Every rep keeps a shadow spreadsheet. I think that is our failure, not theirs

I spent a day in the field last month with sellers at our packaging business in Canada, about 65 reps. Every single one showed me a private spreadsheet in which they track their own commission, and several spend two or three hours a month reconciling it with the statement we send.

On reflection they are right not to trust us. Our statements arrive on the 20th of the following month, show totals without the underlying orders, and were wrong in some respect for 1 in 12 people last quarter.

We are now putting order-level detail in the statement and moving the estimate into the CRM so reps can see what a deal is worth before it closes. I think shadow accounting is a measure of plan administration quality, and would be interested in whether others track it.