How to Create Sales Incentives that Motivate

If you’re like most sales managers, you struggle to motivate each person on your team to perform, and perform consistently—especially during difficult times.

I once knew a manager who planned to give out a $5,000 bonus to the salesperson who outperformed the rest of the team that quarter. At the end of the quarter, to no one’s surprise, the manager’s top performer won.

The manager called her top performer into her office. She handed her a $5,000 check and said, “Congratulations on winning. Well done! You deserve it.”

“Thanks,” the salesperson replied, but with a complete lack of enthusiasm. The manager was surprised by her passive reaction. “I just handed you a check for $5,000. I would think you would be more excited! What did I miss here?”

The salesperson replied, “To be completely honest, I’d hand this check back to you right now and feel more rewarded if you announced to everyone that I’m the best salesperson on the team.”

Most managers don’t know what inspires and motivates each individual on their team to perform. Instead, they make two general assumptions: That salespeople are coin operated, and that what motivates the manager personally will also motivate everyone else.

Instead of trying to come up with the best way to motivate your people, what if you let them design their own incentive? It’s not always only about the money—sometimes, what someone wants most is intangible. Here are a handful of incentives that might inspire your salespeople to re-focus their energy and maximize their performance:

• Time off
• Mornings or afternoons when they can come in late or leave early to drop off their children at school/daycare or pick them up
• A Friday or two off to go out and play a round of golf or spend time with their family
• Lunch with their manager
• Authentic acknowledgement, either in private or in front of the team—don’t assume what would be most meaningful
• The opportunity to manage a new or specific account
• More time to work on crafting their career trajectory and personal brand
• More responsibility
• Additional administrative support for a certain time period, dedicated to their needs only
• A gift certificate to their favorite store or restaurant
• A company t-shirt, jacket or hat

Notice that most of these incentives don’t cost you a dime. But the only way you can assess what your salespeople truly want is taking the time to sit down with each person one on one to discuss what inspires them to come to work every day.

Keith Rosen, CEO of Coachquest, has written several best-sellers, including, “Own Your Day” and “Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions,” winner of five International Best Book awards and the No. 1 best-selling sales management coaching book on Amazon.