The rapid pace of the modern corporate world demands streamlined processes in every aspect of your company. This includes the way you pay out, process, and plan your commissions. Many companies are still relying on the old-fashioned spreadsheet method for their compensation plans. Using this method is an inefficient means of accomplishing a task and can result in many errors. Commission software can help you instantly save a lot of time and immediately uplevel your commission process.
A good commission software will come equipped with an array of features that can help future-proof your compensation system while saving you time and money in the process. When you switch to CaptivateIQ, you unlock critical features and benefits — from inquiries management to reporting — that will give your company an edge over the competition. After all, how can you attract top talent if you can’t offer fair and transparent compensation? Below are five features of our software that revolutionize the way you manage compensation for customer-facing teams.
1. Automate the Small Stuff with Data Integrations
The number of sales services, or sales stacks, used every day can make it difficult to keep all of the data organized. Each tool in your stack generates, analyzes, or ingests data differently, and to run most efficiently, those data sources need to be connected. CaptivateIQ’s Data Connectors feature lets you implement data integrations from multiple sources, syncing everything under one umbrella. Integrations like Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Netsuite, Workday, QuickBooks, and more can be easily and securely connected to our platform.
We know from first-hand experience that structural changes (like new or promoted reps) often result in comp plan changes. So when you make an update in your Human Capital Management (HCM) software, you can automatically change employee assumptions in CaptivateIQ.
The benefits of easily integrating all of your data sources are vast and will save tons of time on the administrative side. Our Data Connectors feature ensures that your data is always up-to-date and accurate. With better-quality data, your team can spend more time on the important stuff. (You can even customize your data sync on any schedule!)
2. Build, Deploy, and Manage Plans
There is nothing more motivating for employees than a fair, well-thought-out compensation plan. The objective of any sales incentive program is to attract, retain, and motivate your team. Companies today have a unique opportunity to elevate commissions to become a strategic business driver.
While your typical commission software lets you build out and deploy complete compensation plans, the real value comes from being able to evaluate sales comp plan performance against sales goals. Using our Data Connectors feature that we mentioned above, administrators can provide employees with visibility into their earnings in real-time. They will be able to see the programs in-depth and get necessary details about their goals so they can see where they are and, more importantly, where they need to be. We believe that reps will be more successful if they can answer: do I have enough pipeline to achieve quota?
With all of these plan management tools at your fingertips, you can define commission plan agreements, payout dates, commission rates, employee hierarchies, quota tiers, and much more. In short, you can customize a scalable compensation plan precisely the way you want.
3. Readily Communicate With Payees and Stay on Target with Plan Management
Having an open and collaborative platform to communicate with your team members about the state of their compensation is no longer a nice-to-have. Just like other aspects of a business, transparency will help commissionable employees feel more comfortable and secure, especially as many companies adopt a remote-first work environment. It also signals to them that management is open to their ideas and input.
A lot of the leg-work tied into one's commission cycle often occurs after initial payouts are calculated, including:
- Getting the necessary individuals to review payouts to ensure nothing is missing or is off
- Obtaining payee approval on their payouts within a given deadline
- Resolving any inquiries and potential disputes along the way
- Communicating internally amongst the commission team when totals are finalized and should no longer be changed
- Ensuring all the steps above are documented for audit, compliance, and legal reasons to ensure you can successfully close a pay period and not look back
Managing all of the steps outlined above over email takes a tremendous amount of coordination and manual work. Not only that, but it can leave holes in one's process that can lead to frequent disputes after payouts have already been paid.
CaptivateIQ’s Approvals and Inquiries features help automate these often painful tasks. On the management side, admins will be able to respond faster to the needs of employees, making for a better work environment all around. It's easier to maintain a good employee if you've come up with a way to solve their concerns or problems! On the payee side, reps will be able to find and sign agreements, track their progress via statements, and ask questions about payouts.
Receive Inquiries and Resolve Disputes in Record Time
Your sales reps can get anxious and irritated if they notice that their payout seems off or has an issue. Our Inquiries feature allows your team to resolve disputes directly on our platform, drastically reducing time spent going back and forth on certain issues. The recipient of the inquiry (normally the manager) will be notified immediately, both in-app and via email. Plus, you can easily retrieve the thread should you need to review it in the future for auditing purposes.
Simplify Approvals
Approvals can be simple, automated, and uncomplicated for everyone. Reps will get notified to sign off on their payouts, and then the approval is automatically sent to subsequent reviewers, who can then review and approve each payout. Reviewers are automatically assigned the task and date to approve. Admins can use a filter to keep track of overdue payouts or open inquiries.No more confusion and guesswork — just easy and transparent approvals that make the whole team happy.
4. Make Better Decisions with Transparent, Accurate Reporting
There is an enormous amount of time, money, and effort that goes into creating high-performing sales teams — reporting and analyzing the final numbers is a big part of that. CaptivateIQ provides easy-to-understand reports for the whole team. Our Statement Designer and Reporting features make it simple for admins to leverage data collected and processed in CaptivateIQ to quickly summarize, model, and visualize information. The outcome? Payees and management alike can track performance and identify wins and areas for improvement.
Reps will get access to full breakdowns of their commissions, so there’s no room for misunderstandings. Having to track their commissions constantly distracts reps from closing new or existing business, thus reducing overall team productivity. Reporting for management means they get a clearer, more comprehensive picture of which incentives are moving the needle and which incentives need reworking.
5. View Reliable Audit Trails in Just a Few Clicks
Anyone who processes and tracks commissions knows how big of a deal it is to maintain paper trails, especially in the context of a dispute or audit. CaptivateIQ automatically keeps track of specific actions performed by all users within the system. With just a few clicks, you can download and view detailed audit logs at any point.
Our engineering and security teams ensure our product follows the highest security standards for processing and storing your important financial data and documents.
Track User Activity Within the Platform
Commission Administrators will also be able to track all user activity within CaptivateIQ. Our Jobs tab allows admins to view all jobs processed in the organization, the job status, and who processed it. Admins can even filter the jobs log with detailed parameters such as email address, start date, end date, and job type. The job type filter allows admins to see CSV uploads, clone period groups, data syncs, exports, and much more.
These records also include information status, requestor, job name, and the timestamps for the request of the job and completion of the job. With tracking activity available at your fingertips, you’ll always know what’s going on in your organization.
The Best Software Solution for Everything Commissions
If you’re looking for a top-rated commission software that includes all of these features and more, then CaptivateIQ might be just what you’re looking for. Our platform was designed for the modern workforce to solve modern problems. No longer do you have to worry about errors, bottlenecks, ambiguity, and wasted time with the compensation process.
CaptivateIQ increases productivity and aligns your team, putting the trust and transparency back in commissions. Give sales reps the motivation and opportunity to succeed, as well as the ability to see how they are doing in real-time. Management will get a happier and more productive workforce, along with the analytics tools to see where they can improve. We empower teams to do the best work possible. Are you ready to see what CaptivateIQ can do for your team?
