How to Get Your Sales Team to Sell More Starting an Effective Incentives & Recognition Program

Introduction Who doesn’t love to be rewarded for doing great things? Incentive programs are more common than ever at organizations, ranging from top performer awards to awards for completing product training or other courses. Sales teams are one of the groups most commonly motivated to meet and exceed goals through formal incentive programs.

But not all incentive programs are created equal. Poorly designed or executed programs can backfire on an organization, leading to lack of engagement and motivation in team members. Read on to explore what goes into creating the most effective programs, ones that sales teams love and that drive greater success.

Contents Introduction

Psychology of Rewards

Build a Sales Incentive Program That Gets Results

More Examples of Sales Program Incentives

Ready to Start Your Own Sales Incentive Program?

Conclusion

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Psychology of Rewards Incentive programs are highly effective in motivating salespeople, fostering loyalty, and enhancing overall productivity. The first element of why they work so well goes back to basic human psychology: the power of positive reinforcement. When desired behavior is followed by a reward, we repeat it. When organizations reward team members for their hard work and achievements, they tap into this principle, encouraging them to continue their best work and motivating others to do the same.

Another psychological key to the popularity of incentive programs is the human need for recognition and appreciation. When organizations recognize employees through incentives, they foster a positive culture of belonging and self- worth. Knowing their contributions are valued and respected helps motivate employees to excel.

To start, you may want to incentivize behaviors rather than outcomes, especially for new hires. Employees are better motivated when they know they can attain the reward. Goals that are too high may backfire and discourage engagement and performance.

While meeting quotas are an obvious choice for sales teams, incentives can go beyond dollars sold. Other opportunities include incentivizing touch points along the sales cycle such as proposals, presentations, completed outbound calls, or new leads contacted.

One10’s Chief Revenue Officer, Richelle Suver, says that…

We don’t necessarily want people to spend more time on activity X, we want better results from that activity. I think the programs that really work well are the ones that have multiple aspects to their incentive. Instead of just solely thinking about the sales lift, and the incremental volume, which is very important, you also might need to think about the precursor steps. So, for instance, I see a lot of companies that reward based on new appointments that are set. And then secondly, maybe it is how many live demos you do, or getting in front of the customer. Incentivizing steps on the way to an ultimate goal keeps engagement levels high.

Every organization includes people who are naturally competitive. Those people are automatically more likely to be motivated by incentives. But you should also focus on the people whose performance is in the middle of the pack. When you can motivate the middle, their achievements will push your top performers to do even more, especially in sales.

https://www.one10marketing.com/the-psychology-of-incentives-with-richelle-taylor/ https://www.one10marketing.com/the-psychology-of-incentives-with-richelle-taylor/

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CHOOSE THE RIGHT GIFTS

The right incentive can go a long way in helping your employees feel understood and supported. But, choose the wrong one, and you may send the message that your sales teams are an afterthought. Not all team members are the same, and neither are their interests, which makes incenting extremely tricky. Popular incentives include those that help your employees stay active, healthy, and feeling innovative. Think exercise equipment, tech tools, and culinary experiences.

LEARN THE POWER OF POINTS

What if you did something new this year by giving your sales teams a choice of what they want for their incentive? Better yet, you could create an incentive program that awards points to your team throughout the year. These points could be redeemed by your employees throughout the year on millions of prizes that appeal to everyone’s distinct interests and lifestyles, wants, and needs.

We aren’t alone in our thinking. A recent Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) study details just how powerful points can be as a motivating tool, especially when it’s part of a larger incentive and recognition program. If you need more motivation to get started, survey respondents shared that they preferred to work for an organization that offered a points rewards program.

AVOID CASH

Though cash may seem like the easy option, cash isn’t a good incentive, especially for sales teams who are already earning commissions. Multiple studies show that cash isn’t effective as an incentive or reward. It doesn’t lead to long-term motivation, because your employees don’t find lasting value in the cash reward. Most likely, the cash will be used on everyday purchases or paying off debt. As quickly as the cash comes in, the cash is gone again. Because cash is so transactional, it doesn’t contribute to the long-term motivation of your team.

Give your sales teams what they want and don’t save those incentives for just the annual sales meeting or quarterly goals. Instead, add special celebrations for milestones, or create “surprise and delight” opportunities that keep your team engaged throughout the year. These will help build trust within your teams, enhance motivation, and strengthen the relationship between you and your sales force.

The purpose of a sales incentive program is to engage, motivate, and increase sales for your employees and partners. You want a sales incentive program that is easy to operate and maintain, user friendly for your team, and gives you the measurement tools you need to show ROI. It sounds simple, but it’s harder to do. When designed well, your sales incentive program should build a high-performing team that positively impacts your bottom line. If designed poorly, you run the risk of alienating your team and wasting valuable time, money, and resources.

When designing your incentive program, first consider your objectives.

What objectives and goals do you want to achieve? What specific behaviors do you need to modify? Don’t worry about creating a long list of measurable objectives. Don’t choose more than three. Too many objectives may have a negative effect on your program outcomes because your participants will lose focus. Once you have your objectives nailed down, it’s time for the fun part: identifying your incentives!

Build a Sales Incentive Program That Gets Results

https://www.one10marketing.com/resources/blog/need-a-killer-sales-incentive-program-heres-our-step-by-step-guide/ https://theirf.org/research_post/the-psychology-of-points/

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More Examples of Sales Program Incentives

Try these examples of incentives that team members love:

GLOBAL REWARDS CATALOG

Your reward and recognition program participants can earn points throughout the process and then redeem these points from an eCatalog. The catalog offers a variety of prizes at varying levels, which increases the motivation from your team to keep earning points. Plus, the catalog can be customized for your organization, increasing your brand identity and organizational pride among your program participants.

Top items include:

● Merchandise, like electronics, technology, appliances, and athletic equipment

● eGift cards for popular retailers like Amazon or Home Depot

● Event tickets for local attractions

● Individual travel, such as discounted airfare or hotels

We are all motivated by different things. The same is true for your sales teams. No two employees are the same. Your employees have different lifestyles, different backgrounds, and different ages. All of these differences must be factored into the incentives you decide to offer in your incentive program.

As noted above, cash isn’t a good incentive. It doesn’t lead to long-term motivation, because it may feel like just part of their paycheck. When the cash is gone, your employees forget all of the hard work that helped them earn the cash in the first place.

Giving your sales teams their choice in their incentives, rewards, and recognition is important.

PREPAID CARDS

These single load or reloadable cards offer a great opportunity to directly recognize and incentivize your program participants after they meet certain behaviors or reach a specific benchmark.

GROUP TRAVEL

Top performers are motivated to travel with their peers and family to popular destinations and participate in experiences they couldn’t otherwise cultivate on their own.

EXPERIENTIAL TRAVEL

Worldwide, 65% of companies are expanding their incentive travel programs. In the U.S., approximately 40% of U.S. companies use incentive travel rewards. These gifts have an enormous impact on our psyche. For example effective incentive travel is built around a luxurious experience that your employees couldn’t otherwise create on their own. This usually means over-the-top destinations, exclusive accommodations, and experiences that immerse your employees into the culture of the country. Ultimately, incentive travel programs are designed around once-in-a-lifetime moments that create memories that will last a lifetime.

https://www.one10marketing.com/resources/blog/strategic-sales-incentive-design/ https://www.one10marketing.com/re-igniting-the-travel-bug-with-one10-travel-and-events/ https://www.one10marketing.com/resources/blog/incentive-travel-experiences-will-motivate-your-employees-2/

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Ready To Start Your Own Sales Incentive Program? Consider these four guiding principles:

ENGAGE

How are you communicating the program? Do you have channels like Yammer, Slack, or a newsletter already in place? What’s your cadence for reminders? Are you using short- term contests as well as longer reward cycles? Are you incentivizing steps along the sales cycle or just the end goal of closed deals? All of these impact how quickly teams get engaged and excited.

EVALUATE

Keep track of your incentives spending and measure it against increases in productivity and sales, as well as sales team satisfaction and retention. Any turnover costs real dollars in recruitment and onboarding, as well as less-tangible costs, such as loss of institutional knowledge and experience. It’s important to keep stakeholders apprised of real metrics to keep your programming growing!

INFORM

You’re trying to motivate your sales teams. Why? Is there a specific product or line of business you need to incentivize? What information do they need from you? What information do their sales leaders and managers need to execute the program?

REWARD

What will entice team members to move up, driving your top performers: Giftcards? Points they can redeem? A travel experience? It’s important to know your audience and build a flexible reward strategy including a variety of incentives and steps along the path.

When organizations recognize employees through

incentives, they foster a positive culture of belonging

and self-worth. Knowing their contributions are valued

and respected helps motivate employees to excel.

Conclusion

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Effective incentive programs are more than extras: They’re critical to today’s workforce. A well-designed program will reflect a company’s culture, vision, and mission statement, as well as its core values. Rewarding behavior that aligns with your values and culture strengthens the culture over time.

Rewards don’t just recognize good behavior once— they drive continuous improvement of that behavior. Choosing the right incentives and rewards increases sales team engagement and boosts desired behaviors. The PerformX® platform can help you create an effective incentive program that everyone in your organization will love, one that drives improved success at every level.

Contact us to explore the power of PerformX.

About One10

One10 is a leader in enterprise-level performance improvement solutions including, incentives and recognition, travel and events, and marketing services. The One10 PerformX® cloud-based platform enables companies to set up and operate incentive and recognition programs that help build and retain high-performing teams.

The company elevates engagement and generates growth for leading brands, dealers, and channel partners by motivating and retaining employees, running effective sales promotions, building dynamic customer loyalty programs, and creating impactful travel and event experiences.

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