A reward program is meant to inspire. It’s a tool to help motivate a sales team that might otherwise turn in average numbers. Employees love to be recognized when they do something “above and beyond,” or if they hit a goal. Rewards serve as positive reinforcement, which in turn creates a sense of loyalty between the employee and their company. These are the kind of motivated individuals you want on your sales team.
A study by Deloitte found that if you’ve got your reward system in place and it actually does motivate your sales team, you’ll see a 31 percent lower turnover rate. Furthermore, you’ll see 14 percent higher productivity and customer service performance out of these employees.
Keep it Fresh
You should continually look at your reward system to make sure it’s still relevant. If you’ve relied on the same one for many years, you could be seeing less motivated employees. For example, if you’re awarding employees because they hit a milestone in terms of years they’ve been with you, that’s not going to do anything for all those employees who are fairly new.
Singling out one employee as “employee of the month” has also been determined to work against motivation as the process of picking this employee can often be somewhat ambiguous.
Keep it Psychological
To build the best reward system for your sales team, it’s best to think about human nature and psychology. What’s motivating your employees? If you think it’s only dollars, you’d be wrong. When an employee focuses only on the reward, they aren’t using their creativity, and they don’t improve their initiative on the job.
Therefore, it’s important to focus on behaviors. We know from modern research that humans want to direct their own lives, get better at what they’re doing and do something for the community – not just for themselves. Build your rewards around those three principles.
Your reward system should deliver a prize that is a surprise to the employee. Instead of chasing the prize, they get rewarded for something they did that deserves positive reinforcement.
Keep it Informal
Informal yet frequent awards tend to be great motivators, and they don’t have to come from the top down. You can have peer award situations that allow the sales team to recognize each other for a job well done.
How are you motivating your sales team? Set aside time to implement some new ways to reward your sales team and give your sales numbers a boost.
