Effective Sales Incentive Programs
By KarenV in Business | 5 comments
Sales incentive programs are a great way to motivate your salespeople. Surprisingly, money is not always the best incentive for salespeople. Often vacations, computers, televisions and other prizes are a great motivator. If certain salespeople are constantly earning every incentive, both the employee and his or her supervisor know that the employee is doing an exemplary job.
As an employer, it is important to keep in mind that not everyone is motivated in the same way. In many companies, about 20 percent of the salespeople make 80 percent of the sales. It may be a good idea to make an incentive program that is geared toward the other 80 percent of the salespeople. After all, the top 20 percent are obviously already motivated. Incentive programs that are aimed toward the salespeople who are in the top 21 to 40 percent can drastically increase sales and company profit.
Make sure that the sales incentive programs are simple. There has to be a clear and quick way to keep track of sales and rewards. Your employees are not going to make use of an incentive program that it complex or is too difficult to keep track of. Make sure that your employees understand what the incentive program is and how it can benefit them.
Make sure that your salespeople receive their rewards in a timely fashion. The most effective reward is an immediate one. Receiving a reward immediately after reaching a good causes excitement and fosters motivation. Make employee recognition a part of the reward program. There is no such thing as too much recognition. Making an example of the top salespeople gives other employees role models to look up to. Recognition can be the most effective and least expensive reward in your incentive program.
email this | tag this | digg this | trackback | comment RSS feed
Luke | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Having a tangible object to work towards is definitely a bigger motivator for people than cash or bonuses. They don’t really ’see’ the prize, and therefore don’t work as hard to get it.
Matt | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
I can’t believe that 20% of employees make 80% of the sales! It’s so hard to believe that some people just don’t pull their weight. Some people are just naturally motivated.
carson | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Incentive programs sure do help people who need a little extra assistance getting motivated. Sometimes it’s hard to make sales if you don’t have anything yourself to work towards, so it’s good for companies to create goals for their employees.
KC | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Motivating yourself instead of thinking about how it benefits the company does help a lot of people. That may be difficult for some supervisors and managers to realize, but it is true!
Norm | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Creating rolemodels in an employee recognition program is a great way to both reward an employee for top performance and give other employees a realistic model of what the company expects in sales.