Why do you need sales incentives?

Employee incentive programs can work in any field, but they’re particularly effective for your sales team. A low-producing sales department means your company stays stagnant. You rely on your sales reps to bring in more business and increase your profits. Sales incentives can keep your staff motivated because they have something to work toward.

Having a robust sales incentive program can also help with employee retention and recruitment. If you offer appealing incentives compared to your competition, your sales employees are likely to stick around. Other sales professionals might apply to your company when they hear about your awesome rewards. The following sales incentive ideas give you lots of options to keep your team engaged and selling.

1. Cash bonuses

A cash bonus for high-achieving sales representatives is a classic option. Most people are motivated by cash. It’s a versatile option because every salesperson can use it to buy what they want. When setting the cash bonus, you can choose a flat amount, graduated scale or percentage of sales. While they’re called cash bonuses, they’re typically added to an employee’s paycheck rather than given as cash.

2. Gift cards

An alternative to cash bonuses is to give gift cards. It’s still something recipients can spend as they choose. Consider offering multiple gift card options, so each sales rep can find one that matches their preferences. For example, you might offer gas gift cards and cards for local shops and restaurants. A Visa or Mastercard gift card works for all interests since it can be used anywhere that accepts credit cards.

3. Extra paid time off

Giving your sales staff extra paid time off for reaching goals gives them a chance to unwind and refresh. Many salespeople put in a lot of hours to reach their quotas, so a little time off is well-deserved. When they come back, they might feel more motivated to reach their next sales goals.

4. Experience-based rewards

Add a little fun and entertainment to your incentives with experience-based rewards. Offering at least two tickets allows the recipients to bring a friend or family member to enjoy the experience together. Some examples include:

• Sporting event tickets
• Concert tickets
• Theater tickets
• Skydiving
• Ziplining
• Fancy dinner
• Season passes to an amusement park

Consider the interests of your sales staff when choosing experience-based rewards. You might offer a menu of options while staying within a budget, so each person can pick their ideal experience.

5. Public recognition

Employees often find it motivating to receive recognition for their work. Create an employee recognition program that publicizes sales achievements as a motivator for your staff. You might post photos and sales achievements on your social media platforms or create a bulletin board of top achievers. Adding an extra perk, such as a special lunch with the CEO for top producers, can make the recognition even more powerful.

6. Subscriptions or memberships

A subscription or membership provides an ongoing reward for high-achieving sales reps. Subscription boxes are available for every interest, from beauty to foodie. Price points vary, making it easy to find an option that fits your budget. You can also choose various lengths for the subscription service. For example, if you have quarterly sales awards, you might reward qualifying salespeople with three months of a subscription service until the next rewards come out.

7. Gadgets and gear

A physical gift is a lasting incentive that recipients can use indefinitely. The gear can help them in their work as well. For example, a smartwatch or tablet keeps them connected and gives them options for presenting and processing sales while away from their desk. Noise-canceling headphones block out office sounds to keep your sales staff focused. You can choose physical products that match the interests of individual salespeople.

8. Rewards trips

A trip can reward your top salespeople with a fun getaway. You can organize one trip for multiple people or give the recipients travel vouchers to plan their own trips. Vouchers can cover various parts of the trip, including plane tickets, hotels, tickets to entertainment and cruises. Team trips can be a staycation at a nice local hotel or a more expensive getaway at a resort, depending on your budget.

9. Pampering or self-care

Gifts that center around pampering or self-care encourage your sales staff to focus on their work-life balance. They can unwind and relax after working hard to achieve a big sales goal. Some examples include a paid subscription to a self-care app, a spa trip or a gift basket filled with pampering items.

10. Employee development

Rewarding your team members with extra sales courses or training benefits both parties. Your salesperson gains knowledge that can help them sell more, which benefits your company as well. You likely have standard sales training you offer your staff, but this incentive should be something special or extra valuable. This might include a workshop, conference, online course, premium subscription to a sales tool or coaching from an expert.

11. Upgraded office experience

Make the workplace more exciting to salespeople who meet their goals with office upgrades as incentives. Some examples include:

• A larger office
• Upgraded equipment
• A new office chair
• Dedicated parking spots for top producers
• Budget to go toward office decor

12. Self-selected rewards

Letting your sales representatives select their own rewards can be more motivating than the ones you create. Customizing the rewards ensures everyone has a goal that gets them excited. Plus, you don’t have to spend a lot of time coming up with motivating incentives. Set a budget to keep the cost of rewards within reason.

Tips for using sales incentives

The following tips for sales incentives can help you improve your program:

• Have a clear time frame: Determine the time frame for earning the incentive to allow salespeople to plan for reaching their goals.
• Outline the qualifications: Ensure your sales reps understand exactly what they need to do to earn the incentives. This reduces confusion and frustration if they feel they earned the incentive but find out that they didn’t.
• Offer variety: Changing the incentives periodically or offering multiple options keeps your sales staff motivated. Having the same incentives all the time can get boring and lose effectiveness.
• Focus on simplicity: An overly complex sales incentive program is not only difficult for sales reps to understand, but it’s also more complicated for you to track. Use straightforward criteria to simplify the program.
• Make the incentives worthwhile: While you want to stay within budget for your incentives, it’s also important to offer something that your salespeople actually want. You lose the motivating factor if no one cares about the incentives you’re offering.
• Talk about the program: Ensure your salespeople know the details of the program. Promote it regularly to keep them motivated and working toward the incentives.
• Keep your goals in mind: Your incentive program should have a particular goal, such as increasing overall sales, getting salespeople to make more cold calls or motivating individual sales reps to improve. Keep this goal in mind as you create your program and set your criteria for earning the incentives.
• Set realistic criteria: Sales reps should work hard to earn incentives since they’re designed to reward exceptional and not average performance. Just don’t set the goals so high that no one can achieve them. They become ineffective because there’s no point in working toward something you’ll never earn.

FAQs about sales incentives

How do you ensure everyone has a chance at the sales incentives?

Most companies have a few top producers who consistently outsell everyone else and hit their sales goals quickly. Having sales incentives that only those top producers can earn isn’t motivating to the rest of your sales staff. Creating a tiered incentive program or setting goals for individuals gives everyone a chance at earning the rewards. You might create incentives for individuals who beat their previous sales numbers, so they’re competing with themselves rather than each other. Another option is basing the incentives on activities rather than sales numbers. You might offer rewards to team members who prospect a certain number of people during the month even if they don’t result in sales.

How do you track progress toward incentives?

Establishing clear criteria is essential before you can track progress toward achieving the incentives. This allows you to identify the sales metrics you’ll use to track progress toward the goal. Use your existing software to get those numbers. Ideally, your salespeople should be able to see that data in real time, so they can keep track of their own progress.

How do you choose the right sales incentives for your team?

Start by establishing a budget for your incentives. Then, decide if everyone can earn the reward or if it’s limited to a certain number of people who achieve the goal first. This helps you determine how much you can spend on each incentive. Talking to your sales staff can help you decide how to use your budget. Motivation is the point of your incentives, so they should be things your sales reps want. Ask for feedback on past incentives to determine which ones your salespeople would like to see again.

Are cash or noncash incentives better?

Both cash and noncash sales incentives can be effective. Cash incentives are more flexible, but noncash rewards can be creative and keep things interesting. Noncash incentives can seem bigger and more exciting without costing a lot. For example, you can get a nice smartwatch for under $500, which is an impressive reward. In contrast, a cash bonus of $500 may not be as motivating.