Step 1:   Sales Groups 

You must first set up your Sales Groups. To get to this screen from the Softbase 

3.o menu select the Administration tab.  Select Company, then select the Marketing tab.  In this example there are 6 Sales Groups.  Typically these will tie into the department #’s.  In a typical setup New Equipment Sales is Department 10 and Used Equipment Sales is Department 30, Service is almost always Department 40, Rental is usually Department 60, etc.    

When you have your Sales Groups entered you’ll move on to Department where you’ll assign these Sales Group #’s to each Department.   

Step 2:  Assign Sales Groups To Departments 

Next, from the Softbase 3.o menu select the Administration tab then select Department.  

Select the Branch then the Department.   

You’ll see the drop down box for Sales Group just under the Title box.  Select the appropriate Sales Group as well as the Mechanic Group.   

Sales Group - Softbase will default the Salesman on the work order based upon what is assigned here to the specific department.  So if you selected the department for New Equipment Sales, of course your Sales Group should be 1 for New Equipment if you are using our example.   

Mechanic Group - You can have two salesmen assigned to a specific work order.  This is the group where you would put your Mechanics/Parts Personnel.   

Note:  The reports “Commission Report” and “Commission Report Summary” are based on the Sales Group name and it does not include the Mechanic Group name for commissions.  The system will put the Salesman’s Name from Customer in Sales Group 4 in the work order field “Technician”.  You can then run a different Commission Report for sales Group 4 Salesman/Mechanics based off of this field.   

Step 3:  Assign “Territory” Numbers To Zip Codes.  

Now the next step is to assign “Territory” #’s to zip codes.   

This screen can be found by going to the Softbase 3.0 menu.  Then select the Administration tab, then select Zip Codes. 

Remember your Sales Groups that you set up previously?  These Groups are referenced here in the bottom right corner. Your “Territory” #’s are the logical splits of the different territories.  For example:  If you have your territories split amongst 5 major areas, then you would have 101-105 for Sales Group 1 and 201205 for Sales Group 2 and so on.  You need to do this for each zip code.  

So now using our example, Sales Group 1 is New Equipment Sales and I want to assign the “Territory” # of 102 for New Equipment Sales to Zip Code 77304.  

Simply enter the zip code, all data associated with this zip code will populate.  Now for Group 1 enter 102.  

I also want to add “Territory” # 202 to Used Equipment Sales.  In our example this is Group 3.  So I would enter 202 for Group 2 as well.

When all the Groups for this zip code have a “Territory” # assigned, just click “Update” to save.   

Note:  Once you’ve retrieved one zip code, the program will then know which branch to reference.  When you click the drop down box again you should now see your list of zip codes for the branch.  

Select the next zip code and repeat the process until all have been updated.    

After you’re done updating your zip codes its time to set up your Salesman.  

Step 4:  Salesman Setup 

 

There are two ways to get to the Salesman Setup screen.  From the Zip Code Setup window click the “two people” icon at the bottom right.   

 

 

 

Or from the Softbase 3.0 menu you’ll need to go to the Accounting tab, select 

Customer, then at the top of the screen you’ll see the same “two people” button.  

If you hover your mouse over this it indicates “Salesman”.  Simply click this icon and you’ll be directed to this screen:   

 

 

Notice this screen has 3 different sections.  Top left is Salesman Setup.  Bottom left is for Commissions.  Bottom right is for zip assignments.  

 

 

Now in this screen the Salesman # is going to actually be the “Territory” #.  This makes it much easier to rearrange territories within the customer base in the program if the need arises.   

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So using the “Territory” #‘s that you just assigned in Zip Code Setup, if you wanted to set up Salesman Bob Smith for “Territory” 102.  You would enter 102 in the Salesman # box.  Then type Bob Smith in the Salesman Name box.   

  Be advised this screen works off of the Salesman Name.   

  Once you type in a Salesman’s Name it will show in the drop down box   for future use.   

The Employee # field is optional.   

Then select the appropriate Sales Group.     

Then click the Add button to add this record.  (The Add button is the “+”) Note:  You can assign a salesman to multiple different territories.  Just follow the same procedures using a different territory #.    

Step 5:  Enter Commissions 

 

Once your salesmen have been entered for each sales group you can begin entering commission info.   

 

 

 

Begin by selecting a salesman from the drop down box in the salesman setup section.  Then in the bottom left section you will enter the appropriate information for figuring commissions.   

 

 

Commissions are linked by SALESMAN NAME.  So you need only set them up once for each salesman.  If the commission is based off of a percentage of total sales then you only enter the GL Revenue account with the corresponding % to pay.  If the commission is based off of Gross Profit, then enter the GL Revenue account with the % to pay and then enter the GL Cost account that is the offset to the GL Revenue with the associated % of commission.  They need to be the same percentage.   

 

Example:  Bob Smith is to be paid 20% of Gross Profit on Revenue/Cost Account 4020101 and 5020101, he is to be paid 6% of Sales on Revenue account 4330301.   

You would select Bob Smith in the Salesman Setup section.  Then in the 

Commission section you would enter account # 4020101 and Commission Rate 

20.  Click Add, this is the “+” button.  Then enter account # 5020101 and Commission Rate 20.  Click Add.  Then enter 4330301 and Commission Rate 6.  Click Add.  Now you would see the three entries in the green bar section below.   

Zip Code Assignments Section 

 

You can view a zip code or make a change in territory assignment here if necessary.  If you make a change click the Update button in this section.  This is the “✓” button.   

 

One more step and then you’re done.   

 

 

Step 6:  Auto Assign 

 

In the top right section of the screen you’ll see a button that looks just like the Salesman Setup button that you clicked to get to this screen.  When you click this button, your entire customer base will be updated with the corresponding Salesman for the Territory.  If you have customer’s with “locked” Salesmen, these will not be updated with the Auto Assign function.    

In Customer Setup under the Marketing tab you can select a salesman for each Sales Group and click “Lock” for protected accounts.  

 

Commission Reports 

 

You will find in the reports database, two reports for commissions.  One is called Commission Reports.  This report shows commission detail by Salesman based upon the date range you enter when running the report.  The other is called Commission Summary Report.  This report will pull the same data but only show a summary format by Salesman without all the detail as shown on the other report.  There are likely to be more reports available for commissions.  In general, the two mentioned here are the main reports you will need.    !