For RevOps professionals, managing sales commissions manually can feel like trying to juggle too many balls at once.
It’s an intricate process—pulling data from CRMs, double-checking spreadsheets for formulae and calculations, and ensuring it is in accordance with your commission plan.
The task isn’t just time-consuming; it’s error-prone. And when mistakes happen, it hampers the trust between the sales teams and the operations team. And, of course, more work for you.
If you’ve faced this and have spent hours on reconciliation, you already know the limitations of manual commission processes. Automation is the next logical step, offering a way to handle these complexities efficiently and accurately. But where do you begin?
Let’s walk through the process of transitioning from manual headaches to a streamlined, automated solution.
Understand the top 3 problems you’re solving.
Before jumping into automation, take a moment to analyze your current process. Where are the breakdowns happening? Is your team overwhelmed by the volume of data? Do commission disputes frequently arise? There can be numerous things you want to solve but choose the top 3 pain points.
For example, let’s say your sales reps often challenge their payouts, leading to time-intensive audits. This issue might stem from a lack of transparency or inconsistencies in the data. Knowing the root cause allows you to identify the specific features you need in an automation tool.
This step isn’t just about identifying inefficiencies—it’s about understanding the expectations of all stakeholders, from sales reps to finance teams.
Sales commission automation capabilities are endless. Clarify what you need.
Once you’ve outlined the problems, define what you need from an automation system. Sales commissions vary widely across organizations. Some businesses might have simple structures, such as a flat percentage of deal value, while others use more complex models with tiered rates, bonuses, or retention clauses.
Think about your priorities:
- Do you need a system that integrates seamlessly with your CRM and payroll? For example, if your team relies heavily on Salesforce, ensure the software can pull and update data from it effortlessly.
- Can the platform handle complex commission structures?
- Do you need the vendor to set up and manage your commission plan or do you want to do it?
- Should the tool provide granular reporting for leadership?
- How important is it for sales reps to have visibility into their commissions? Do they need access to the commission automation tool?
When evaluating tools, ask vendors for demos tailored to your needs. Bring along scenarios from your current system—like a complex calculation or a common error—and see how the tool handles it.
Automation is only as good as the data it’s built on. Before implementation, you’ll need to clean up your records and standardize your data. Work with vendors to audit your CRM and spreadsheets to sync the properties correctly with the automation software.
For instance, if some deals list “closed-won” as the status while others simply say “closed,” automation tools might misinterpret the inconsistency. Clean data ensures that the system runs smoothly from day one. Prefer a vendor who will help you with this phase of implementation.
Test, educate, and refine.
Automation doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing approach. Start with a pilot phase. Select one team or department to implement the tool, using their feedback to refine the process. This step helps you catch potential issues before a full-scale rollout.
During the pilot, compare automated outputs with manual records to ensure accuracy. If discrepancies arise, investigate whether the issue lies in the system configuration or your data inputs.
Automation impacts more than just RevOps—it touches sales, finance, and leadership. A common mistake is rolling out a tool without adequately training these groups. Sales reps need to understand how to access their dashboards, and managers should learn how to use the data for performance tracking.
Explain how automation benefits everyone + educate on usage:
- For sales reps, it reduces disputes and provides clarity. Teach them how to use the software to track their commissions, raise queries, and check commission statements and payouts.
- For finance teams, it simplifies audits and ensures compliance. Teach how to create reports and where and how to check plan documents, approval systems, and other workflows.
- For leadership, it delivers accurate forecasting and better insights. Teach how to create dashboards.
Feedback loops are essential here. Engage your sales team to understand their experience with the tool and make adjustments as needed.
Start your sales commission automation with ElevateHQ
ElevateHQ simplifies the journey to sales commission automation, addressing common challenges that RevOps professionals face:
- We help with data standardization and setting up your commission plan: We look at your current data and give you ways to standardize it. We guide you with every step to ensure the properties sync correctly. Share your commission plan document and we will set the entire plan up.
- Up and running in 14 days: Whether you’re starting small or rolling out automation across a large team, ElevateHQ’s user-friendly setup process ensures a smooth transition in just 14 days, unlike other companies that take months. Its scalability allows it to grow alongside your organization, adapting to evolving compensation structures without additional overhead.
- 10/10 service: Responsive customer support and smooth onboarding + training experience are two things our customers love about us. If you need to make any edits to the plan or change anything in any workflow, we will get it done in less than 24 hours.
If you are still wondering where to start sales commission automation, start with ElevateHQ.
