We all want to be Excelomancers, slinging spreadsheet data down, and planning everything with precision. This is a reason over eighty-nine percent of companies make use of spreadsheets.
When it comes down to it, however, spreadsheets are not all they are reportedly cracked up to be. This is especially true for paying commission and tracking the payments.
There are better ways to handle your orders instead. This article will go over some of them to enlighten you on why your data should be somewhere better suited for this kind of information.
What’s Wrong With Spreadsheets?
Organizing a simple list of information can be relatively simple. You could, for example, have one long vertical list of commissioned individuals. Then their monthly information spread to the right.
Or you could have a vertical list of commissions, with more information across the spreadsheet. Alternatively, what if you organize each of your commissioned individuals via tab. The list of options can get long fast.
The real trouble is when you want to do anything complex. What if you want to organize your commissions differently in the future. What about when your team gets a little large or remodels itself?
Or, worst of all, what if the IRS or an accountant wants to get just the information on one particular type of commission, how do you parse the information?
How Should I Be Paying Commission?
To avoid any of these issues in the future, you should be looking into commission software now. Options are available which should fit whatever kind of commission types you engage with. Doing so will reduce the amount of time you spend editing and correcting sheets by a huge amount.
There are so many different pieces of commission software out there, so make sure to learn more about each of them before you dive in. Commission software is not only a tool for entering information for later. Also, you can use it for several other executive functions which will be useful for your business.
With well-set-up software, you will be able to recall information fast based on several factors. If you want to look up all commissions on specific dates, or all commissions for a specific individual, you can do so. You will even be able to filter by commissions above or below a certain cost.
Good commission software should also make any information you search for transferable in many formats. XLS, CSV, or any number of database types are a standard method for doing so. This is great for your accountants.
Alternatively, an executive team or shareholders will instead often much prefer simple graphs. Commission software can often output these and let you share visual summaries rather than raw data.
What Now?
When you next get around to paying commission, think about what you are actually wanting to do. How do you need a piece of software to better assist you?
After that, check out our other software-related posts for more great content. We are here to help!
