6 Signs you should have a Sales Commission Dashboard
Sales commissions are an important part of sales compensation plans.
Sometimes, however, communicating, managing and administering commissions plans can be overwhelming. If you are doing calculations by hand, it can take hours or even days – and when you least need it issues arise.
That’s where sales commission dashboards come in.
Dashboards eliminate manual calculations and enable sales reps to see their earnings anytime they want. Every time a commission is earned, the dashboard is updated based on data from a sales or accounting system. Dashboards can also show potential future earnings – giving sales reps an extra motivational boost.
Is a sales commission dashboard right for you?
While sales commission dashboards have many benefits, they aren’t for everyone. There are several factors that come into play and the benefits must outweigh the costs.
Use these questions to help you evaluate whether commission dashboards are right for you. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you should have one.
1. Do you have complex or multi-tiered commission plans?
Do you have complex commission plans? Do you have multi-tier targets or use weighting? The more complex the plan, the more likely errors or confusion occur, and the longer it takes to solve problems. This is when you see the biggest gains from commission and compensation dashboards.
2. Do employees ask a lot of questions?
New employees join and existing employees may forget how the commission plan works. Sometimes discrepancies occur. Either way, if you have a large sales team or receive a lot of questions, a dashboard reassures people reporting to you that they are being well looked after.
3. Do you see that commission or bonuses are not having the desired effect on motivation?
Most businesses design commission plans to motivate higher levels of achievement or performance. That’s why people need to be informed of their progress underway, rather than after the fact. Being informed gives them a chance to react, make changes and reach the next level. The longer the time it takes to earn a bonus, the more important it is to be informed. Business Analyze uses easy-to-understand indicators to show people how they are doing and what is required – and to help you congratulate them when they have been successful.
4. Do you find errors or discrepancies?
Errors in commission reports don’t build trust and they may be costly. Errors may even lead to hard feelings between employee and employer. If this occurs, don’t put off creating a dashboard.
5. You’re rolling out a new plan or changing current plans
This is a good time to introduce commission dashboards because you can communicate clearly what the new plan involves. Insights about achievements and rewards can be reviewed at employee feedback meetings.
6. You’ve recently changes systems where data for calculations is stored
In some cases there is no choice but to change the ways commission is reported. When old routines are a waste of time, or the costs outweigh the benefits, then it is time to move on.
A final word
Like all Business Analyze dashboards, different insights are available for different users. Aggregated visualizations tell leaders or managers about accumulated earnings for departments or teams. Details about a specific case, transaction or employee are available from drill-downs.
Commission dashboards complement your existing dashboards. Using a well-thought out design, they may also replace other dashboards or combine information on one screen. The background information about prices, margins, sales or invoices can come from almost any system or source.
Deeper analysis of the data gives insight that can be used to fine-tune compensation plans in the next phase.
Interested? Contact us for an example of a sales commission dashboards.
