Salesforce Spiff Rules

Before you create commission rules in Salesforce Spiff, review rule options and guidelines.

Required Editions

Available in: both Salesforce Classic (not available in all orgs) and Lightning Experience
Available in: Enterprise, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Available for an additional cost in: Professional Edition with Web Services API Enabled

After syncing data into Salesforce Spiff, establishing object relationships, and creating filters, you’re ready to create your payout rules. Payout rules are where you create calculations that determine how your reps earn commission.

  • Differences Between Line-By-Line and Lump-Sum Rules
    In Salesforce Spiff Designer, you can build line-by-line rules or lump-sum rules. The rule type affects functionality on the commission statement and reporting options.
  • Line-By-Line Rule Examples
    Payout rules let you create calculations that determine how your reps earn a commission. Line-by-line rules calculate a commission amount by applying a calculation to each item in a data filter such as a deal or an opportunity. Calculation output from each item is summed to get the total for the rule.
  • Create a Line-By-Line Rule
    Line-by-line rules apply a calculation to each item in a data filter. To get the total for the rule, the calculation output from each item in the data filter is summed.
  • Lump-Sum Rule Examples
    A lump-sum rule pays out one obligation amount that you define with calculations. The final payout calculation comes from a single cell in a worksheet. Worksheets contain formulas that have a single value, either entered directly or as the result of a formula.
  • Create a Lump-Sum Rule
    For lump-sum rules, the final payout calculation comes from a single cell in a worksheet. Worksheets contain formulas that have a single value, either entered directly or as the result of a formula. The result of 2 + 2 is 4, a single value. We don't calculate data for every record in the data filter that’s used.
  • Calculate a Line-By-Line or Lump-Sum Rule
    After adding a rule to a plan page, calculate the rule and view it on the rep statement.
  • Considerations for Ghost Rules
    Ghost rules are payout rules where the output doesn’t contribute to a rep's total commission amount for a statement period. Ghost rules are helpful in situations where you want to start building or testing rules for the next quarter or year, or when you want to perform mid-year plan changes.
  • Create a What-If? Rule
    Motivate reps to close deals with What-If? rules. Show reps potential commission earnings when they meet the criteria you define in your data filter. For example, let reps see the commission they can earn if they close all pipeline deals for the period.
  • Meeting Count Rule Examples
    Meeting count rules help reps earn commissions for a specified number of meetings. You can customize the meeting count rule to fit your specific needs.
  • Create a Meeting Count Payout Rule
    Help reps earn commissions for a specific number of meetings.
  • Create a Team Attainment Rule for Managers
    Show a team’s attainment to their manager. Empower managers to proactively drive their team’s sales performance and influence their own commissions.
  • Hide a Zero Payout Lump-Sum Rule
    When a lump-sum rule has zero payout, you can hide the rule.
  • Quarterly Payout Rule Examples
    Sometimes you want to pay commission to an employee but only at a certain time, such as at the end of a quarter. If you have monthly statement periods, you can use Salesforce Spiff date functions to pay out at a time you choose.
  • Create a Rate Look-Back Rule
    Pay commissions months or years after the date when attainment is retired by looking back to see the rate a rep achieved for a deal.
  • Adjust Compensation Variances with a Lump-Sum True-Up Rule
    A lump-sum true-up rule in Salesforce Spiff helps you adjust compensation if a rep is over- or underpaid in a period.
  • Create a Basic Attainment Rule with an Individual Commission Rate
    Create a more dynamic, fair, and motivating compensation structure that drives sales performance and supports the unique needs and goals of your sales team. Instead of a flat commission rate, pay commission for on-target earnings (OTE) using an individual commission rate (ICR) or attainment percentage.
  • Create Management by Objective Rules
    Management by objective (MBO) is a management system that measures an individual's performance against specific targets or goals. You can implement an MBO rule in Salesforce Spiff and handle your company's unique requirements. Typically, an MBO requires manual data to complete the calculation, such as a performance review score from a manager.
  • Payout Rules
    In Salesforce Spiff, payout rules are formulas, calculations, and tables that make your plans run. Payout rules appear on commission plans.
  • Carry Forward a Negative Balance on a Statement
    If a sales rep's statement in Salesforce Spiff shows a negative balance and you don't want to deduct that amount from the commission payout for the current statement period, you can instead carry the negative balance forward to the next statement period.
  • Create a Clawback Rule in Salesforce Spiff
    Track reclaimed commission payouts with a clawback rule in Salesforce Spiff. A clawback is when a company reclaims a commission previously paid to a rep. Typically, clawbacks occur when a deal is canceled or terminated after a commission is disbursed. In Spiff, a clawback is often represented as a negative entry in a data filter for opportunities or deals, with a reference to the original opportunity for accountability.