Sales Agency Admins, we are excited to announce that we have recently introduced new features that will simplify and automate splitting commissions between the house, salesperson, and order writer for dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of orders and invoices at a time.
You can also set commission rate effective dates to ensure that orders are always paid correctly based on the date the order was written. This will save you time and effort every month, especially after shows when multiple people must be paid commission for a single order and when salespeople join or leave your agency.
Quick Links
- Before You Start
- About Order Writer Commission When Using Automatic Split Commission
- About Commission Effective Dates (New!)
- How To Setup Automatic Split Commission
- See The Features in Action
- FAQs
Before You Start
Here are a few things to keep in mind before you begin this process:
- You will need to be the Main Admin or an Admin user for your sales agency before entering split commission manually or by using the commission import tool
- You must also have these order payment permissions:
- Read/Write permission for Order Payments > Commissions to enter split commission manually
- Read/Write permission for Order Payments > Import Commissions to import commission statements and have split commission calculated automatically
- If you do now know what permission level you have, please get in touch with the Main Admin for your sales agency account
- You must also have these order payment permissions:
- Commission on an order can be paid to:
- The House Account
- Up to three salespeople
- Automatic split salesperson commission can be configured to pay:
- The "Salesperson to Pay" on an order
- The "Order Writer" on an order
- The automatic split commission also handles these two scenarios:
- Salesperson to Pay = Order Writer: The "Salesperson to Pay" and the "Order Writer" on the order are the same salesperson.
- Salesperson to Pay Not = Order Writer: The "Salesperson to Pay" is a different salesperson than the "Order Writer" on order.
- Automatic Split Salesperson Commission cannot yet be configured for these situations:
- You need to pay three separate salespeople on a single order
- You want to pay different salespeople than the default "Salesperson to Pay" and "Order Writer" on an order
- When an admin user or B2B e-commerce retailer writes an order, you want the "Order Writer" share paid to the "Salesperson to Pay" instead of the house.
- In this case, you could set the "Order Writer" amount to 0%, and then all salesperson commission would be paid to the "Salesperson to Pay."
- Alternatively, you could edit the order writer on the order to match the "Salesperson to Pay"
Automatic Split Salesperson Commission
New: Commission Effective Dates
About Order Writer Commission When Using Automatic Split Commission
When the “Salesperson to Pay” Is the Same as the “Order Writer”
If the "Order Writer" and "Salesperson to Pay" are the same person, all salesperson commissions will be paid to the "Salesperson to Pay" on the order.
When the “Salesperson to Pay” Is a Different Salesperson Than the “Order Writer”
If the "Order Writer" rate is greater than 0.00%, and the "Order Writer" and "Salesperson to Pay" are two different salespeople on an order, the commission will automatically split into two separate amounts:
- One amount for the "Order Writer"
- A separate amount for "Salesperson to Pay"
When the "Order Writer" Is Not a Salesperson
If the "Order Writer" on an order is not a salesperson, such as when an admin user creates a direct order or the customer places an order on your B2B website:
- The "Order Writer" commission amount will not be split into a separate amount
- The "Order Writer" commission will be paid to the "House" instead
Example Scenario
Given the Commission Rates for "Sally Salesperson" are as follows:
Salesperson to Pay = Order Writer |
Salesperson to Pay Not = Order Writer |
|
---|---|---|
House % | 50% | 50% |
Salesperson to Pay % (Sally Salesperson) |
50% | 25% |
Order Writer % | N/A | 25% |
Total % | 100% | 100% |
For a $100.00 commission payment, the rates and amounts will be calculated as follows:
Salesperson to Pay = Order Writer |
Salesperson to Pay Not = Order Writer |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Salesperson to Pay | Sally Salesperson | Sally Salesperson | Sally Salesperson | |||
Order Writer | Sally Salesperson | John Salesman | ABC Retailer | |||
Commission | $100.00 | $100.00 | $100.00 | |||
House | 50% | $50.00 | 50% | $50.00 | 75% | $75.00 |
Salesperson to Pay | 50% | $50.00 | 25% | $25.00 | 25% | $25.00 |
Order Writer | N/A | $0.00 | 25% | $25.00 | 0% | $0.00 |
Total | 100% | $100.00 | 100% | $100.00 | 100% | $100.00 |
About Commission Effective Dates (New!)
In addition to adding fields to handle split commission with order writers, you can add start and end dates to commission rates. For example, orders written in 2023 will be paid at 2023 commission rates, and orders written in 2024 will be paid at 2024 commission rates.
Salesperson Commission Date Ranges
We also provide the option to set date ranges for commission rates at the salesperson level. This ensures that salespeople will receive the appropriate rate of pay based on the date the order was written, rather than the date the invoice/commission was entered. You can customize these date ranges to coincide with each salesperson's hire date, end of employment date, and final payment date.
How To Setup Automatic Split Commission
To set your account for automatic split commission, please follow these steps:
- Add Order Codes at the Company Level
- Review and Update Order Codes at the Salesperson Level
- See The New Feature in Action
Add Order Codes at the Company Level
If you have already been using the MarketTime web app to write orders and pay commissions, your account should already have order codes set up. If not, please add at least one new order code by following these steps: Managing Order Codes.
About Existing Order Codes
What you'll see when you look at an existing order code is a window that shows these fields:
- Start Date (New)
- End Date (New)
- House %
- Salesperson to Pay %
- Order Writer %
Add A New Order Code
To take advantage of automatic split salesperson commission, you will want to add a new order code or update an existing order code with your desired "Salesperson to Pay" and "Order Writer" rates, as well as the commission rate effective dates for example:
With Order Writer Split | Without Order Writer Split |
---|---|
Additionally, you can set commission rate effective dates (or not), like in these examples:
With Date Range | Without Date Range |
---|---|
Note: Only one record without a date range can exist for each order code. This operates as the "default commission rate" for any orders that fall outside of a specific date range or if you don't want to use date ranges at all.
Review and Update Order Codes at the Salesperson Level
Once you have added order codes at the company level, or if you have added new date ranges to an order code, you should review the order code at the salesperson level, and if you need to make adjustments to the rates for specific salespeople, please follow these steps:
- Navigate to Salespeople
- Click on a Salesperson
- Click the Comm % Settings tab
- Review the tab to ensure the new order code now appears for the salesperson
- To update the commission rates, click View (the eyeball icon) for an order code
-
Update the rates as needed until each set of rates = 100%
- Click Update
Example Scenarios
How to Set the Commission Rate a Salesperson Receives for Each Manufacturer Individually
By default, new order codes are created for all manufacturers for salespeople. If you want to set commission rates for each manufacturer individually, follow these steps:
- Navigate to Salespeople
- Click on a Salesperson
- Click the Comm % Settings tab
- Review the tab to ensure the order code you want to change appears for the salesperson
- Locate the code you want to change that is assigned to All Manufacturers
- Click the Delete (trash can) icon for that order code
- Click Yes in the popup that appears
- Click New
- Select the manufacturer(s) that should have this new commission rate
- Select the Order Code
- Enter a Start Date and End Date (date ranges are optional)
- Enter the commission rates
- Click Add
- You will now see that order code listed for the selected manufacturer(s) on the Comm % Settings tab
See The Features in Action
You have options when entering invoices and commission and using automated split salesperson commission, including:
Create a Commission Manually
Once you have order codes set for your salespeople, follow these steps to see the split salesperson commission happen when creating invoices and commissions manually:
- Navigate to an order that should have a split commission between the "Salesperson to Pay" and the "Order Writer" by using one of these methods:
- Track Payment
- Commissions
- Look at the commission section to verify the split commission rates and amounts are filled in as you expect based on the following:
- Salesperson to Pay
- Order Writer
- Order Date
Here's a preview of the new split commission fields on the "Commission Quick Entry" popup:
Import Commission
When you import commission statements, the automatic split salesperson commission will happen automatically! To see the automatic split salesperson commission for imported invoices/commissions, follow these steps:
- Review and Update Order Codes at the Salesperson Level
- Importing Invoices/Commissions
- Navigate to an order that should have a split commission between the "Salesperson to Pay" and the "Order Writer."
- Look at the commission section to verify the split commission rates and amounts are filled in as you expect
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions we receive about automatic split salesperson commission:
- Where does the "Order Writer" value come from on orders?
- Why are "Created By" and "Order Writer" blank on an order?
- How do I change the order writer on an order?
- How do I delete multiple commission rates for salespeople at once?
- Can I have more than one date range per manufacturer?
- Why is an extra commission entry added without dates when I add a date range for a salesperson?
Where does the "Order Writer" value come from on orders?
The "Order Writer" field on orders will show different names depending on who wrote the order. Here are the possible names you will see in the order writer field:
Why are "Created By" and "Order Writer" blank on an order?
The "Created By" and "Order Writer" values may be blank on orders due to several possible underlying causes. The reasons may include:
- Public API: If an order came into MarketTime using our Public API and those values were not provided for the order, then one or both values will be blank.
-
Orders Created Before March 21, 2024: The new feature, which allows the "Order Writer" and "Created By" to be two separate fields, went live on March 21, 2024.
- Orders imported, migrated, or created using the MarketTime web portal, the B2B Mobile App, the mtPro iPad app, a B2B e-commerce website, the Public API, or migrated from Brandwise or Pharos before March 21, 2024, may not have separate data values for "Order Writer" and "Created By" (because there was nowhere for both values to exist in our database before the new feature went live).
- The new feature did not retroactively update orders created in our system before March 21, 2024, to have two separate values for "Order Writer" and "Created By".
- Depending on the completeness of order data in your account, one or both fields may be blank.
- For orders with a blank "Order Writer" value, you can update this to a salesperson by following these steps: How do I change the order writer on an order?
How do I change the order writer on an order?
To change the order writer on an order by following these steps:
- Navigate to the order
- Click the edit (pencil) icon next to the Order Writer name
-
Choose a new Order Writer from the list
- Click outside of the dropdown to save
How do I delete multiple commission rates for salespeople at once?
To delete multiple commission rates for a salesperson at once, follow these steps:
- Change the Per Page dropdown below the list to show 40 rows at once
- Click the Select All checkbox to the left of the word "Manufacturer" in the first column
- Click on the trash can icon that appears next to the "New" button
Can I have more than one date range per manufacturer?
Yes! If you want to have multiple date ranges per manufacturer, follow these steps:
- Navigate to a Salesperson's profile page
- Click the Comm % Settings tab
- Locate the order code you want to add the date range to
- Click View
- Fill out the Start Date and End Date fields
- Fill out the commission rate fields
- Click Add
Why is an extra commission entry added without dates when I add a date range for a salesperson?
When you add a date range for the first time at the company level or the salesperson level, you'll notice that you end up with two records:
- A record without dates
- A record with the dates you put into the start and end date fields
The record without dates serves as the "default" or "fallback" commission rate set to be applied anytime you add commission to an order with an "Order Date" outside the date range you specified. Without a "default" rate, the system will have no information on how to calculate the commission rate, so that's why this "blank" entry exists.
For example, if you have a commission rate setup such as:
- No Dates: House: 100% / SP to Pay: 0%
- 1/1/2024-12/31/2024: House: 66% / SP to Pay: 34%
Any orders created before 1/1/2024 or after 12/31/2024 will pay 100% to the House account. Within the 2024 date range, the commission will be split between the House and the "Salesperson to Pay" on the order. This setup ensures that you only pay the salesperson commission for the dates they work for your company and do not pay commission for orders before they start working for you or after they leave.