How to calculate partner commissions (and stop paying people late)

Partner commission math is not hard. Doing it every month, for every partner, on the right deals, at the right rate, on time, is hard.

Most solo partner operators can do the calculation in their head. The problem is that the inputs live in four places, and the person assembling them is also running the rest of the program. This page walks through the math, the four places it breaks, and what it looks like when the calculation runs itself.

Doing the basic math

For a single deal, commission is the closed amount times the partner's rate.

Closed amount: $24,000 Rate: 15% Commission owed: $3,600

If you have one partner on one rate paying on one deal a quarter, stop reading. A spreadsheet is fine. Most programs aren't that.

Finding the four things that break it

Terms change. A partner you signed at 10% in January renegotiated to 15% in June. Deals registered before June pay at 10%. Deals after pay at 15%. A single "Rate" column on the partner record can't hold that, so somebody has to remember it.

Attribution windows expire. A partner registered a deal in February. It closed in November. Your terms say a registration is good for six months. Does the partner get paid? The answer is in a PDF nobody has opened since February.

Two partners claim one deal. The account has a Partner Source value, and it's the name of whoever edited it last. The first partner finds out they've lost the commission when it doesn't arrive.

Nobody knows what's been paid. The commission was calculated in March. Was it paid? The bank says yes. The spreadsheet has no column for it. In July the partner asks, and the answer takes an afternoon.

Letting the calculation run itself

SoundGTM keeps each partner's commission terms on the partner record, and every deal carries the partner who registered it and the date they did. When a deal converts, the commission calculates against that partner's terms and queues for you to authorize. You approve it, then pay through Stripe or mark it paid by hand. Either way the "Paid on" question has an answer, and it's in the same place as the deal.

Two partners on one deal: SoundGTM shows you who registered it and when. You still make the call, but you make it with the dates in front of you instead of the loudest partner in your inbox.

The trade-off: authorization is still a human step. SoundGTM calculates and queues. It does not move money without you saying so, because you'd want it that way the first time the calculation was wrong.

Basic commission tracking is on the free tier: up to 10 partners and 50 deals, no credit card. Stage-based payout rules and Stripe payouts are on Growth, at $50 a month.

See the commission queue without signing up: partnertracker.soundgtm.com/demo

Or pay people what you promised, on time. Start free.