commission – SE Knowledge Base

Invoice Date vs. Paid Date

Posted on January 12, 2015 by admin

Invoices in Showroom Exchange represent the shipment of the merchandise by your mfrs/brands to your customers.

Entering invoices into Showroom Exchange allows you to keep track of the following:
1) Open Orders (which orders have or have not shipped)
2) Paid and Unpaid Commissions (some mfrs/brands report their shipments to the showroom 1st and pay later)
3) Mfr/brand’s % ship through rate (how WELL your mfrs/brands are performing). More on this in Measure Brand Performance with Ship-Through Percentages.

When entering an invoice, first reference its corresponding PO, give it an invoice number, then provide an invoice date (invdate: the date it shipped). You then have the option of giving it a paid date (pdate). Consider pdate as the date the showroom got paid.

The difference:

The invoice date (invdate) is the date the order was shipped. It is required to save an invoice in SE. This aspect of the invoice (along with the amount) tracks how completely an order has shipped.
The paid date (pdate) is the date the brand paid you commission on the shipped order. We recommend the date on the check or wire-transfer. If the mfr/brand will pay you later, then leave the pdate blank. An entry in the pdate suggests the invoice is paid, and the invoice is marked as “paid.” An invoice without a pdate will be marked as “unpaid.” See Commissions Report to see how to run reports on paid and unpaid commissions.

Commissions Report

Posted on October 14, 2014 by admin

Use the commissions report to determine what is owed to you (the showroom) and what has to be paid out to your reps. The commissions report depends on consistent entry of commission statements (as invoices in Showroom Exchange). The commission entry process is VERY important as the information is used to determine the mfr’s ship-thru %, help determine what is still left open (more on open orders report), and ultimately showroom’s total earnings.

If your brands send commission statements without a payment, just to report their shipments, you would have entered the commission statements with the invoices ‘pdate’ left blank. The same report can be used to filter “Unpaid” invoices.

On the criteria page, you can enter filters to create very specific reports, such as those analyzing just one rep, just the showroom, or just one manufacturer. Note that you can also filter by paid/unpaid status.

Click “generate report” to see the result of the commission report, like the one below. The report shows commissions broken down by rep (including the showroom rep, i.e. the showroom as a whole) and manufacturer. A summary report only shows reps and the totals of how much they made from each line, while the detailed version lists invoices with their relevant information.

Aiming for Zero – Open Orders Report

Posted on October 14, 2014 by admin

The open orders report lists all orders that have not yet completely shipped (i.e.; more than 1% open).

The accuracy of the open order report is dependent on the consistent entry of commission statements (as invoices in Showroom Exchange).

Maximize your revenue!
Use this regularly to followup on open orders (especially after entering commission statements).

The report criteria page of the open orders report is very similar to other reports (select the filters to define what open orders you want to see).

You can filter by how “open” an order is based on $s (i.e. $500-%1000 open) or % (i.e. over 50% open).

Couple of important noteworthy filters to consider:

“show commission calculation”
Use this check-box to let the brand know the exact commission $ amount due for an outstanding open order. Use “Open $” and “show comm for SR rep only.”

“Show invoice info (detailed only)”
This is helpful to show existing invoices that you may have already entered from past commission statements.

Click generate report to see the report result like the detailed report shown below. Detailed reports show specific PO’s that are still open, broken down by manufacturer and rep, and other relevant information about the order.

The summary report show general shipping statistics for each brand.

Best practices for the Open Order report:

run open order reports after invoice entry
look at orders 10%-100% open if orders >10% open are not of interest
catch open orders from previous months (or years) by using an earlier date, i.e. 01/01/2001
remove open balances that will never ship using bulk cancellation to keep your records clean

Project Your Commissions

Posted on September 2, 2014 by admin

Commission Projections, one of our most popular reports, estimates the commission your showroom will receive in the future based on realistic parameters, e.g.; what % of your booking will ship and when you typically get paid, such as 2 or 3 months after the cancellation date.

commission projection report1

“by rep/mfr” selection is ideal for reporting your reps’ expected commissions.
“by mfr” selection is ideal for reporting your showroom’s expected commission.

commission projection report2