Are they ambitious? Your sales targets need to push your team, but they also need to be within reach. This is a delicate balance and should be the driving force behind your sales performance management.

3. They’re smart about sales performance management

Sales performance management isn’t a box-ticking exercise. When it’s done right, it provides a framework to motivate each member of your team to success. Effective sales managers know this, and dedicate time to getting it right.

4. They’re flexible with their sales team

Each member of your team has something to contribute. Effective sales managers give their team some flexibility in their approach, enabling them to bring their own strengths to the table.

5. They take responsibility for both success and failure

How accountable are you? Effective sales managers know they are ultimately responsible for the results of their team. Not getting the sales you need? Start by looking at your own performance.

6. They use sales commission software

Sales performance management is a time-consuming process. Effective sales managers don’t have time to calculate commission manually each month. Instead, sales commission software is used to automate the task.

7. They create an inspirational working environment

Finally, effective sales managers work hard every day to create a working environment that inspires their team to take action. One that prioritises collaboration, communication and friendly competition.

Which of these habits can you implement today?

Earning sales commission is about understanding objections.

Overcoming objections is still considered key to successful calls and earning sales commission. However, time is often wasted using information or specific techniques in the wrong way. This occurs when the salesperson hasn’t truly understood the situation that the catch-all term ‘objection’ is masking.

The four things prospect objections actually are:

1. A simple question

All this prospect actually requires is a piece of information. But the salesperson misinterprets and turns it into a problem. Here’s a simple example. A customer asks: ‘How much is that xxxx?’ The person simply wants to know, but the salesperson interprets it as a price objection!

2. A doubt

This isn’t the same as a clear reason for not being able to go ahead. Gently question the doubt and an answer can often be found that provides the reassurance the prospect is looking for.

3. A misunderstanding

Here the problem requires you to correct the prospect without annoying them. One great technique to remember is the 3Fs: feel, felt, found. For example, ‘I understand why you feel that way. Others have felt the same. Here’s what they found…’ If appropriate, a specific example can be used. You’ll find a more detailed explanation here.

4. A genuine limitation

If there are areas that your product or service does not cover, or there are other alternatives, the key is to outweigh what can’t be done. You can do that by making what you can do more valuable, or less risky, than the alternative.

How sales commission is truly earned.

The first step is recognising where your prospect’s objection truly lies in the above four possibilities. The second is dealing with it effectively. The third is to move past it towards completing the deal. It’s not unknown for the third stage to be replaced by a question asking if your answer helped – simply encouraging the prospect to stay in that moment!

Just as these tips can help overcome the problems of ‘objections’, Commissionly solves commission payment challenges in many industries. Contact us now to request a demo or start a free trial.

There are more variables at stake in sales than just your company, your products and your prices. Many of these variables are actually essential to success, but vastly unappreciated by most sales teams. Here are the five essentials that will help you close more deals than ever before.

1. Hard work

Hard work is key to success in sales. Not just showing up at work, but being willing to outwork your competition. That means working hard on really understanding the product that you are selling, and working hard at getting to know your clients. If you are prepared to give your work your full focus and attention, you will see results.

2. Study to improve

Statistics suggest that if you read even one sales book, you will have studied more about your line of work than most of your competitors. Furthermore, you can make yourself stand out as an industry expert and trusted advisor by keeping up with current information on prospective clients.

3. Be persistent

Persistence can sometimes be the key to getting your foot in the door with a prospective client. If you are disciplined, varied and sensitive about your approach, over time, a prospective client is likely to give you the opportunity to pitch to them.

4. Communicate (in the right way)

Many people believe that email alone is an effective medium of communication, which is a big mistake. Face-to-face meetings or video conferences are much more powerful mediums of communication, as the prospective client can get a better sense of whether they want to build a business relationship with you.

5. Have the right backing

If you are not in a decision-making position, make sure that you have the backing of someone who can go forward with decisions before lining up the deal with the prospective client. Nothing is more likely to derail a deal than having to stall, while you try to get hold of someone who can actually give the go ahead.

At Commissionly, we’re really proud of our cloud-based commission software, so much so that we’d love you to try before you buy! To book your free, no obligation 14 day trial, contact our friendly team today.

If you offer your employees plenty of sales incentives and introduce commission calculation software to ensure they receive the correct amount of commission for their sales, but still find you are not meeting sales targets, it may be because you are not utilising manager override commission. Let’s take a look at what exactly manager override commission is, in more detail.

What is manager override commission?

As the name suggests, override commission is the percentage of commission a manager receives when employees, in their team or beneath them, make a sale. For example, if a team has three members and each make 10% commission, a manager may make 1% of override commission from their sales.

How can manager override commission improve sales?

You may be wondering how improving just one employee’s commission can improve the sales of an entire team.

Below are some of the ways that manager override commission can improve sales:

• Hands-on motivation – If a manager knows they are going to receive their own commission from their team’s sales, they will be more likely to take a more hands-on approach in motivating their team and ensuring that the team is working as productively as possible.
• Build stronger relationships – For many salespeople, the knowledge that making sales will not only benefit themselves but so too their manager, they are more likely to feel motivated to work harder and to please their manager. Team members seek managerial approval for a number of reasons; they have a close friendship or they hope to be promoted within the team.
• Greater teamwork – If sales commission is split fairly between team members and their manager, this can be done accurately with commission calculation software. It will create a stronger sense of teamwork within a sales team and with their manager, as they are all working towards the same goals.

If you think your company could benefit from commission calculation software, contact Commissionly.io today!

On the ground level, your sales teams are the ones who keep the organisation running by driving sales to generate income. While some managers may argue against sales commissions and incentives, they are actually important in motivating your team to ensure they are doing their best to earn you revenue.

An organisation that has high revenues from sales is able to meet its goals of expansion since its products achieve their intended purposes. In order to achieve high sales, your sales team have to work extra hard since competition in the current digital age is not easy to overcome.

Below are some reasons why compensating your sales team is important in driving your sales.

1. Motivation drives commitment

A sales job is no easy task. If you understand this as a manager, you will appreciate the struggle your sales team goes through to bring in customers. Sales representatives approach a lot of potential customers daily. Out of these interactions, less than half end up making a purchase. In this highly frustrating job, any kind of motivation goes a long way in boosting sales representatives’ morale.

Since different types of people have different things that motivate them, using a sales compensation software will enable you to identify the best incentives to offer your sales team to achieve the best possible results.

2. They help to identify areas with problems

When sales representatives are allocated commissions, based on their sales, they will be more motivated to do their best. When lower revenue is experienced, it becomes the responsibility of managers to look for other factors influencing the decrease, as they can be sure that their sales team have done their best. Such influencers could be due to a lack of proper training, or the need for product improvement and possibly even a need for better deals.

3. Commissions foster friendly competition

In a firm with a sales team, commissions will give the team members competitive incentives and this will foster friendly competition. The friendly competition aids in collaboration as all team members have the mutual objective of making more sales. While at the same time they will be trying to raise their personal sales goals, to lead the pack. The organisation will profit from higher sales due to collaboration and competition.

4. Incentives bear both short and long-term positive outcomes

While incentives motivate the sales team to score more sales in the short run, they also have the long-term effects of creating long-term relationships with clients, helping with contract renewals and also assisting the company to break into new markets. The sales commission software helps achieve the above outcome which helps the organisation to be more profitable in the long-run.

With the above benefits of sales team motivation through commissions, you will be able to create a more energetic team that is guaranteed to give positive results. For the best sales compensation software to assist you in giving your sales team and customer incentives, feel free to browse our website for the best deals and tips.

Most sales managers spend a lot of time thinking about how to set sales goals. This is important, of course — but many don’t consider how their sales process fits into this task. If this sounds like you, here are five reasons you need to work on your sales process:

1. It provides your team with a framework to meet their sales targets

Whilst it’s important to allow your sales team some flexibility, an established framework makes your team more efficient. It gives them repeatable steps to follow — guiding the customer from a prospect to a sale.

2. It quickly integrates new members of staff into the team

A defined sales process minimises the time it takes to get new salespeople on board. They can observe the process in action, and quickly identify how they will fit into the business.

3. It defines how software fits into the equation

Software, like our sales commission software, can improve your sales process. It reduces time spent monitoring, tracking and calculating commission — freeing up more time for your team to focus on revenue-generating tasks. When you have a defined process, it’s easy to identify to see how software can help.

4. It helps identify areas for improvement

Similarly, a defined process helps you identify areas for improvement across the entire team. Are there any sticking points? Where are most prospects leaving the process? How can you tighten it up even further? All of this will help you learn how to set sales goals that actually get results.

5. It uses a proven approach to generate more sales

When you consider how to set sales goals, do you think about how your team will achieve them? A defined sales process gives your staff a proven approach to follow. This increases the likelihood they will hit their targets, giving you scope to improve them year-on-year to focus on what matters — increasing profits.