Almost half of the incentive compensation models don’t provide the desired sales figures. Inefficient sales & payment management results in lost sales opportunities and low revenues. Luckily, the app that automates these processes comes with help. Find out if this is the moment for your organization to reach for professional tools.
What is an incentive pay?
It is a part of remuneration that depends solely on the sales results. Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) includes sales commissions, bonuses, benefits etc. The main goal of ICM is to improve financial results by optimizing sales goals and maintaining the motivation of salespeople. It’s also important to integrate incentive programs into the margin so that the company can maximize revenues. How do you now that it’s time you implemented an ICM? Here are 4 symptoms (if at least one of them matches your company’s situation, be sure to consider implementing the right technology to support your sales team):
1. Errors and delays in payment
Calculating a commission that consists of many variable elements or hasn’t been paid in time may prove quite difficult. You will not be successful in facing that challenge without a handy tool that would facilitate settlements and reporting. Most companies use spreadsheets, which are prone to errors like overwriting or even losing the data. Also, manual data processing and then waiting for an authorized person to accept it makes the whole process extremely inefficient. Following salary adjustments and disputes result in “background accounting” (salespeople check their results, verify invoices and reports instead of spending time on more valuable tasks). Delayed payments negatively affect the employees, causing them to view you as an unreliable employer. If the above description matches the way your organization works, it’s time to think about automating this process.
In the ICM application from Qalcwise, the remuneration calculates itself. All you need to do is set the precise rules and alerts that will prevent you from entering incorrect data and immediately inform you about any deviations. Salespeople will gain access to the system in which they will be able to check if the accrued remuneration is correct before paying it. Additionally, thanks to the app’s integration with the accounting and payroll system, you will easily generate a statement, send it for approval and create transfer orders for employees. All that with one click.
2. Lack of control and audit capability
Do you feel like you don’t control your budget implementation anymore? At the end of the month, you tend to be surprised by the sales results, and not necessarily in a positive way? Do you have a problem eliminating hidden costs? You probably lack a tool that would allow for monitoring the plan’s implementation and modification on a regular basis. That’s because you don’t have access to useful information and current data in one place.
By moving this process to the Qalcwise app, you gain access to full data in real-time, in one convenient place. At any time, both the employer and employees can check the level of plan implementation and corresponding compensation, as well as discuss disputed issues. With the sales team reporting their numbers on a regular basis (from any mobile device!), the data is always up to date and you don’t have to wait till the end of the month to make changes or react to disturbing events. Thanks to the incentive compensation management application you gain full transparency of processes and eliminate hidden costs!
3. Lost sales opportunities
When you find out about unrealized goals and sales reports, it’s usually too late to react and save the results for the past period. What you need are data and reports on sales, trends and team performance in real-time. These are a bit provided by spreadsheets. According to Gartner’s research, companies lose up to 10% of their sales due to a lack of information that would allow them to manage the sales team and prevent lost opportunities. Only with ICM solutions can you prevent such losses.
In addition, with traditional sales management, without the support of advanced tools, it’s difficult to support desired sales behavior. For example, if you want to sell a particular type of product, your payment plan should reflect your assumptions, providing you with adequate and lucrative pay. Not caring about the relevant compensation structure won’t facilitate sales of products that are most important to you.
4. Low team engagement
You think you have a sales hit, and yet, results are poor? You’ve created an attractive (in your belief) compensation system, and yet salespeople are barely realizing the basic goals? You don’t know how to motivate them to exceed set goals? Or, maybe, your payment system is so complicated that it doesn’t involve the sales team and your communication is poor?
And did you know that automation improves the relationships and the quality of cooperation in companies? On the one hand, it relieves your employees form tedious and repetitive tasks, releasing their energy. On the other hand, it facilitates communication and ensures better exchange of information. This way, sales representatives and their superiors gain a convenient tool for providing feedback. They no longer waste time on administrative tasks and burdensome reporting.
The incentive compensation management application also provides a thorough analysis of employee performance. You gain the ability to create more realistic forecasts, optimize goals and minimize the risk of disputes. You can identify in advance those who need additional support, or, on the contrary – those who show exceptionally good results in one area. Then, you can remodel their goals accordingly. It’s estimated that nearly half of incentive programs don’t fulfill their task – they don’t provide the desired results. Thanks to the application for managing variable components of remuneration, you can quickly and conveniently remodel the entire payment system, providing effective incentives and motivation for sales team.
Your sales team is not achieving its goals? You don’t control the plan implementation, and the remuneration administration becomes more time-consuming and expensive? Managing compensation and creating sales plans can be much more effective and pleasant if you transfer it to the ICM application on the Qalcwise platform. You will set it up in a few minutes, and if you need help – Qalcwise consultants will gladly adapt it to the needs of your company. Contact us to find out that the solution is simpler than you think: qalcwise@qalcwise.com
