How to Make Your Sales Incentive Program More Personalized and Effective

Sales IncentivesToday it is just not enough to have a sales incentive program—everyone has those. Your incentive program has to be effective for you to get the desired result. If you have not noticed a boost in employee motivation since you introduced your sales incentive program, perhaps it is time to put it up for review. You should consider making the program more personalized for all your staff.

A personalized incentive program uniquely affects all your employees. Personalization of your incentive program requires you to offer different incentives such as cash bonuses, paid time off, specific products, or gift cards. Your employees can then choose the incentive they would prefer after achieving the required goal. This is a great motivator because your employees know they will get exactly what they want.

Let’s take a look at four tips that will help you improve your sales incentive program.

1. Look beyond money

It is easy to believe that you can solve the problem of staff motivation by throwing money at it. However, money appears to work best in attracting and retaining people rather than being their primary motivator. An article on forbes.com states that emotional motivators are more effective than physical sources of motivation and they are usually conveyed informally. Peer-to-peer recognition is an excellent example of an emotional motivator because people appreciate approval from their peers.

2. Know what works best for your employees

It is important to note that not everyone can be motivated by the same thing. Understanding what drives your employees is a vital element of increasing their performance. You should organize a sales incentive program that will consider the different personalities within the organization and customize the methodology and awards accordingly.

3. Set reasonable quotas

Nothing is more demoralizing and frustrating than having an unreasonable target. One thing that your sales representatives will ask of you is that you give them a reasonable and potentially attainable quota. You need to be careful when allocating quotas for your staff so that you don’t kill their morale before they even start. A reasonable quota must be challenging yet achievable to provide the motivation required for optimal performance.

4. Select the right metrics for your compensation program

Choosing a compensation metric for your organization goes beyond merely selecting the first one you come across. You have to consider if the metrics will fit your organization’s structure to get the proper outcome. Ensure that everyone is working towards one common goal by involving the heads of every department in your organization in the process of selecting the right metrics. Just make sure that your company goals are put into consideration when choosing a metric.

Developing the right sales incentive program for your organization should be high on your priority list because it gives your organization a stable structure for impending growth. Although numerous factors will help you in putting together an effective incentive program, these four tips stand out and will help you in your task. In order to personalize your incentive program at an affordable cost, look no further than Online Rewards.

Sources: 2018 Global Human Capital Trends by Deloitte