The strategy for a successful sales team has changed over the last few years. Corporations introduced sales incentives to ensure that the sales numbers increase and that the team members are all motivated.

A sales incentive program will establish benefits that will lead the team to be more productive, boost sales performance, and increase employee engagement. An incentive plan can encourage customer loyalty and build a strong brand for the organization.

Sales incentive program is a reward system for a sales individual that performs up to a level set by management. Compensation can be given when employees reach sales goals or reach an objective before the set time. 

An incentive plan will show the sales reps that they are being valued and that the time that is used to gain sales and serve customers are appreciated by the corporation. The incentive is a good way to invest and keep employees overall performance higher for longer periods. 

Boosts Sales Performance

Sales incentive program will advance sales reps motivation to increase their sales. These programs will lead the top performers to find productive and creative ways to access the sale incentives before other staff members. 

Sales Performance Improvement

Sales performance is a review system that focuses on how employee sales have been throughout the month. The numbers will increase with the sales incentive programs because the employees will have set goals to achieve that are accompanied by rewards if they do succeed. 

Higher Sales Revenue

A sales incentive program can ensure that employees meet sales goals regularly. This will lead the sales revenue to increase. Higher sales revenue will ensure higher profit margins and more sales incentives for the employees. 

Encourages Teamwork

Companies can introduce team sales incentives to the sales team. Team sales incentive programs can only be rewarded once the entire team manages to complete the task at hand. This will force members to help others. They will work together and learn from each other, which will strengthen the entire team.

Increases Employee Engagement

Sale incentives will allow the sales team to engage with both customers and the management team. The employees will find new and creative ways to sell more products or services, by which they can communicate their success rate to the management staff. 

Employee Retention

Companies’ sales reps retention refers to the number of employees who are hired and then leave within a short period. A sales incentive program will lead to happy employees committing for a longer period due to the drive to accomplish goals and achieve those added benefits. The sales professionals will build the long term business relationships due to incentives. This will increase loyalty and reduce turnover in the long run. 

Better Employee Morale

Employee morale will improve once an incentive plan is in place. This will be received as a thank you to the team for their hard work and dedication. Sales reps love to work for a company that compensates hard work and through sales incentive schemes, this reward can be insured.

Increased Job Satisfaction

The employee job satisfaction and goals reached and set for the employee can be linked. Studies have shown that if an employee needs to achieve set goals that add value to the corporation, job satisfaction increases. By adding another benefit in the form of a sales incentive program to the job, employee satisfaction will increase. 

Encourages Customer Loyalty

Without customers, a business can not move forward. Moreover, treating and respecting the customer will build the company to new strengths. 

Repeat Business

Creating an incentive for customers will attract them to not only do business with the company once but multiple times. The customer will return for more products and incentives if they are allocated to the right products and services. If a customer and business can benefit from an incentive the customer will return.

Positive Word-of-Mouth Advertising

Customer word-of-mount is still one of the strongest advertising and marketing out in the world. Once clients enjoyed the service and received an extra incentive, they will communicate and spread the word. This will provide them with social proof and increase brand awareness for the company. 

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Enhances Customer Experience

Customers remember how a company makes them feel more than what a product can do for them. By installing incentives, organizations can tap into the emotions of customers by making them feel wanted and appreciated. These customer incentives will allow them to be rewarded by simply choosing the right company to do business with.

Provides Data Insights

A sales incentive program will provide the company with insights into what employees and customers want, and needs from the company. These insights can be used to fix problems or improve the customer experience. 

Helps with Analytics

An incentive without analytics will not succeed in the long run. Companies can use analytics to justify whether the incentive is positive or negative. The company can change the incentive to increase the benefits thereof. 

Sales Tracking

Sales incentive program will allow managers to view and track products. This will provide the company with insights into the popularity of some products. 

This can be used to either provide the customer with more of the popular products or create incentives that will increase sales of the less popular products. 

Measuring ROI

Calculating the Return on investment(ROI) can be done through sales incentive schemes. The sales managers can calculate the positive impact the sales incentive program is by observing the returns on sales by the sales team.

Boosts Brand Image

What the public observes about a company can lead to its success or demise. Incentive programs for customers will allow the public to feel the care the company has for them.

Positive Publicity

Positive publicity will lead to more customers entering through the front door. Incentives will place a positive vail on the company. Clients will view the company with a positive eye, through the way they compensate and reward both the clients and the employees

Increased Brand Awareness

Incentives create brand awareness. Sales reps and clients can discover new products through special discounts. Customers can also experience the brand through word-of-mouth from someone that benefited from the incentives before, which will lead to an increase in brand awareness. 

Differentiation from Competitors

Thriving in a competitive market can be a difficult task to overcome. Companies can differentiate themselves through incentives. This will allow them to attract new customers that regularly support the competition.

Incentives will show customers why the company’s products are exceptional and how the client can benefit from purchasing from them. 

Provides Flexibility

The benefit of a the right sales incentive program is that they are flexible and can be changed. Once the program is not as effective, the company can make adjustments on them to ensure the future success of the product. 

Customizable Programs

Companies can review the programs they have in place to identify whether it is working or not. This will create the necessary space to change the program to fit the employees. A customizable program provides an area of adjustment until the perfect program has been created.

Budget-friendly Options

Not all incentive plans are solely based on financial gain and losses. Employees can be rewarded with a few extra days off, or a day or two where they can work from home. These incentives can reflect compensation that both parties accept. 

Catered to Company Goals

Creating the best program can only be achieved if it is aligned with company goals and objectives. The company sales incentives need to push employees closer to the ultimate company goal. If the incentives are created with company goals in mind, the employees will work towards the company’s greater good. 

What Are Great Sales Incentive Program Ideas?

Monetary sales incentive program ideas are compensation in the form of a cash bonus or working on a commission based. Another example is to provide employees with salary raises or offer profit shares for a specific product or time. 

Non Monetary sales incentive program ideas are to praise and recognize an individual in public for their hard work or reward them with a small gift. Corporations can also compensate by providing extra off days or allowing employees to work from home if it is possible in the line of work. 

FAQs

What Is Spiff In Sales?

This refers to payment in the form of a bonus to an employee for reaching a goal or selling a unique product. The company pays the cash bonuses directly to the employees. This can either be for the release of a new product range or old stock that needs to be sold. 

How To Write A Sales Incentive Plan?

Drawing up a sales incentive program can occupy some time. The focus should be to first identify the goals of the incentive, which are in line with the business objectives, as well as create a budget for the plan. Companies then have to focus on what motivates the employees and create either monetary or nonmonetary sales incentive schemes based on that. 

Final Thoughts

There are certain benefits companies can tap into through the use of incentive plans. These benefits can be for employees and customers. Sales incentive program benefits can be to motivate and increase productivity, or to retain employees for a longer time. 

Customer incentive programs have the benefits of creating loyalty and brand awareness or can be used to set the company apart from its competitors. A sales incentive schemes can be customized throughout the program and will provide the company with data they can use to inspect the product range and success of the business. 

Learn more by viewing the rest of the website. Take control and reward your employees through an incentive program that will benefit the employees and assist the company in reaching its goals. These few tips are only the beginning of the sales incentive plans.

Sabine Ghali

Kelly Murphy

PRESIDENT & FOUNDER

Certified Meeting planner with 20+ years of event management experience, founder of ConferenceSource, expert in meeting facility sourcing & contracting in North America, Europe, South America and Asia. Kelly will manage your budget as if they were her own, negotiating the best possible rate and hotel contract to benefit and protect every client and exceed all expectations for all planning aspects for sales meetings, educational meetings, product launches, incentive trips down to a small board of directors meeting. We make meetings easy understanding your meeting objectives and delivering meeting matched components.