Sales Compensation Management Software, also referred to as a Sales Compensation Management System (SCMS), has evolved significantly in recent years. Gone are the days of manual spreadsheeting, siloed & inaccurate data, and tedious & outdated processes. 

In our guide, we examine the top SCMS features you need to thrive in 2023, reveal which industries have the most to gain from adoption, and discuss a few of the ways SalesVista can help your organization create a more transparent, profitable, and equitable tomorrow.

What is Sales Compensation Management Software? 

Sales Compensation Management Software is designed to help organizations manage, automate, and facilitate the entire sales compensation process. By streamlining the tracking, calculation, and payment of sales efforts, the software helps eliminate errors caused by manual processes, improve pay transparency, and maximize the ROI of your sales efforts. 

One of the many ways an SCMS can help improve your return on investment is through the real-time analysis of sales performance data. This helps businesses identify areas of improvement, making it easier to quickly craft strategies for both the short- and long-term. 

A quality SCMS can also integrate with other critical systems like CRMs, cloud-based accounting apps, and additional platforms to provide a more complete view of sales performance and profitability.

We’ll cover these and other features more in-depth later in our guide, but know that a quality SCMS should also help organizations: track commissions, calculate payroll deductions, set up commission plans for various products & services, distribute commission payments electronically, customize reports, view historical data, and much more! 

Why Use Sales Compensation Management Software?

If you’re debating whether Sales Compensation Management Software is right for your business, let’s take a closer look at three use cases — and three pain points — where a quality SCMS can assist.

Use Case #1: Reducing Errors and Eliminating Manual Processes

Did you know that commission overpayment errors could cost businesses around $80,000 for every million generated from sales? Much of this is due to a reliance on outdated and faulty manual systems & spreadsheets. 

SCMS can help you avoid these costly mistakes by reducing repetitive tasks, ensuring data accuracy, and reducing your financial and legal exposure — all while keeping essential information accessible and secure. 

Use Case #2: Leaving behind the legacy Sales Compensation Desktop Systems

Your Sales team needs access to critical data no matter where they are or what device they might be using. They shouldn’t be dependent upon legacy technology to have a clear understanding of where they are during a given sales period, SPIFF, or campaign. 

That’s why Sales Compensation Management Software should be cloud-Based, reliable, and available in the palms of their hands. In addition to reducing errors and improving transparency, it can also significantly improve on-the-go productivity and profitability. 

Use Case #3: Improving engagement and reducing employee turnover

If your company is like most, then it could be struggling to recruit, engage, and retain top sales talent. Fortunately, quality Sales Compensation Management Software can help improve engagement and limit attrition across your entire company!

In addition to keeping your sales reps happy, you must stay on the right side of the law. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Fair Labor Standards Act have strict requirements to ensure employees are compensated fairly and that there is no discrimination taking place based on an employee’s sex, race, or other protected status. 

Legislation changes fast, so be sure your solution is built to keep up with the latest changes. 

Additional Benefits of Using Sales Compensation Management Software

As we’ve touched on earlier, the benefits of Sales Compensation Management Software are many and varied — stretching across departments, organizations, and even industries. Here are a few key benefits every SCMS should offer, as well as how SalesVista helps achieve them. 

Note: The benefits you’ll receive from an SCMS can vary greatly depending on the provider you select. Be sure to closely analyze the features of any software you’re evaluating. 

INCREASED ACCURACY –  An SCMS should help ensure that your sales reps are compensated accurately. Every. Single. Time. With our automated commission calculations, sales personnel have a clear and accurate view of their commission status without any guesswork. 

ENHANCED EFFICIENCY – Our solution is designed to calculate commissions in a matter of moments, not days or months. Automatically gather data, reclaim your life, and help your team stay focused on mission-critical tasks. 

OPTIMAL CONTROL – An SCMS should allow users complete & total control. We help clients achieve this by creating audit trails for all payouts, exceptions, and adjustments — ensuring the proper checkpoints are in place for internal oversight and giving teams the power to make real-time strategic & tactical decisions. 

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS – SalesVista’s SCMS allows for clear communication across multiple channels and stores all necessary data in a centralized and secure location. 

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS –Our SCM solutions can estimate the financial impact of your commission plans and any changes you wish to make, granting your team reliable insights needed to drive critical business decisions. 

COMPANY ALIGNMENT – SalesVista’s SCM software solution helps ensure that your sales teams are properly incentivized to drive the right performance outcomes and the most meaningful deals for your business needs.

ENSURE COMPLIANCE – A quality solution will also help you mitigate risk. One of the ways we achieve this is by automating processes to improve governance of compensation deficiencies for sales, finance, and accounting managers.

Which Industries Use Sales Commission Management Software?

Sales Compensation Management Software is used across all industries, however, here are a few of the most popular. 

The Retail Industry —  Sales commission management software is especially beneficial for the retail industry. It helps leaders manage large sales teams and streamline the payment & tracking process. This type of software can be used to track customer purchases, assign sales representatives to specific customers, and even monitor the performance of each rep.

The Financial Services Industry —  By tracking sales and customer data, the software can help firms identify potential new customers and ensure that representatives are rewarded for their hard work. This type of software can also be used to monitor compliance with regulations and laws, ensuring regulatory compliance.

The Hospitality Industry — Sales commission management software is also useful in the hospitality industry. Hotels and restaurants can use this type of software to track customer visits, assign sales representatives to customers, and monitor the performance of employees. This way, hotels & restaurants can ensure their staff is properly compensated for their efforts.

The Travel Industry — Software designed to manage the sales compensation process is especially beneficial in the travel industry. It helps airlines, hotels, and other travel-related companies track customer visits, assign sales representatives to customers, and monitor the performance of employees. This way, they can ensure that their staff is properly compensated for their efforts.

The SaaS Industry — SaaS companies often have complex pricing models, a high volume of recurring revenue, and a large sales force, making it challenging to design and manage sales compensation plans that accurately reflect performance and incentivize desired behaviors.

No matter what type of industry you are in, Sales Compensation Management Software can help you manage your sales team more efficiently and effectively. 

Is Sales Compensation Management Software Designed for Enterprise Accounts?

In short, the answer is “yes!’ A quality SCMS should be easily customizable for businesses of all types and sizes. While some solutions might claim they are designed for enterprise accounts, few are rarely built to stand the test. 

Be certain to review the fine print, and don’t be afraid to ask questions during the evaluation process. Here are a few to get you started:

• Does the SCMS provide insights…or just data? If the answer is the latter, just walk away. You need actionable intelligence. Otherwise, it’s just one more data source to be lost in the mix.
• Where will your data be housed and what security protocols and features are in place to protect it? Organizations are increasingly held responsible for employee and customer data breaches, and you can’t afford to “think” your data is protected. That’s why SalesVista offers the security and encryption you need to stay safe.
• Does the SCMS leverage cutting-edge tools like AI for better strategic planning? If they say “yes,” ask them to go into details. If they can’t go into specifics, then chances are, it’s just more marketing buzzwords.
• Does the SCMS integrate with your existing tech stack? If so, is the communication one-way or bilateral? Of particular interest here should be your CRM. A reliable CRM, paired with a comprehensive SCMS, can help you exceed your goals faster than ever imagined. 

Why Choose SalesVista’s Premier Sales Compensation Management Software?

If you’re looking for an incredible SCMS to simplify your life, improve accuracy, and exceed your financial goals, then we hope you consider SalesVista — an SCMS that has revolutionized Sales Compensation Management across industries of all types. 

Our award-winning solution is backed by more than 30 years of experience in finance, accounts, and sales compensation. And that’s not the only thing that makes us unique. Here are a few more reasons why you should consider SalesVista for your SCMS needs.

SalesVista’s Software Can Accommodate All Compensation Structures

• Variable Base Salary
• Custom-Defined Periodic Bonus
• Variable Payout Schedule
• Annual Eligible Commission
• Category-Based Commissions
• Custom Event-Driven Commission
• Product-Based Commissions
• Attainment-Base Accelerators
• Category-Based Accelerators

Sales Compensation Software Offers the Following Real-Time Reporting

• Quota Coverage
• Comp Plans
• Sales Transactions
• Sales Data Aggregation
• Attainment
• Key Ratios
• Audits
• Stack Rankings
• And so much more

For a comprehensive list of our features, be sure to visit the SalesVista Solution page. 

SalesVista Software Makes the Entire Team Happy

SalesVista’s advanced Sales Compensation Management Software isn’t just great for Sales Teams. It can benefit the entire organization, including: 

• Accounting — Significantly reduce incorrect commission payout risk, eliminate duplicative work, and improve efficiency across the board. 

• Finance — Obtain at-a-glance views with intuitive reporting, reliable insights, and much more. 

• HR — Help improve diversity and inclusivity through pay transparency — while attracting, retaining, and engaging top talent.

• Operations — Maintain an audit trail of commission inquiries and resolutions, mix, match, and compare various compensation modeling before committing to any metric and commission changes, and streamline adjustments via the centralization of data.
  
  
• Risk — Maintain compliance across all stakeholders and business functions. 

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the departments that benefit from Sales Vista — nor is it a comprehensive list of the benefits the mentioned departments received. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How does your solution work?

Our compensation management software centralizes data from your internal and third-party systems to automate the processes and calculations associated with incentive- and commission-based plans.  

What types of comp plans do you support?

We’re built to handle compensation plans of all shapes and sizes, including tiered commissions, accelerators, draws, bonuses, spiffs, contests, seasonality, deferred, non-monetary, shared quota, and more.

What is the cost of your service?

We offer multiple subscription packages, but to set fair and accurate pricing, our team of experts needs to understand the nature of your commission plan(s), business structure, and data systems to help guide you to determine the best cost option for your compensation needs.

What platforms can run on your system?

SalesVista's “out of the box” connectivity supports over 200 integration types and more than 30 leading CRM/ERP systems for cloud-based or on-premise infrastructures; SalesVista handles all integration and connectivity.

What Comes Next?

As you consider which Sales Compensation Management Software is right for you, we hope that SalesVista can help you on your journey to create a more transparent & prosperous future. 

Use the form below to download the PDF version of this guide and if you have any questions about what you’ve read — or if you’d like to see SalesVista in action — contact us today for a free, no-obligation demo.