There are several powerful ways to incentivize your sales team. Read our guide to learn what they are.
The quality of your sales team can help or hurt the company’s revenue. To keep top sales reps happy, you need a system of incentives.
Of the 75 percent of companies with incentive programs, only 58 percent their employees know about them. Internally promoting your incentive programs is key to their success.
But which incentives make sense for your sales team? Check out this list.
Educate Employees
Employees can’t make the most of an incentive program they don’t know about. Host weekly or monthly meetings to discuss your program’s goals and to answer questions.
Use these meetings to inspire sales reps who have trouble with accounts. This occasional “pep rally” can help your sales department move as a team.
Set Expectations
Even the best sales team needs to know your company goals. Set broader goals beyond revenue totals.
Discuss efficiency with your team. Encourage them to share best practices. If you front-load a sales pipeline for the quarter, set how many customers each rep should see each month.
Celebrate with the team whenever you meet any set goals. Stretch goals once they’re reached to keep momentum up. Choose small increments like 10 or 20 percent when you stretch goals. Your purpose is to gradually increase performance without causing burnout.
Commission Timelines
Be clear with employees about when commissions get paid. Customers who pay an annual fee may or may not be repeat customers.
Create an incentive for customers who maintain long-term contracts. Reward your sales team for the first year of service. After that, employees should only get commissions when new revenue is introduced.
Upgrades, prepaid contract extensions or any other add-ons should equal a new commission for the sales rep.
Tiered Commissions
Not all sales are created equal. Encourage sales reps to aim for the largest paying accounts by offering a higher commission for bigger sales. You reward their persistence and dedication to surpassing the minimum.
Tiered commission systems also encourage reps to bring in all deals during the quota period. If reps know their pipeline is drying up, they might save major deals to ensure they meet the next period’s required goals.
A tiered commission motivates them to keep pushing forward.
Added Bonuses
Reward employees for structuring deals that add long-term value to your company. For example, if a customer agrees a year ahead to pay for a contract, this guaranteed revenue should earn the rep a bonus.
Any beneficial circumstance should be a win for both your sales rep and the company. Communicate your goals clearly so the sales team understands what actions earn bonuses.
Pay Company First
Sales reps have to rely on discounts from time to time. Encourage other strategies to close the deal. Pay commission on the discounted sale price instead of the full value.
The company should get the same profit margin regardless of the discount. By paying less commission, you incentivize sales reps who help maximize profits.
Healthy Competition
Competition is great when everyone moves toward the same goal. Unhealthy competition undermines the sale team and the company as a whole.
A strong sales team supports one another even when there’s no direct benefit. If your team struggles to balance personal and team rewards, consider a group incentive for exceeding sales at the end of the year.
Plan a sales retreat at an exotic location and let reps bring their families. These expenses are small when compared to the revenue created by a highly motivated sales team.
Publicize Winners
Healthy competition drives sales. Publicly display the progress of your sales team throughout the quota period.
Place the data on screens throughout the office congratulating the top team members. Other employees can then congratulate leading reps to help build morale throughout your company.
Don’t include the entire roster when you highlight victories. The less-successful performers could easily be demoralized by their lower rankings.
Focus on positive reinforcement, not embarrassing lower performers.
Low Performance
Not every sales rep can be a top performer. The flip side to rewards is punishment.
According to Harvard Business Review, the biggest challenge of rewards programs is to make non-performers feel punished for lack of success.
Offer additional training and support to low performers when business is slow. The cost in training and resources pays for itself when these reps turn their sales around.
Offer one-on-one coaching to show them you’re vested in their success. To know the company supports their personal success is often enough to motivate them.
Be Transparent
The best way to motivate your sales reps is through support. Sales teams need to understand there are resources available to help them succeed.
Be transparent in how your commission and bonus programs work. Connect with your team regularly to help build a bond so they feel comfortable coming to you with challenges.
For more information on boosting sales for your business, call Rob Copenhaver today at (404) 245-3775.