Overview
Tern now supports Agency Commission Reconciliation - which allows you to view all your agents' bookings, log supplier payments, export data to pay your agents, and bulk mark commission as paid.
This article focuses on commission tracking and reconciliation for Agency Admins.
If you are an agent looking to track commission and payout statuses (set by your agency admin), start here: Agents: Commission Tracking
If you're an advisor looking to track commission outside of an agency, start here: Advisor Commission Tracking
Agent Booking Experience
Your agents are already using Tern to plan their trips. Now, all they need to do is fill out their expected commission (if they weren't doing so already!), mark the activity as 'booked', and they'll be all set.
Filling out expected commission
As a part of the trip planning process, your agent will fill out their expected commission per activity / insurance / trip package.
The agent's split will be pre-filled based on the amount you set on their profile.
They are able to edit any of this information themselves - and you'll see it as a reference point - but you have the final say on what the actual commission received + commission split is for each activity. More on both these points below!
Once your agent has booked the activity, they'll mark it as 'booked'
First, they'll click 'marked as booked' under Booking Details
Next, they'll review the details, adjust the booking date (if needed), and select 'mark as booked'.
The agent's work is now done! When the commission comes in from the supplier and you log a payment / mark it as paid, they'll see the status come through on their side.
Agency Admins: Setting Default Commission Splits
To make commission reconciliation efficient, we recommend setting a default agency commission percentage, and customizing this per-agent as needed.
Setting a default agency commission split
To set a default percentage, go to Settings, select Agency Details, and click 'Edit Details'
Next, add your default agent commission split and 'save'. Don't worry - you can further customize per agent.
Customizing commission splits per agent
Go to 'Team', and select 'edit details' for the agent you'd like to adjust a default split for
Update their split, and save. Don't worry - you can always adjust commission per activity as needed!
Agency Admins: View & Search Agent Bookings
First, go to 'Commission' on your top nav
You'll see any activities your agents have marked as 'booked'
As soon as your agent marks something as 'booked', it will appear in this tab.
When you get a payout from a supplier, use the filters to figure out which activity matches that payout
We know that supplier payment receipts can really vary - the filters work with partial keyword search, to help you suss out the correct 'match'!
Status filter - definitions
We definitely recommend using status filters to help narrow down to the correct booking. Definitions of each status item:
Upcoming: 'expected commission date' (as set by your agent) is in the future, and you have not logged a supplier payment yet.
Overdue: 'expected commission date' (as set by your agent) is in the past, and you have not logged a supplier payment yet.
Received: you have logged at least one supplier payment on the booking.
Canceled: your agent has marked this activity as 'canceled'.
Once you find the correct activity, select it from the table
You'll see activity details and the expected commission fields that your agent filled out. You'll then fill out the supplier payment details:
Amount received: the commission amount the supplier paid you for this activity
Currency: the currency the commission payment from the supplier is in (which can differ from the currency of the activity itself
Date received: when the supplier paid you (we default to 'today', but you can adjust)
Agent split: what percentage of the commission your agent should get. We default to whatever you have set on their profile, but you can adjust it per-activity. For example - if it's an 'agency lead' and they should get lower commission than normal, you can do so from here.
Eligible for payout: when you plan to pay your agent for this commission. We assume you are ready to pay them when you log the supplier payment and set the default to 'today', but you can move it to a future date as needed. For example - if you don't pay them until after travel, you can adjust.
Payout status: if you have already paid your agent this commission, you can mark it as paid from here. Otherwise you'll do this later in bulk - more on that below!
Logging multiple supplier payments
We know that suppliers don't always pay you all the commission for an activity/insurance/trip package at once. If you need to log a second payment, you can do so any time using the + icon
Exporting booking data
You can also export the raw booking data any time you need it! This can be especially helpful if you are still using a different system for commission reconciliation, but don't want your agents to have to manually re-enter the data in a spreadsheet / separate system.
Filter down to the data you need, and then click 'export' in the top right
You'll get a CSV with the same data in the table
Review Agent Payouts
Ready to move on from 'Bookings', and pay your agents?
Click on 'Agent Payouts'
You'll see one row for each supplier payment you logged
Filter down to the payouts you need
Status filters are your friend here!
Ready: payments that have not been marked 'paid', and do not have an 'eligible for payout' date set to the future.
On hold: payments that have not been marked 'paid', but DO have an 'eligible for payout' date set to the future.
Paid: payments you have already marked as 'paid'
If you are trying to use this data to pay your agents, use the 'Ready' filter, and then export all the payout data. You can then upload this data into whatever accounting software you use to run payroll (like Quickbooks).
After you have paid your agents, click 'mark paid' to mark every payout in your search results as 'paid'
FAQ
I'm seeing a drop-down with multiple options to choose from on my Commission Dashboard all of a sudden - what does that mean?
If you're noticing this as an agency admin, you may have marked some activities as 'booked' before you set up your agency in Tern. You'll notice these activities show up under 'My Independent Bookings'. To learn more about commission tracking for advisors, check out this article.
