Managing Commission for Small Sales Teams (5-20 Reps)

Small sales team commission management requires a different approach. Most commission advice assumes enterprise scale — hundreds of reps, dedicated sales operations teams, six-figure software budgets. That's not your reality.

You have twelve reps, maybe fifteen. Your "sales ops team" is someone who also handles CRM administration and half of marketing. Your commission process runs on spreadsheets because nobody's had time to implement anything else.

This guide covers what actually works for UK sales teams with 5-20 reps — the operational sweet spot where you're too big for informal processes but too small for enterprise solutions.

Why Small Team Commission Is Different

The challenges of commission management change with scale, and not always in the direction you'd expect.

Complexity Doesn't Scale Down

A fifteen-person team often has as many commission plan variations as a fifty-person team. You might have:

• AEs on different rate structures depending on when they joined
• SDRs with activity-based components
• An account manager on a retention-focused plan
• A senior rep with a legacy agreement nobody wants to renegotiate

The complexity is the same; you just have fewer people to manage it.

Small Errors Hit Harder

In a large organisation, a £500 commission error is a rounding issue. In a small team, it's a meaningful portion of someone's monthly pay. The rep notices. They care. And because small teams have tighter relationships, the trust damage from errors spreads faster. Everyone knows when someone's been underpaid.

You Can't Hide Behind Process

Large companies have formal dispute procedures, HR intermediaries, and documentation requirements that create distance between problems and people. In a small team, if a rep has a commission question, they walk over to whoever runs payroll and ask. That directness is healthy, but it also means every issue is personal.

Resources Are Genuinely Constrained

Enterprise solutions to commission problems — dedicated software, specialist hires, external audits — aren't available to you. You need approaches that work with the time and budget you actually have.

How to Manage Commission in Spreadsheets

Let's be honest: you're probably running commission on spreadsheets. Most small UK sales teams are.

This isn't a failure. Spreadsheets are flexible, familiar, and free. For a team of five reps with a simple commission structure, a well-built spreadsheet is a perfectly reasonable solution.

The problems emerge as complexity grows. Signs you're outgrowing spreadsheets:

Warning Sign	What It Means
Time creep	The process that took 2 hours now takes 8
Error frequency	Mistakes that were rare become regular
Key person dependency	Only one person truly understands the spreadsheet
Audit anxiety	You couldn't confidently explain payments from 12 months ago

Building a Better Spreadsheet

If spreadsheets are your tool, treat them seriously:

1. Separate data from logic. Deal records and rep details in one place, formulas and calculations in another.
2. Use named ranges. Reference "Q4_Deals" instead of "B2:B47" — it's more readable and less error-prone.
3. Add validation. Catch data entry errors before they become commission errors.
4. Document the structure. Someone other than the creator should be able to maintain it.

A well-built spreadsheet is far more reliable than a fragile one.

Commission Plan Design for Small Teams

Commission plan design for small teams should prioritise simplicity over sophistication.

Keep Plan Types to a Minimum

Every distinct commission structure is overhead: a separate calculation, a separate set of edge cases, a separate source of disputes. Before creating a new plan variant, ask whether you could achieve the same outcome by adjusting an existing one.

Define Clear Triggers

When exactly is a deal commissionable?

• The close date in the CRM?
• The invoice date?
• The date payment is received?

Pick one rule and apply it consistently. Ambiguity is more expensive in small teams because you don't have the administrative capacity to adjudicate edge cases month after month.

Favour Simple Rate Structures

A flat 8% commission is easier to calculate, verify, and understand than a tiered structure paying 6% up to quota and 10% above it.

The simpler plan might actually motivate better, because reps can calculate their expected earnings in their heads. Research on sales compensation has consistently found that plan comprehension affects performance — reps who understand exactly how their pay is calculated tend to outperform those who don't. For more on this, see our guide to building commission plans that actually motivate.

Document Every Exception

Exceptions happen — SPIFs, clawbacks, one-time adjustments. In small teams, these often get handled informally: a Slack message, a verbal agreement, a quick edit to the spreadsheet.

This works until it doesn't. Write down every exception: what was changed, why, and who approved it. You'll need this record eventually.

UK-Specific Commission Requirements

Commission management in the UK has particular requirements that differ from US-centric advice.

PAYE Treatment

Commission is taxed as employment income, subject to PAYE in the period it's paid. For reps with variable commission, this can mean significant tax in high-earning months — potentially 40% or 45% even if their annual earnings wouldn't normally reach those thresholds.

Some companies spread large payments across multiple periods to smooth the tax impact. Others pay immediately and let reps manage the variation. Either approach is legitimate, but be clear about which you're using.

National Insurance

Both employee and employer NI contributions apply to commission. For the 2024-25 tax year:

• Employees: 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, 2% above that
• Employers: 13.8% on earnings above £9,100

This cost should factor into your commission budget calculations — the gross commission you pay isn't the total cost to the company.

Employment Contract Requirements

Under ACAS guidance, commission arrangements should be documented in writing. This doesn't require a separate legal document; a clearly written commission plan included in or appended to the employment contract is sufficient.

Key elements to document:

• Basis for commission calculation
• When commission becomes payable
• Clawback conditions
• Treatment of commission on termination

Holiday Pay Implications

Recent UK case law has established that regular commission payments should be included in holiday pay calculations. If your reps receive commission consistently, you may need to factor this into their holiday pay. The calculations are complex enough that many small businesses consult an employment solicitor to ensure compliance.

What Happens on Termination?

What happens to unpaid commission when a rep leaves? Deals in their pipeline that close after departure?

The default position under UK law is less clear than many employers assume. Your commission plan should specify the treatment of each scenario to avoid disputes.

Running Commission Without Dedicated Tools

You don't have a sales operations team. You probably don't have commission software. Here's how to manage effectively anyway.

Create a Monthly Checklist

Commission processes fail when steps get skipped. Write down every step:

1. Export data from CRM
2. Clean and validate data
3. Run calculations
4. Verify totals against expectations
5. Check for anomalies
6. Send statements to reps
7. Submit to payroll

Work through the checklist the same way every month. Consistency prevents errors.

Build in Verification

Before finalising any commission run, check:

• Is total commission roughly in line with total revenue?
• Are individual payouts plausible given the deals closed?
• Does anything look unusual?

Five minutes of sanity-checking catches errors that hours of formula auditing miss.

Keep Reps Informed

In small teams, communication is your strongest tool. Tell reps when statements will arrive. Explain unusual entries before they ask. If you find and fix an error, tell the affected rep proactively rather than waiting for them to discover it.

Transparency prevents disputes from escalating. For more on this, see our guide to handling commission disputes.

Document As You Go

Every adjustment, every exception, every correction — write it down. A simple log in a shared document is fine. The goal is to ensure that any commission question can be answered by looking at the record rather than relying on memory.

When to Upgrade From Spreadsheets

At some point, the spreadsheet approach stops working. Recognising that point matters.

The trigger usually isn't team size alone. A twenty-person team with a simple, consistent commission structure can run on spreadsheets indefinitely. A ten-person team with complex plans and frequent exceptions might outgrow them quickly.

Watch for these signals:

• Trust erosion. Reps are increasingly sceptical, keeping their own records, approaching month-end with visible anxiety. This is a sign of shadow accounting.
• Unsustainable time investment. More than a day per month on commission administration.
• Error patterns. The same issue appearing month after month, or the same type of error affecting multiple reps.
• Scaling intent. Planning to grow significantly — address infrastructure before growth, not after.

The upgrade doesn't have to be enterprise software. It might be a better-structured spreadsheet, a lightweight tool designed for small teams, or a process redesign that reduces complexity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What commission rate should I pay my sales reps?

UK commission rates vary by industry, but typical ranges are 5-15% of deal value for SaaS/tech and 1-3% for higher-volume, lower-margin businesses. The rate matters less than the total OTE being competitive for your market.

Should I use accelerators for a small team?

Simple structures often work better at small scale. A straightforward percentage with a single accelerator tier for exceeding quota can be more effective than elaborate multi-tier structures that nobody fully understands.

How do I handle commission when a rep is on holiday?

Commission on deals that close during a rep's holiday should still be paid to them unless your policy explicitly states otherwise. This should be documented in your commission plan.

What's the minimum viable commission process?

For a very small team (under 5 reps): documented plan, monthly CRM export, verified spreadsheet calculation, written statement to each rep, payroll submission. Add complexity only when the basics are solid.

The Small Team Advantage

Small sales teams have a genuine advantage: directness.

You know your reps personally. You can explain a commission calculation in a five-minute conversation. You can spot when someone's frustrated before it becomes a formal dispute. You can fix errors immediately.

This directness is valuable. It's also fragile. It works because relationships are strong and communication is easy. If the underlying process is unreliable, the relationship absorbs damage that larger organisations would distribute across formal systems.

The goal is to combine small-team directness with process reliability. Simple plans that are easy to understand. Consistent execution that produces predictable results. Transparent communication that catches problems early.

Your team is small enough to get this right. Make sure you do.