diff --git a/erpnext/patches/v16_0/convert_commission_rate_to_percent.py b/erpnext/patches/v16_0/convert_commission_rate_to_percent.py
index 1b0fa81e2e8..e9d49d9e8bc 100644
--- a/erpnext/patches/v16_0/convert_commission_rate_to_percent.py
+++ b/erpnext/patches/v16_0/convert_commission_rate_to_percent.py
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@ def execute():
 	"""Sanitize the free-text commission_rate values before the Data -> Percent column change.
 
 	Sales Person and Sales Team stored ``commission_rate`` as Data (varchar). This runs in
-	pre_model_sync so the values are clean numeric strings by the time the schema sync alters
-	the column to Percent; empty or non-numeric values become 0.
+	pre_model_sync so the values are clean numbers by the time the schema sync alters the column
+	to Percent: a trailing percent sign (e.g. "20%" / "20 %") is stripped, and empty / NULL /
+	non-numeric values become 0.
 	"""
 	for doctype in ("Sales Person", "Sales Team"):
 		if not frappe.db.has_column(doctype, "commission_rate"):
@@ -17,6 +18,13 @@ def execute():
 		# as well, otherwise the column type change fails under strict SQL mode.
 		rows = frappe.db.get_all(doctype, fields=["name", "commission_rate"])
 		for row in rows:
-			cleaned = flt(row.commission_rate)
+			cleaned = flt(_strip_percent_sign(row.commission_rate))
 			if str(row.commission_rate) != str(cleaned):
 				frappe.db.set_value(doctype, row.name, "commission_rate", cleaned, update_modified=False)
+
+
+def _strip_percent_sign(value):
+	"""Drop a trailing percent sign so "20%" / "20 %" parse as 20 instead of 0."""
+	if isinstance(value, str):
+		return value.replace("%", "").strip()
+	return value