Commission on Final Order Values
Two options for reconciling sales order commissions with actual margins after month-end adjustments.
The Problem
Sales reps sometimes undercharge freight or forget to include credit card fees when taking orders. When DockBlocks reconciles these orders at month-end and adjusts the block price to capture the correct margin, the commission has already been calculated on the original (higher) values. This means DockBlocks overpays commission on the amount that should have been corrected. Promotions and free-freight offers make this problem worse, as the incentive to reduce commission-eligible margins is reduced.
The Goal
Calculate commissions on the final, corrected order values after month-end reconciliation of freight and credit card fees, so commissions are always based on actual margins. This allows DockBlocks to offer better promotions without overpaying reps on adjustments.
Two Approaches
- Simplest process change - no formula complexity in Zoho
- No risk of recalculation errors if fields are edited
- Clear audit trail - one calculation per month on finalized data
- Commissions run one week after month-end (later payout)
- Manual timing coordination between Stacy's reconciliation and commission run
- Automatic: commission updates whenever Stacy adjusts freight or fees
- Can calculate commissions on any schedule - always accurate
- More transparent: reps can see exact commission impact of adjustments
- Requires building and testing Zoho formulas for each commission logic branch
- More moving parts if order values are edited mid-month for other reasons
- More setup work upfront