Do you need to calculate sales commissions using QuickBooks Online transactions? Perhaps you already are calculating commissions using CRM data, but found that payment status / amounts were often inaccurate? Or perhaps you’re manually calculating sales commissions from QuickBooks data, but no longer want to deal with manually generated, cumbersome sales commission spreadsheets?

Using Sales Cookie, you can calculate sales commissions using QuickBooks Online data. Connecting to QuickBooks Online takes less than 1 minute. Each sales rep will get an online incentive dashboard they can use to review crediting, check payouts, and more – from any device. Your sales reps will always be paid the right amount – on time. Making changes to your commission plans and generating commission reports will be easy. Even the most advanced types of sales commissions are supported (those with tiers, draws, splits, formulas, etc.).

Here are the simple steps to use:

  • Verify QuickBooks Online readiness
  • Sign up for a free Sales Cookie account
  • Add a connection to QuickBooks Online
  • Add users and transactions from QuickBooks Online
  • Create sales incentive plans
  • Run commission calculations
  • View incentive dashboards
  • Generate commission reports

Note: while support for QuickBooks Pro / Enterprise is coming soon, this article is specifically about QuickBooks Online.

Verify QuickBooks Online Readiness

To calculate sales commissions, you must first select a data source. This could be QuickBooks Online, or it could be your CRM system. One key advantage of using QuickBooks Online as a data source for sales commission calculations is that amounts and payment status are often more accurate. Indeed, most CRM systems do not automatically sync with financial systems, so amounts or payment statuses can be outdated / incorrect. For example, an invoice may show as paid in QuickBooks online, but unpaid in CRM, which can result in errors when calculating sales commissions.

However, to calculate commissions using QuickBooks Online, we’ll need to credit each sales transaction (aka deal, order, invoice, contract, etc.) to users or teams / territories. What this means is that your QuickBooks Online tenant should include a custom field which specifies a rep or team / territory. This custom field can be a text field or a dropdown. You can use any type of identifier (ex: user name, employee ID, email address, etc.). If multiple reps or teams / territories need to be credited, create additional custom fields. If you are paying sales commissions based on territories alone, you may not need to add a custom field as existing fields such as “State” or “Country” may be sufficient.

Capture

Sign Up For a Free Account

Simply click here and select “Login” in the top right corner. Next, click on the “Sign up” tab (as shown below). If you sign up with a social account (ex: LinkedIn), you won’t even need to confirm your email address!

Capture

Add a Connection to QuickBooks Online

In Sales Cookie, go to [Settings -> Connections] and add a connection to QuickBooks Online by clicking on the “Add” button:

Capture

Next, click on the “Authorize Access” button:

Capture.PNG

Next, authorize Sales Cookie. As you can see, setting up a connection to QuickBooks Online is very easy. The whole process takes less than 1 minute.

Capture

Add Users and Transactions from QuickBooks Online

To add users (technically employees), go to [Users -> Add Users] in Sales Cookie, and select QuickBooks Online as a data source. All your QuickBooks employees will be listed in an (editable) spreadsheet. Choose a role for your users (ex: participant, admin) and click next.

Capture.PNG

To add QuickBooks sales transactions, go to [Transactions -> Add Transactions] in Sales Cookie, and select QuickBooks Online as a data source. You can choose to import either invoices or sales receipt. If you want to import both, perform separate import operations. Give it a minute to retrieve and analyze your QuickBooks Online data.

Next, you’ll need to map fields to different categories (ex: owner, revenue, territory, etc.). You only need to do this once. Your mappings confirm which field(s) should be used to credit users, which field represents total revenue, etc. If you select automated updates, changes will be synchronized every hour!

Capture

Create Sales Incentive Plans

Using Sales Cookie, you can create all kinds of sales compensation plans – from basic (ex: plans with a simple revenue-based quota) to advanced (ex: plans with scoring, formulas, draws, splits, caps, profitability, etc.).

Below are just a few sample plans created within Sales Cookie. The Sales Cookie team will configure incentive plans for you free of charge – just send them a detailed description of your incentive program. For example, they can help you configure your plan so that only those invoices which have been marked as paid are processed.

Untitled.png

Run Commission Calculations

To run a calculation, go to [Calculations -> Run Calculation] in Sales Cookie. Select a plan and a time period. Most commission calculations only take seconds to run and complete. When you open a calculation’s details, you will see additional information – credits, payouts, reports, etc. Your calculation is not “official” (nor visible) until you release it.

Capture

View Incentive Dashboards

For your reps to view their sales commissions, you must approve them. Go to your calculation and select “release rewards”. Your reps can now see relevant information on their personal incentive dashboard.

Here is an example of what it could look like (depending on your customizations). This renders properly on any mobile device as well. Your reps can even submit inquiries, enroll into incentive plans (ex: with e-signature), and much more.

pid20.png

Generate Commission Reports

Using Sales Cookie, you can generate all types of reports in 3 categories:

  • Attainment reporting
  • Credit reporting
  • Spend reporting

Here are some of the built-in reports:

Capture

You can also create your own (complex) reports using Microsoft Power BI. You can even generate reports using natural language queries and publish them to other users.

powerBIScreen.png

In Conclusion

Sales Cookie offers native integration with QuickBooks Online. Using Sales Cookie, you will be able to easily manage sales commissions for your sales team. You will be able to calculate accurate commissions, verify payouts, and publish them to incentive dashboards. You will be able to pay your sales reps the right amount – on time.

You will also benefit from advanced reporting capabilities (ex: quota attainment, transaction crediting, spend reporting, etc.). You will be able to change incentive models any time without writing any code or automation. And will no longer need to deal with messy, manual sales commission spreadsheets!