So, you’ve sworn off commission spreadsheets and realized that sales incentive software will vastly improve efficiency, transparency, and your personal sanity. Problem solved, right?

Not quite yet. If you’ve decided to invest in any new solution, your work is just getting started. There’s no shortage of sales commission software on the market, and trying to discern all their operational differences can result in a serious case of information overload.

So how are you supposed to determine the best fit for your organization’s budget, goals, requirements, and existing tech stack? You need to first establish some common baselines – in other words, you need to know exactly what you’re looking for in a sales incentive software before you start looking for it. 

This article will help you do just that. We’ll cover the six big considerations you need to keep in mind before shopping around – and the 29 specific questions you should pose to vendors to ensure you end up with sales incentive software that fits your needs.

What you’ll learn:

• What type of sales incentive software are you looking for?
• What functionality do you need to design and automate sales incentives?
• What integrations will need to work with your sales incentive software?
• Are you confident in a sales incentive platform’s data workflows and processes?
• What kind of customization does each sales incentive software vendor support?
• Does each sales incentive vendor support your reporting needs?

What type of sales incentive software are you looking for?

A good first step is determining which type of sales incentive software you’re looking for. Two of the most popular types of commission tools are self-managed platforms and bespoke solutions. Both are intended to help streamline sales compensation, but do so in fundamentally different ways.

Technically speaking, self-managed platforms are low-code or no-code, with the platform’s core capabilities — like real-time data or automated commission reports — coded in reusable modules. Admins can then select those modules to create, combine, and rearrange comp plan components. Due to their graphic user interface, low-code and no-code platforms enable admins to visually build out complex plans, without having to tinker with the underlying source code.

By contrast, bespoke solutions function more like traditional software. Plan rules are typically hard-coded on the backend depending on your organization’s specific requirements. Due to complexity, customization is usually restricted to developers with deep platform expertise. This often requires an additional investment for external engineering support and can be a costly expense — especially if you aren’t prepared for it ahead of time.

Here are some example questions we recommend asking in your initial conversations with sales incentive software vendors:

• Do you consider your platform to be low-code or no-code?
• What kind of changes can admins make themselves with your platform?
• What kind of changes require the assistance of a professional services rep or a customer support rep?
• Are supported or assisted changes to my account set up included in the standard pricing package or is that something I’d have to pay extra for?

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What functionality do you need to design and automate sales incentives?

Compensation plans are the meat and potatoes of any sales incentive software, so it’s important to delve into the actual processes around building, managing, calculating, and distributing incentive compensation plans. No matter what type of solution you’re looking for, it’s important to ask the vendor to walk you through a range of processes you might handle during any given pay period.

Also see what’s involved in setting up project-based compensation, custom-defined commission periods, or overlapping plans. Even if it seems like overkill, it’s good to get a grasp on the full range of capabilities — some of which may become more relevant as your sales compensation plans evolve.

Whatever the process, be sure to check and see if your team can perform these functions independently or will need to go through a CSM. Also be mindful of the pricing model, which may restrict how many plans or rules you can create, or the amount of data you can process.

Here are some example questions we recommend asking during your initial calls with sales incentive platforms:

• How do you manage compensation program complexities like promotions, overlapping plans, intra-period adjustments, and modifiers?
• How do you handle complex team structures and roll-ups?
• How well does your platform support growing teams? Changes in territories? Setting up new sales reps? Organization restructures?

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What integrations will need to work with your sales incentive software?

Data integrations are another critical consideration to keep in mind while researching solutions, since these will significantly impact the accuracy of your payouts, audits, and reports — as well as your ability to streamline compensation management.

Vendors may insist their solution will “play nicely” with the rest of your tech stack, but this can be subjective. Instead of just talking compatibility, drill down into the actual integrations and which objects the software can pull from your CRM, ERP, HRSI, or payroll. If a solution doesn’t easily sync with your system or requires custom coding for future integrations, you may find yourself drowning in the same spreadsheet-style drudgery you’re currently trying to escape from.

It’s also important to be mindful of bloated imports. When commission software  pulls in complete CRM reports with every sync, instead of just new or modified data, this can cause significant lags and make it harder to streamline commission operations. If there’s a two hour processing time, it’s better to know about it in advance.

Here are several example questions to get you started during conversations with potential vendors:

• What platforms do you have native integrations with?
• How many customers do you have using the integrations that are important to me?
• How customizable are these integrations? Can I pick and choose which objects you’ll pull from our CRM, ERP, HRSI, or payroll software?
• Will your system import or sync everything from our systems and how will the integration impact lags and processing times?

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Are you confident in a sales incentive platform’s data workflows and processes?

Beyond integrations, it’s also important to consider the level of nuance and depth in the data being imported — and what your team can actually do with it. Are reps able to trace commission calculations on their statements, or will they only have summary visibility? Can admin users modify data without impacting the CRM source code?

Be sure to evaluate data management capabilities and workflows, and take stock of potential restrictions. For example, we recommend you ask your potential vendors of choice the following questions:

• Can I attach a new set of records to an existing hierarchy, or do they need to be added one at a time?
• Can I isolate and correct a commission error at the rep level, or do I need to re-process the entire batch every time?
• How much flexibility do I have with functions, logic, and calculations?
• Can I use familiar syntax, or do I need to learn a whole new lingo?
• Is there automated version history, or do I have to manually keep track of any changes and overwrites?

Keeping an eye out for repetitive or complex data processes will help you assess a platform’s ability to effectively streamline sales compensation.

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What kind of customization does each sales incentive software vendor support?

Depending on the type of platform you choose, commission plan customization can run the full gamut from single-click updates to complex processes involving CSM support and a full binder of instructions.

Here are some questions we recommend asking during your research of different platforms:

• Can you show me different customization capabilities in action?
• Can you demonstrate how to create a new rule or make an ad hoc plan modification?
• Does your platform allow users to switch between different languages or currencies?

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Does each sales incentive vendor support your reporting needs?

Reports are another biggie to keep in mind. Take a look at  what’s actually involved in building, editing, customizing, and deploying different varieties, from routine plan and performance assessments to ad hoc C-suite requests and full-blown ASC 606 or IFRS 15 audits. Some good questions to ask vendors throughout the evaluation process:

• Is this solution’s built-in reporting functionality granular enough to support my existing plans and commission cadence, or will I need to supplement with additional dashboards?
• How extensively can you customize dashboards before you need to go to your CSM for support?
• Does your platform automate ASC 606 reports and is that an extra cost?
• Are there any types of reports that are an additional cost?

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Preparation is critical when it comes to evaluating sales incentive software

When you need to invest in a new solution, it might seem like you need to move fast and start talking to vendors as soon as possible. But for a technology as nuanced as sales incentive software, you have to put in the work to make sure you even know exactly what you’re looking for.

Use the considerations and questions we covered above to kickstart your sales incentive software journey. When you know what specific qualifications and features you need – and how to ask for them – you set yourself up to make the right purchasing decision.