Overview
BoldTrail BackOffce takes the stress out of team-based commission tracking. We provide an intuitive and easy-to-use functionality for simplifying the real estate commission structure and making it (really) manageable.
BoldTrail BackOffice provides flexible options tailored to unique transactions, including sliding scale structures and accounting for special cases like referral or franchise fees. This helps you handle even the most complex commission scenarios with precision.
Getting Started with Commission Plans
The lifecycle of a commission plan is simple: you create it, set commission templates, and assign these templates to users.
Adding a commission plan
Create a commission plan by going to the Commission plans page and clicking the Add plan button. Enter a name for your plan and click Add.
Configuring a commission plan
Once added, you must configure the split and add pre-split or post-split deductions. When you have a plan selected, click split under the Paid by agent section. In a split window, enter either % or flat fee – an amount that the company pays to the agent.
When configuring sliding scales, you'll need to select an appropriate base for calculations.
Two primary options are available:
Company Dollar: Calculates fees based on total company deductions, including pre/post deductions and the split company portion. This is ideal for overall company fee tracking and capping.
Gross Commission: Bases calculations on total commissions before deductions, which determines how quickly fee thresholds adjust.
If you have a complex commission structure, click the simple calculation link and select sliding scale. This option lets you select a base for your sliding scale, and then select a period. Add all tiers, enter splits, and once finished click Save.
When designing your sliding scale, determine your goal or milestone. For example, you might set up a transaction fee structure where lot prices below $25k get a $299 fee, $25.1k-$50k get $399, and above $50k get $499. Choose the base that aligns with your specific needs.
For tracking specific charges, consider using transaction-specific tags. You can also set up targets for agents to unlock higher commission tiers by aligning the sliding scale base with the required goal.
Adding pre-split and post-split deductions
On the same Paid by agent section, click add and select the needed option:When handling more complex transactions involving referral fees, team splits, or franchise fees, follow these best practices:
Always handle referral fees first, as they are based on the commission's overall basis.
Configure team splits after the brokerage split but before applying transaction fees.
Adjust franchise fees carefully to maintain proper deduction flow, ensuring referral fees remain accurately calculated.
Pre-split is something that you deduct before the split, examples include business tag, state or city taxes, or company Franchise/Royalty Fees
Post-split is deducted from agent's commissions, for example, E&O fee, transaction fee, etc
Assigning a commission plan
From the Users page, select the needed profile and click update plans under the Commission plans tab. On the opened window, select one or multiple needed plans and click Save.
Adding shared and un-shared income to a commission plan
You can easily set up predetermined credit and increase items in your commission plans. This update helps fill a gap in our market, letting you include standardized fees and credits in your plans. By cutting down manual work, it reduces errors and speeds up transactions.
We've made it simple. We used the same process for adding Un-shared and Shared income in transactions and made it available when setting up Commission plans. When you pick a plan, any credit included will show up. If two agents on a transaction use plans with credits, it will show up twice – once for each.
Go to Commission plans > select or create a plan > add the needed income.
Unlike transactions where you need to specify who's paying, in Commission Plans, you just need to assign a Role for Un(Shared) income. During the transaction, make sure to fulfill that role for the credit to work. This makes it flexible and clearer.
Commission caps
Commissions will only cap based on closed transactions. After an agent reaches cap, any remaining pending deals should be manually recalculated. You can do it by opening any deduction and clicking Save.
When agent is capped, pending deals will not be automatically updated.
When an agent closes a transaction, the platform automatically finalizes commissions and pulls them to the agent's cap. If there are any changes done to commissions within an already closed transaction, they become unfinalized commissions. This way, even when the deal is closed, the system no longer counts toward an agent's cap, until commissions are finalized.
If you edit finalized commissions, their status will become draft.
If an agent is near cap, and has several pending deals, every deal will be calculating the commissions based on the current closed transactions (with finalized commissions). For each deal, the user must manually recalculate the commissions to update, as stated at the bottom of this section.
Set Starting Values for an Agent
This feature won't alter any of your existing adjustment methods. It helps maintain a record in case you delete any transactions that adjust commissions to the starting value. Just remember, if you delete such a transaction, we can't retrieve it for you.
Starting values are used for commission cap tracking and reporting. They do not currently influence the Goal Tracker metrics.
The "Starting Values" feature enables users to establish specific dates and amounts for various selectable entities such as Company Dollar Contribution, Split: Company's Portion, Transaction Points, Commission Basis, Gross Commissions, Agent Commissions, and Sales Volume.
The starting values will apply from the effective date through the end of the commission plan period. If no plan is applied, this uses the date range of each transaction’s split.
Follow these steps to set starting values for an agent:
Navigate to the "Users" section and select the desired agent.
Within the agent's profile, locate the right-hand tab and click the "Starting Values" dropdown.
Click on "update starting values" at the bottom of the section. When unfolded, this section will display all the starting values and effective date at glance.
In the modal window that appears, enter the required values for the specified entities.
Click "Save" to apply the changes.
Your starting values have now been successfully set for the agent, providing a customized foundation for their commission plans.