What makes an organization successful? An incentive program that rewards your employees for hitting those sales targets and adding to the profits.

But nowhere do these incentive programs equal employee benefits. The whole concept of having them at hand is to have desired outcomes and motivate the employees to go that extra mile.

So how do they work? It’s simple; they synergize an employee’s efforts with organizational goals by levering their strengths and implementing them effectively.

The Looming Paradigm Shift

But as we move forward into a more digitized world, the traditional incentive programs seem to be taking a counterproductive turn. Instead of being a catalyst for encouragement, they are becoming a legacy concern for old-school sales organizations.

Now the question is, what kind of methods can you use to boost the performance of your sales teams in the present day scenario?

Leaders are concerned about using incentives effectively while sticking to their company mission and sustaining a positive growth trajectory through and through.

Understanding the Change

Much like a customer’s persona, a salesperson’s mindset is not dominated by preconceived notions of the old-school era.

Not only does this make the sales journey complicated for a customer, it leads to an added pressure of the sales team.

While customers today insist on getting information on their own and inbound marketing becoming a significant part of the sales process, they only consult sales teams for supplementary information.

That is why reps do not have the complete ownership of the buying process and are competing against several other individuals in a content-crowded space.

Sales teams are working harder than ever to access buyers during the most critical moments of their journey with the brand.

This has led to sales reps juggling multiple hats at a given time. Additionally, sales managers are also working harder for both individual and team collaborations to get an ideal ratio for success.

How to Make Incentive Programs Work Effectively?

How do you combat all these challenges and, more importantly, create a program that motivates your sales reps both individually and as a team? Let’s find out the answer to this question in the following points:

1. Teamwork-Based Reward System:

With a complicated process, selling is now a team sport. It is harder to close a deal with a single sales rep. Align your company’s representatives of different backgrounds and skill set in a pod.

It will improve their chances of stimulating new conversations with customers and mitigate a lot of risk in the process. When a team is handling a call, their chances of closing a deal jump up to 258%.

Have everyone’s efforts logged into software to encourage them to become active participants in the process.

2. Pay Incentives Based on Role:

Design your incentive program in a way that it plays to the strengths of your reps. Incentivize reps based on their unique skills and capabilities.

Generalized incentives are not a good idea. Instead, they have a tiered incentive system where the reps get access to a reward after achieving a specific milestone.

This way, the top performers will go the extra mile, and the average performers will be motivated to do better every month.

3. Appreciate the Pre-Sales Team:

Contrary to popular belief, pre-sales are very tricky right now. A customer reaches your brand after going through loads of advertisements and then spends even more time to review their options.

That is where the pre-sales reps play an essential role and stay in touch with a prospect for extended time intervals.

It can be a good idea to reward them throughout the different stages of a buyer’s journey. It helps them stay motivated and increases their tenure with the company.

4. Omnichannel Incentivization:

Both humans and AI are interacting with customers during different stages of the buying cycle. But even a well-developed AI cannot replace human emotion, and only a rep can identify a buyer’s pain points.

It helps them build a trusting relationship with the customer, and they can nurture it further to generate more sales.

So, the idea is to establish the tools as an asset to the reps and not as a competitor. Omnichannel incentives eliminate that uncertainty and reward the representatives for their contribution to the process.

5. Optimal Use of Technology:

Forecasting customer demand and setting reasonably attainable goals can be a daunting task, but it isn’t impossible. We can use big data analytics to generate predictive stats, and the same can be applied to incentive programs.

How? Leverage a recognition program software to evaluate and document a rep’s performance every step of the way and get actionable insights about their contributions.

When the metrics reflect a rep’s behavior and commitment to add value to your organization, you would be able to reward them appropriately.

6. Good-old Cash Incentives:

Any good incentive program includes cash incentives in their commission structure. It typically involves paying a base salary and quarterly incentives based on their performance.

Maintain an organized pipeline of customer data, cold calling, prospect addition, lead-qualifying, and other smaller milestones to acknowledge other closed deals’ efforts.

Let the reps get additional cash incentives for contributing to their metrics and release them within a stipulated time.

7. Go Beyond Cash:

Though cash rewards never go out of fashion, the millennial generation is more likely to warm their stance towards a company for non-cash rewards.

Motivating your team without cash rewards can be fun and help in creating a hip company culture. They are more dynamic and have a positive impact on a team’s pride and performance.

Some popular non-cash rewards include gift cards from a cafe or shopping mall, travel vouchers to a holiday destination, tech gadget food the more tech-savvy reps, and learning & training opportunities like paying for a certification specific technology.

Final Thoughts

Since you have spent your valuable time reading this article, we would like to reward you with a bonus tip.

Bonus Tip: Gamify the Process and Engage Reps

It is here when the process of creating an effective incentive program comes full circle.

Suppose you can gamify the entire process by adding badges, creating leaderboards, and adding customized modules. In that case, you can engage your teams better and inculcate a feeling of commitment at the workplace.

Acting on hunches alone is a thing of the past. Optimize your incentive program with data-driven analytics and follow a transparent process.

Get a tailor-made recognition program for your sales teams today. NextBee’s Spotlight helps you shine a light on your team’s deserving members and increases productivity by 12%.

Get in touch with us today and enroll yourself for a free consultation. We are looking forward to seeing you in the Spotlight soon.