Applies to: RollMaster (RM) Core
Use this article as a reference for the Lead Processing module, including ocalized Branch-by-Branch multi-profile creation, standard commission structures, sliding scale calculations with negative margin automation, 1099 contractor integration, and up to 20 alternate commission plans per rep.
Menu Path: Sales Processing > Salesperson Maintenance
For other Sales Processing programs, refer to the Sales Processing module documentation.
Every individual who sells products and services in your store, regardless of whether they receive a Commission, needs to have a Salesperson ID setup in the RollMaster System in each Branch where they will process sales. All Salesperson IDs and related Commission and salesperson data is set up from within this module. When you enter this module, the system will prompt a Sales Person Maintenance selection screen as follows:
All Salesperson IDs that currently exist in the system will automatically appear in this screen. The Branch field will default to the current Branch. You can switch Branches by clicking on the down arrow button and making a selection from the drop-down menu. A list of all current Salespeople for the Branch will display in the Sales Person Name box along with their corresponding ID. The Inactive column will display a “Y” next to any Salesperson that has been set to Inactive in the individual Sales Person Maintenance screen. To add a new Salesperson, click the Add button at the bottom right of this screen. An individual Sales Person Maintenance screen will appear as follows:
At the Initials field, type up to three alphanumeric (using letters and/or numbers) characters to create a new unique ID. Type in the Salesperson’s name, address and telephone number in the next few fields. The Email field should reflect an accurate email address for the Salesperson in order for the system to properly alert this person when certain processes occur in the system. The Inactive field is not applicable for new Salespeople, but should be checked down the road if the Salesperson no longer works for the company. When checked, the ID will no longer display in any Salesperson Lookup screens with the exception of this module, Salesperson Payables, Salesperson Payables History, and Sales Analysis. The remainder of this screen is for setting up commission rate information. Please Note: The system will allow you to override these settings, when applicable, for any Standard Commission Salesperson on a job-by-job basis through the Cost Maintenance module.
At the Commission Type field, you have two options. The Standard Base option will allow you to access the next two fields, and the Scale Base option will place the cursor at the Scale Base field (explained below). The options for the Standard Base field are as follows: M for Margin, T for Total, L for Total Less Labor, P for Margin Less Labor, G for Gross Profit, and X for Enter Base/Com. If the Salesperson receives a percentage of the profit, select M. If the Salesperson receives a percentage of the total job, select T. If the Salesperson receives a percentage of the total job excluding any labor, select L. If the Salesperson receives a percentage of the profit excluding any labor, select P. The “G” for Gross Profit option is based on the Gross Profit of the Invoice. If you select this option, you will see a Min and Max fields display to the right. Determine the Minimum and Maximum Gross Profit spread you will pay commission on and enter that in the Min and Max fields. Using 15 and 40 as an example, if an Invoice has a GP of 15%, the salesperson will receive 15% of the Gross Profit, and so on up to 40%. Anything above 40% Gross Profit, will still earn 40%. Anything below 15% will earn 0. The final option, X-Enter Base/Com, is rarely used, but allows for manually entering the Commission Base and the Commission Amount, allowing the system to then calculate the Commission Percentage. The Percentage field will allow up to 5 digits after the decimal point. These entries must be made in Cost Maintenance just prior to Invoicing, or they can be made during Item Selection in Salesperson Payables. You may want to discuss with your trainer prior to use.
In the Rate % field, enter the standard percentage amount, in whole numbers, that applies to the Salesperson. For example, if the Salesperson receives a percentage of the profit margin, say 20 percent, enter “20” in this field. In the case of a Salesperson or other employee who sells but is paid a salary instead of a commission, simply enter “0” in the Rate % field. The Sub Contractor checkbox field and the A/P Vendor ID field are only for businesses that pay their Salespeople as 1099 subcontractors. If this is the case, click the checkbox and perform a Vendor Lookup of the ID set up for this Salesperson. If this does not apply, leave these fields blank.
Click the Save button to keep the data and continue adding another Salesperson. (It is important to note that the options that exclude labor will not work properly if you enter an installed price on a material line and then a zero sale price on the labor lines. This is because all the profit will then be figured in the material total and the system has no way to distinguish between labor profit and material profit when it is lumped together on a material line.)
The Scale Base option, which is basically a Sliding Scale Commission Rate, can be used to program a range of commission percentages to pay based on the total profit margin on each job. (Once the system calculates a commission rate based on the sliding scale information you input, you will not be able to make any adjustments via the Cost Maintenance module. You can, however, switch the Commission Type in that screen to Standard Base and then make a change.)
At the Scale Base field, use the drop-down arrow to select how you wish the commission to be figured, using the same guidelines explained above, but using the associated letters in this field, C for Margin, O for Percentage, N for percentage of the Total Less Labor, or R for percentage of the Margin Less Labor. In the A-O fields, you can program up to 15 different commission percentages. However many you choose to program, you have to program a range from 0-999.99. Also, there is a Company Control 2 prompt in the System Control Maintenance module that, when enabled, will eliminate the need to program negative sliding scale commission levels for the Credit Memo program (see Sliding Scale (Auto. Neg. Comm.) option explained in the System Control Maintenance section of the documentation). If you enable this option after Scale Base fields have been completed, make sure you delete any existing negative sliding scale commission levels that have previously been set up. On Invoices with negative margins, with the above option enabled, the system will find the positive margin range in the Sliding Scale you have programmed and use that commission percentage. If one or more Invoices appears on a Job and a Credit Memo is processed, the commission calculation will use the commission percentage of the total Invoice the Credit Memo lines were originally invoiced on and calculate a negative commission for those lines. If you wish to enforce a different negative commission scale, then you will need to set that up in this screen rather than use the option described above.
The following is an example of a sliding scale using a Margin scale base as opposed to a Total scale base (margin ranges and commission percentages shown are purely for example and should not be considered industry standard):
As you will note from the example above, line A should be used to program the highest margin range for which you will pay the highest commission percentage. Regardless of the figure you type in the first field, you must type 999.99 in the second field of line A. Also, the second field of each subsequent line must be no more than one tenth of a percentage point lower than the first field in the previous line, e.g., 49.99 if the previous line figure is 50.00, etc. In other words, there can be no gaps between the margin figures from one line to the next. Finally, you must type .00 in the first field of the lowest margin line—see line E in the example above. Although the example above uses five lines, you can set up a sliding scale using less than five lines or as many as 15—you just need to make sure you program a range from 0 to 999.99. Be sure to click the Save button at the bottom right of the screen to save the data before exiting.
If you wish to edit the data on an existing Salesperson, from the main Sales Person Maintenance screen, highlight the Salesperson from the list and either double-click on the name to bring up the existing data for that sales person, or you can hit the right-click button on the mouse to display two options, one of which is Edit Sales Person. Once you make any applicable changes, be sure to click the Save button before exiting the screen. The other option available when you right-click on a name is Delete Sales Person. You should ONLY to do this if a Salesperson has no history in the system, otherwise your Sales Analysis reports will be impacted—the data will continue to display, but the ID will be unknown. The preferable method would be to set the sales person to Inactive.
From within this module, you also have the ability to Copy a Salesperson to another Branch. To perform this function, once a Salesperson has been added, enter into the individual Sales Person Maintenance screen for that ID. At the top left of the screen, you will see a Functions menu. When you click on that menu option, the system will display the following: Copy Sales Person to Another Branch. When you select this option, the system will prompt a Branch Selection box as follows:
Double click on each applicable Branch to Select, or right-click to do the same. Click the Continue button to complete the process. A second option appears in the Functions menu as follows: Copy Sales Person Commission. This option allows for copying of one Salesperson’s commission set up to all Salespeople within a selected Branch. Make sure you are in the Sales Person Maintenance Screen for the commission setup you wish to copy to ALL Salespeople within a Branch. When you select this option, the system will first prompt a Branch selection box and default to the current Branch. Accept the default or select another Branch and click the Copy button.
A final option available from the Functions menu--and also has button access just below the Functions menu--appears as follows: Alternate Commission Plan. This was added for situations where a Salesperson may sell commercial and residential jobs, and their pay structure may be different for each. In this case, rather than have two different Sales IDs to dilute analysis and reporting, this feature allows for tracking alternate plans--up to 20--under the same Salesperson. When you click this option, a box will prompt for you to click Add to access the Alternate Commission Plans box as follows:
Create a Code for each Plan. You can even create a different Code for Standard and Scale for a Salesperson. Once a Code/Plan has been created, if needed, it can be set to Inactive via a checkbox that appears to the right of the Commission Type box as follows:
These Codes will be assigned in the Sales Reps field on the Quote/Job, but the tracking will all stay under the main Salesperson. The drop-down menu will display all Alternate Plans as follows:
The “DF” and “CA” after the Sales ID denotes the two different Codes. When Alternate Commission Plans exist for a Salesperson, a Plan Name field will display next to the Initials field in the Salesperson Maintenance screen. The first Plan in the list box will display here. Also, you can set these Alternate Commission Plans as defaults in Customer Maintenance. When Alternate Commission Plans exist in the system, the Excel export data on the Print Job Report, will include this info.
One additional feature to this Alternate Commission Plan setup is completely optional and appears in the Job Type Maintenance module. If you use a recurring or standard Code for several Salespeople, you can add the Code to the Job Type Maintenance module, thereby defaulting that Code for the Sales ID selected based on Job Type. That field appears as follows:
Returning to the main Salesperson Maintenance module functionality, there is one additional option available that allows for changing the Salesperson ID on all Customer records in the system at once. This is helpful for updating the system with new information when a Salesperson leaves the company and is replaced by a new Salesperson, especially with Builder or Property Management clients. When you first enter the Salesperson Maintenance module, at the top left you will see another Functions menu. When you click on that option, the system will display the following: Change Sales Rep. on All Customers. When you click this option, the system will prompt a Sales Rep Change Screen as follows:
Make sure you have added the new Salesperson ID prior to starting this process. When you are ready, use the drop-down menu to select an ID from the Old Sales Rep field, and then select the new ID from the New Sales field. Once both IDs are displayed in the box above, click the Save button to complete the process.