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Commission Tracking for HubSpot

A Guide to Help You Select Your Ideal Solution
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AWARD-WINNING AGENCY SERVICES PROVIDER Instrumental Group - HubSpot Implementation Experts

Crafted through the mastery and knowledge of Instrumental Group, an esteemed HubSpot Partner with Elite Partner status. Years of experience successfully implementing intricate commission models for numerous clients spanning diverse industries informed the content in this guide.

OVERVIEW Learn how to track sales commissions in HubSpot

This guide offers suggestions tailored to the intricacy of your commission structures, enabling organizations to effectively handle their commission system within HubSpot, whether or not they opt for commission tracking software.

Effectively managing commissions can be challenging without the appropriate technology. Choosing to invest in HubSpot is a commendable first step, offering streamlined opportunity management.

Although you can readily establish calculated fields within the deal record, the absence of native functions for commission tracking presents a challenge. This gap forces you to decide between sticking with spreadsheets or adopting a more robust solution.

4 REASONS TO TRACK COMMISSIONS

Automate Complex Calculations
Improve Accuracy
Reduce Manual Entry
Build Employee Trust
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BUSINESS CASE Why invest in a commission tracking system?

We're well aware of the alternative: spreadsheets. If you're still employing a manual process to input sold deal values, create formulas, and sum fields on a spreadsheet, it's like living in the stone age. Managing commissions in this manner poses considerable risks, including the potential loss of valuable team members, elevated administrative costs, and a higher likelihood of inaccuracies. Making an investment in a dedicated commission tracking system will empower your organization to:

  • Build trust with your sales reps with improved accuracy and visibility

  • Automate manual tasks and puts time back into Manager’s calendar

  • Increase accountability and commission ownership for sales reps

  • Provide a professional solution for efficient commission management

  • Reduce administrative time sucks, headaches, and painful reconciliation

  • Further capitalize on your investment into HubSpot CRM and Sales Hub
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RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS Top options for tracking commissions in HubSpot

We're recommending what we believe to be the three most viable sales commission management solutions for HubSpot. You can evaluate the strengths and drawbacks of each to determine which fits best for your business and commission structure.

3rd-Party Software - Sales Cookie

Sales Cookie is a cloud-based software solution designed to oversee every facet of your commission program, covering participant enrollment, incentive plan design, and personal dashboards.

Pricing

  • Business Plan suitable for most applications: $30/user per month in 
  • Business+ Plan suitable for larger number of plans, calculations: $50/user per month

Strengths

  • Established cloud-based software that works with many different software applications
  • Provides in-app tools and capabilities for management and reporting
  • Delivers ASC 606 accounting compliance
  • Provides sales reps their own dashboard for tracking commissions
  • Allows Quickbooks Online integration to connect Invoices with HubSpot deal records
  • Allows for massive custom calculations and scenarios for almost any commission plan
  • Can handle international currency

Drawbacks

  • Requires management of commissions outside of HubSpot
  • Native integration with HubSpot has no reviews and limited installs
  • Not a user-friendly modern UI for sales reps
  • Complicated to administrate, will require paying Sales Cookie when changes are needed
  • Auditing when a commission is wrong is a complicated and time-consuming process

Implementation process

  • Requires onboarding and Sales Cookie setting up your system
  • Requires connection of native integration, built by Sales Cookie

Best-fit structures

  • For complicated commission plans with spiffs, bonus structures or progressive commissions
  • When using Quickbooks invoicing as your trigger to pay commissions

3rd-Party Software - QuotaPath

QuotaPath, like Sales Cookie, is a user-friendly, cloud-based software designed to oversee all aspects of your commission program. This includes participant enrollment, incentive plan design, and personal dashboards, offering a seamless and comprehensive platform for effective commission management.

Pricing

  • Essential Plan for small teams and simple needs: $10/user per month
  • Growth Plan suitable for most applications: $40/user per month
  • Premium Plan for multi-source payouts: $70/user per month

Strengths

  • Established cloud-based software that works with many different software applications
  • Provides in-app tools and capabilities for management and reporting
  • Native integration with HubSpot has great reviews
  • Provides sales reps their own dashboard for tracking commissions
  • Allows development of a library for managing multiple commission plans
  • Includes tools for plan verification, discrepancy flagging, and scheduling payments
  • Can handle some commission plan complexity

Drawbacks

  • Requires management of commissions outside of HubSpot
  • No integration with Quickbooks Online
  • Cannot handle international currency, US only
  • No internal calculations, all calculations must be done in HubSpot before pulling your data in to Quotapath
  • Keeping track of commissions paid over a monthly residual basis is not possible

Implementation process

  • Requires self-implementation with guided onboarding
  • Growth Plan has optional guided implementation for $1,500 
  • Requires connection of native integration, built by QuotaPath

Best-fit structures

  • More simplified one-time commissions
  • Accommodates bonus pay structures well

In-App Commission System for HubSpot

Commissions for HubSpot Power-Up is a native configuration to empower commission tracking. Unlike the 3rd-party options, it's built directly into HubSpot.

Pricing

  • $499 one-time fee, includes deployment support

Strengths

  • Substantially cheaper and faster to set up than alternatives
  • No ongoing fees or maintenance required
  • Allows all reporting and management inside HubSpot
  • Easy to customize post-implementation

Drawbacks

  • Available for HubSpot only
  • Lacks depth of offering of complete software application
  • New solution without a deep install base
  • Can’t handle complex requirements without substantial customization/workarounds

HubSpot software requirements

  • Operations Hub Pro license in order to use the 'format data' workflow action
  • Marketing Hub Pro license in order to access workflows
  • Sales Hub Pro license in order to access Deal-based automation

Implementation process

  • Immediate redirect to implementation booking after purchase
  • Completed in 1-2 hours
  • Real, live support available if needed
  • 3-step process 
    • Purchase the Commissions for HubSpot power-up
    • Book a 1-hour session to deploy and quickly configure
    • Begin tracking your team’s commissions directly in HubSpot

Best-fit structures

  • Base + Commission Model
  • Residual Commission Model
  • Revenue Commission Model
  • One-off/One-time Commissions
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"Tired of manual, time-consuming commission tracking? Want to improve accountability and build trust with your sales team? The Commissions for HubSpot Power-Up simplifies the process and reduces administration costs."

Rob Whitlow

Chief Technology Officer at Instrumental Group
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MODEL OVERVIEW Popular sales commission models

Commission structures serve as one of the key methods for remunerating sales teams. While there are instances of commissions-only models, developing a more comprehensive compensation model becomes essential to properly incentivize and reward high-performing individuals.

The nature of your business's offerings significantly influences the design of your compensation model. These models exhibit wide variations across industries and applications, with certain solutions demanding more intricate commission tracking.

Implementing a new sales compensation model with a commission structure for your organization will inevitably impact your tracking system requirements. To assist in identifying the right solution to integrate with HubSpot, here are a few prevalent commission structures that can be seamlessly incorporated into your compensation models.

Base Salary Plus Commission Structure

The base salary plus commission plan is a widely adopted model. It combines an hourly or fixed base salary with a commission rate. While the base salary may not fully sustain the individual, it provides a guaranteed income during periods of low sales. Typically, the ratio is 60:40, with 60% as the base rate and 40% as commission, serving as a motivational factor for improved sales performance.

Example: A salesperson earns a $5,000 monthly salary plus a 10% commission on $5,000 in sales. If the monthly sales reach $20,000, the earnings are $7,000 ($5,000 in salary and $2,000 in commission).

Suggested Solution: Commissions for HubSpot Power Up or Quotapath

Gross Margin Commission Model

The gross margin commission model considers product expenses, rewarding salespeople with a percentage of the profit. This discourages discounting and encourages upselling, as commission is tied to the final sale's cost.

Example: Selling a $200,000 system implementation with a $160,000 implementation cost results in a $40,000 gross margin. At a 10% commission rate, the salesperson earns $4,000.

Suggested Solution: Commissions for HubSpot Power Up

Residual Commission Structure

Residual commission benefits salespeople with ongoing accounts, ensuring continuous commission payments as accounts generate revenue. This model incentivizes customer retention and repeat business, common in long-term account management.

Example: A salesperson receives a 5% commission, earning $1,500 monthly as long as the clients pay $30,000 in subscriptions.

Suggested Solution: Commissions for HubSpot Power Up or Sales Cookie

Revenue Commission Model

Companies focused on broader business goals often use the revenue commission model. Sales representatives earn a predetermined percentage of the revenue they generate, encouraging them to contribute significantly to the company's overall revenue.

Example: A salesperson earns a 3% commission on a $25,000 sale, resulting in a $750 commission.

Suggested Solution: Commissions for HubSpot Power Up 

Tiered Commission Model

The tiered commission model rewards salespeople with increasing commission percentages as they exceed specified sales goals. This system encourages surpassing sales targets and closing more deals.

Example: A salesperson earns a 5% base commission up to $1,000,000 in sales, 7% for sales between $1,000,001 and $2,000,000, and 10% for sales exceeding $2,000,000.

Suggested Solution: Sales Cookie

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IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT CRM adjustments, tracking setup, & integration

The commission tracking solutions outlined in this article can all be implemented with a little support from the provider. You may need to make structural changes to your CRM and deal records in order to make them function properly, however. If you find yourself stuck or in need of some consulting and implementation support, turn to an expert. Instrumental Group is a full-service agency with all of the creative and technical talent you wish you had in-house. Give us a call or fill out a form. We'll help you get HubSpot running to optimal levels and teach your team how improve efficiencies and performance. 

Need some help implementing your commissions?

Purchase the Commissions for HubSpot power-up.
Book a 1-hour session with us to deploy and quickly configure.
Begin tracking your team's commissions right inside HubSpot.