| Sales force incentives are a vital part of business | | | | force incentive can be trick in that, make it too |
| and one of the best reasons is that they work. | | | | unattainable and you end up demotivating the |
| This is one of the few motivators that can rev | | | | team , make it too easy and you will not make |
| up a sales force for pennies on the dollar. | | | | the returns needed to justify the money spent |
| However it has to be well designed and executed | | | | on sales force incentive. |
| to reap the full benefits and get the most out of | | | | The next important part of an effective sales |
| your sales force. | | | | force incentive is the budget. The budget should |
| The reasons sales force incentives are so | | | | not exceed 10% of the projected sales increase, |
| effective, is that they appeal to the basic instinct | | | | and should not be less that about 1.5-2%. This |
| of a true sales person. The need to compete, to | | | | budget includes not just the sales force incentive |
| be recognized for doing well and essentially having | | | | but the promotion such as awards luncheon and |
| their ego stroked and last but not least the ability | | | | also the administration of this program in the |
| to acquire more stuff for doing what they love to | | | | form of over time and the like. Also be prepared |
| do. A good sales force incentive program can | | | | to be flexible in case it is very successful you |
| almost always assure a business owner that they | | | | might want to continue it or if it is not working, |
| will get results, but there are several rules of | | | | revamp it. |
| engagement that they have to keep in mind. | | | | Picking the right sales force incentive is also crucial |
| The sales force incentive requires a concise goal. | | | | to its success. Cash usually works because most |
| This may be as basic as increasing sales, but | | | | people like cash, and there is no cost to storing it. |
| there are other objectives that can be added to | | | | The down side is people tend to forget after it is |
| a sales force incentive. These range from | | | | put into an account or mutual fund, and it always |
| generating new accounts to launching new | | | | a clear show of how much the company spent |
| products or even expanding your sales territory. | | | | on the sales force incentive. Take a team on a |
| The sales force incentives goals will greatly | | | | vacation and you can also gain the benefit of |
| depend on where that particular business sees | | | | building the team spirit while rewarding them. Not |
| they are lagging behind the competition, or that | | | | everyone will agree though that travel is a good |
| there is an untapped market they need to | | | | sales force incentive since some people prefer to |
| explore. | | | | take vacations to get away from the people they |
| The next thing a sales force incentive needs to | | | | work with. Merchandise is also good as long as the |
| accomplish is a clearly defined list or statement of | | | | quality of the products match the sales force. |
| accomplishments. In other words your sales force | | | | Also the merchandise will be around for a long |
| needs to know precisely what the amount of | | | | while to remind the team or individual of their |
| increase in numbers that are expected. Is it X | | | | accomplishments. |
| number of dollars, or X number of new accounts? | | | | The main thing is to keep the sales force |
| The comparisons can be from previous years or | | | | incentive duration short. People are better |
| from the competition, however the current | | | | motivated in the short term. Quicker rewards will |
| business climate and the potential of your sales | | | | help reinforce the behavior desired by the |
| team need to be taken into account. The sales | | | | company initiating the sales force incentive. |