Sales incentive programs are not new to most companies, but that doesn’t mean businesses have a full grasp of what works and what doesn’t. It’s true that rewarding salespeople for making sales does help keep them motivated, but an ineffective program might not yield the results you actually want, or worse, it might even drive your salespeople to leave.
Any sales incentive program aims to improve your company’s sales, but that relies greatly on how well it makes your salespeople actively want to sell your products. By taking a closer look at the characteristics of an effective sales incentive program, you’ll learn how it will benefit both your salespeople and your company.
The Essence of a Proper Sales Incentive Program
In order to be considered an effective sales incentive program, your program must have most, if not all, of these three characteristics:
- More Focus on Lower-Tier Salespeople – A mediocre sales incentive program focuses too much on top-level salespeople that instead of encouraging everyone to try harder, it only discourages anyone that’s not at the top. A proper sales incentive program sets rewards for all levels. This way, core performers who don’t top the charts but are consistent with their performance still get positive reinforcement.
- More Effective Rewards – Even with money as an incentive, people eventually get tired of the same old rewards. In fact, some employees may even get the idea that your company doesn’t think of them that much, just like how most people think it’s lazy to give cash as a gift. A good incentive program doesn’t exclusively rely on cash rewards and instead goes for gifts, favors, and other rewards that focus more on showing appreciation to the salespeople’s hard work.
- Motivation to Work for the Company – Even with a good set of rewards, you can’t expect salespeople to be more enthusiastic if they don’t feel like working to please their employer. A good sales incentive program encourages salespeople to develop a healthy relationship with your company and encourage them to work not just for themselves but also with the company’s best interests at heart.
What to Expect from a Proper Sales Incentive Program
Now that we know what makes for a good sales incentive program, the next thing you need to know is what exactly you can expect from having one. Here’s a quick rundown of the key benefits of the program.
- Better Employee Loyalty – A good show of appreciation is key to earning the loyalty of your salespeople, and a proper sales incentive program is designed with that in mind. The more fulfilling your sales incentive program is, the more reason your employees will feel like they signed up with the right company.
- Better Employee Hires – Who says an incentive program is just about your existing salespeople? In many cases, top-level salespeople would leave their current employer in search of greener pastures. Your outstanding sales incentive program may be just what you need to encourage these superstar salespeople to work for you.
- Better Resource Spending – An ineffective sales incentive program will yield little results. On the other hand, a proper sales incentive program could feature less expensive incentives and still be more effective at keeping salespeople motivated. The program also helps reduce the turnover rate for salespeople, which in itself also takes a lot of time and resources that could’ve been spent on improving the incentive program.
Even the most popular products in the market won’t sell as much without a team of enthusiastic salespeople to sell them. Nurturing this enthusiasm with a proper sales incentive program can be the difference between success and failure when it comes to businesses in almost any industry.
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