How to Motivate Your Sales Team Through Contests, Incentives and Recognition

Keeping your sales team motivated is a crucial part of any sales leader or manager's job. Motivated sales teams consistently outperform demotivated teams. In fact, studies show motivated salespeople can generate up to 208% more revenue than reps lacking motivation.

One of the most effective ways managers can boost sales team motivation is through sales contests, incentives, and recognition programs. Structured properly, these programs provide the excitement, focus, and reward your team needs to excel.

This article will dive into best practices on how to motivate your sales squad through well-designed contests, impactful incentives, and meaningful recognition.

Key Takeaways:

• Contests focus reps on key company goals and KPIs through competition
• Incentives swiftly drive behaviors by tying rewards to specific outcomes
• Recognition fulfills emotional needs and intrinsically motivates
• Balance short-term gimmicks with long-term, sustainable motivation
• Motivational techniques must be customized and evolve over time
• Overusing financial incentives can degrade culture and excitement
• Sales leaders must continually experiment to find what makes their team tick

Sales Contests to Spur Friendly Competition

One way to inject energy into your sales team is through contests. Sales contests frame the team’s normal work in a fun, competitive structure with prizes or rewards for top performers.

Contests are particularly effective at focusing your sales reps on key goals and KPIs important to the company. For example, you could run a “New Customers Contest” for reps to win cash prizes or vacation days based on who acquires the most net new customers in a quarter.

Here are some tips for designing contests that effectively motivate your sales team:

• Theme the contest around a crucial business goal or priority you want the team focused on. Revenue, new customers, cross-sell, etc.
• Offer enticing prizes like cash bonuses, gift cards, vacation days, events, merchandise, or experiences. The more desirable the reward, the harder your team will push.
• Use leaderboards to spark friendly competition. Publicly display contest rankings in the office or on a dashboard to create urgency.
• Consider allowing reps to form teams or pair up as part of the contest format to encourage collaboration.
• Establish clear contest rules on eligibility, time period, how winners are determined, prize details, etc. to avoid confusion.
• Schedule contests in shorter bursts rather than year-long to maintain energy and focus. Monthly or quarterly works best.
• Brand and theme your contest in a fun way that excites people, not stressed. Take advantage of holidays, seasons, or current events when possible for themes.

Compelling contests will make striving for goals feel less like a daily grind and more like a fun team activity with big upsides. The competitive team dynamics get your sales squad in the mindset to push themselves positively.

Offer Sales Incentives That Motivate Quickly

Incentives are a reliable way to motivate sales reps toward specific behaviors or results swiftly. Incentives provide a clear cause-effect relationship - if the rep does X or sells Y, they receive a tangible reward.

Two popular forms of sales incentives include:

• SPIFFs - Short-duration cash bonuses for selling priority products or upsells
• Non-cash incentives - Merchandise, gift cards, travel miles, redeemable points

With SPIFFs, you’re paying reps quickly to focus on specific offerings or upsells crucial for revenue. SPIFFs tend to motivate quickly but motivation diminishes over time as reps get used to the payments.

Non-cash incentives can motivate more consistently than cash. Earning redeemable points or working toward a desirable merchandise prize keeps reps engaged longer-term. Gift cards and travel miles are popular non-cash incentive rewards.

For maximum motivation, structure your incentives around the following best practices:

• Keep it simple - incentivize only the most vital few goals/products instead of everything
• Make it urgent - use short-duration incentive bursts for immediate action
• Reward top performers - set tough but achievable targets for the biggest prizes
• Consider team vs. individual rewards - incentivize collaboration or healthy competition
• Promote visibility - share incentive leaderboards and recognitions publicly
• Track ROI - ensure the revenue uplift outweighs the incentive costs

While incentives can provide quick motivation, over-relying on them can train reps to work only when bribed. Use incentives selectively and phase them out over time as team culture develops.

Recognize Achievements to Fulfill Emotional Needs

Beyond financial rewards, salespeople have emotional needs to feel valued, appreciated, and respected. Sales recognition programs fulfill these needs and intrinsically motivate your team.

Here are impactful ways to recognize top sales reps:

• Praise top performers in team meetings or sales rallies. Public shoutouts build pride.
• Spotlight high achievers in internal newsletters. Feature standout reps.
• Award plaques, trophies, or certificates for achievements.
• Send thank you or congratulations notes personally signed by leadership.
• Empower peer-to-peer recognition. Let reps acknowledge coworkers.
• Celebrate wins collectively such as reaching team goals. Order catered meals or throw a happy hour.
• Commemorate work anniversaries, retirement, or promotions.

Combine extrinsic prizes and rewards from contests and incentives with sincere recognition that fulfills the human need to feel appreciated. This blend results in well-rounded sales force motivation.

Best Practices for Optimal Motivation Impact

With contests, incentives, and recognition, don’t go overboard. Poorly executed programs can demotivate teams through complexity, unfairness, or over-emphasis on money.

Here are some dos and don’ts to ensure your motivational programs succeed:

DO:

• Get input from your sales team on desired rewards and recognition
• Combine short-term programs with longer-term initiatives
• Test effectiveness with control groups when possible
• Promote inter-team collaboration and bonding
• Make participation fun - incorporate friendly competition
• Track program ROI and optimize based on results

DON’T:

• Make programs too complex - keep rules and metrics simple
• Rely too heavily on cash prizes - balance cash with other rewards
• Neglect individual contributors - recognize achievements big and small
• Make recognition superficial - take time to make it meaningful
• Fail to explain the “why” - share reasons for programs beyond money

With the right blend of contests, incentives, and recognition tailored to your team’s preferences, you can kick motivation into high gear. Just be wary of over-incentivizing through cash alone. Focus on fostering sustainable team culture and intrinsic drive.

Final Thoughts

Motivating sales teams requires creativity, empathy, and an understanding of human psychology. Contests tap into our competitive spirit. Incentives provide cause-and-effect clarity. Recognition fulfills emotional needs.

Combine a balanced set of elements customized to your team for the best results. Continually experiment with new approaches - motivation must evolve as your team and business do.

An energized, driven sales team is an asset no amount of cash can ever buy outright. Spend time discovering how to unlock that renewable resource, and your company’s revenue growth will reap the rewards.

FAQs

Q: How often should we run sales contests and incentives?

A: Most companies find monthly or quarterly sales contests work best. Incentives can be used for shorter 1-2 week durations as needed. Avoid extending contests and incentives too long or they lose impact.

Q: What are the most common sales contest prize examples?

A: Popular sales contest prizes include cash bonuses, paid time off, gift cards, consumer tech gadgets, travel/vacation packages, public recognition, and plaques. Get creative based on your team’s personality and interests!

Q: Do sales incentives improve motivation long-term?

A: Incentives provide a quick, reliable motivation spike. But motivation tends to deteriorate over time as reps get used to the payments. Incentives work best as periodic reinforcers rather than daily factors in motivation.

Q: How much budget should we allocate for sales incentives?

A: Industry benchmarks range from 2-10% of total compensation for incentive pay. Ensure your sales incentive ROI exceeds the costs by analyzing the revenue lift generated.

Q: What forms of recognition most motivate sales reps?

A: Studies show public, team-based, and peer-to-peer recognition motivate sales reps the most. Spotlighting top achievements company-wide builds pride. Enabling reps to praise each other facilitates bonding.

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