Sales Incentives That Work

One thing that most large corporations do well is create incentives for their sales people. There are usually monthly, quarterly, and yearly bonuses for sales reps to shoot for. Small businesses tend to have a harder time putting these types of programs together for several reasons. One of the most common reasons is that they have put so much of their margin into the sales person’s commission that they can’t afford another incentive. Another reason is simply that they don’t have the time or the interest to create an incentive program that will actually work and motivate the sales team. They have enough on their plate running the business. What is interesting is that even the large companies that do have incentives don’t always take the time to make sure that they really do motivate the sales teams.

If you have, or are considering putting together a yearly bonus or luxury vacation for year end achievement I applaud you. These year end bonuses are one of the most overlooked and underutilized promotions any business can use to keep the sales team focused on their long term goals. When you have more than 2 sales people and they are competing for monthly or quarterly incentives, sometimes it is the same 1 or 2 sales people always winning. When this happens, those sales people who are not winning stop trying. They typically just go back to doing just enough to “get by.” The sure fire way to overcome this situation is to make the year end bonus/vacation something that each and every sales person can EARN. That way, when some of the sales people are feeling bad about not winning the monthly or quarterly bonuses, they can keep their eye on the year end prize.

The key to making the year end bonus/vacation a win for everyone is to set specific goals for each sales person in order to earn the bonus or trip. If there is just one goal set, like a percentage increase, you have some sales people who can reach the goal easily and others who can’t make it based on what that percentage increase means in dollar volume. When you create targets and goals for each sales person, then everyone has to push to earn the bonus or trip and the goal is attainable and agreed upon by both the owner and the sales person. The best part is everyone wins. Every sales person knows they can earn the trip and the business owner is actually getting greater results from each sales person.

The bottom line is that incentives and bonuses work. Just make sure you think them through so that everyone wins. To keeping your sales high….