Effective Recognition and Rewards

Welcome to the final article on unpacking my version of what Sales Culture is.

In hindsight, I didn’t think too much about the ideal order that these should be in but here we are at the final element - Effective Recognition and Rewards.

Getting this piece right in my experience unlocks a new level of performance and achievement well beyond the core sales team. Conversely getting it wrong causes a multitude of negative challenges for your culture and brand.

Earlier in this series we covered Building a Supportive Environment which highlighted the importance of aligning the whole organisation's understanding and motivation around the importance of growing revenue through acquiring new and retaining existing customers.

Building a Rewards and Recognition strategy alongside this work makes the most sense in my opinion.

However, here lies the conundrum. There is often a disparity between expectation and delivery, not because our sales teams aren’t performing, but because we have not fully grasped the nuanced art of recognition.

It goes beyond the typical ‘Employee of the Month’ plaque or annual bonuses. It's about understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators that fuel the passion, innovation, and relentless pursuit of excellence within sales teams and beyond.

Ideally, the Recognition and Rewards strategy is dynamic inclusive, personalised (or at least configurable), and continuously evolving around business changes and feedback.

Recognising effort and achievement, both big and small, enhances a sense of belonging, value, and motivation. It is about acknowledging the late nights, the innovative problem-solving, the extra mile taken to understand and meet a customer's need, and the collaborative spirit that transforms individual effort into collective success.

To be clear it's not about "softening" the realities of business survival and the need for sales performance but more supporting that need with learning from all facets of market engagement where achievements are celebrated, lessons from failures are assimilated, and every team member is empowered and motivated to deliver their best work AND suggest improvements and enhancements as and where they see them.

The question we ought to be asking ourselves isn’t whether we have a reward system in place, but rather if our recognition is meaningful, timely, and resonant.

Does it reflect the values of our organisation and embrace performance and positive investigation of failure for learning and collective improvement?

"Delivery" needs to be a measure well beyond the revenue number for the month as do the Recognition and Rewards structured around these.

One of the classic examples we have no doubt all seen in some form or another is the delivery of a closed contract achieved through committing to unattainable expectations around the product or service leaving those responsible for delivery in an often impossible position to try and recover or reset those.

A holistic approach to recognition and rewards without losing sight of the core requirements of the business sounds logical and yet we all see organisations constantly challenged by a mismatch between incentives and market expectations. Often this happens over time which is why it is crucial in my opinion to bake in regular reviews of the relevance and resonance with internal and external lenses.

In summary, much of the work an organisation might do around building a stronger sales culture will quickly lose potency if you don't put a clear, relevant, resonant and regularly reviewed recognition and rewards strategy.

It's not just about having an endless budget for salary increases, at-risk pay and bonuses but more a clearly communicated and therefore well-understood approach to recognising performance and achievements above those expected as well as ensuring those not performing can clearly be identified and prevented from access to the same recognition.

Look forward to your feedback!