Sales Incentives Program

There are so many different types of sales incentive programs being offered today and more companies are available to help you develop your program.  The major difference in the sales  incentive programs being offered is the structure or how participants earn in the program. These different types, or structures, can be used for a variety of audiences including sales staff. One also needs to consideration the fixed budget for the sales incentive program or if the amount will depend on performance.

With a fixed budget sales incentive program, you have the advantage of being able to develop a budget for the program. There are a few ways you can structure this type of sales incentive program. You can structure your sales incentive program to the  first 10 people to reach the given goal will get the award, or you can structure it so that there is a reward for the top 4 sales producer. In general sales incentive programs motivate sales people to sell more products or increase their volume by a predetermined percentage during a specific time period of time.

There are also sales incentive programs that offer travel as the grand prize. This can be for the sales team or for the top seller to go on vacation with their family. Sales incentive programs can also be used for dealers, distributors and resellers. The dealers and distributors can be motivated to buy more products either by discount for volume purchases or freebies for purchasing a certain amount of a specified product. This is a great way to boost sales volumes and profitability.

Variety is really the key to sales incentives programs. Say for example you only offer cash and not all your sales force is motivated by cash this could be setting yourself up for disaster. Flexible pay plans will help you avoid de motivating a certain percentage of your sales force, you need to be sure you have enough flexibility to motivate the majority of your sales force, with the sales incentive program you opt for.  However keep in mind that you will not be able to please everyone, so the goal is to keep the majority happy with a flexible and varied sales incentive program.

With the abundance of talent within the workforce today, sales incentive programs are sometimes the difference between getting the most talented employees to apply at your company and retaining them. Consistency is also a vital part to the effectiveness of your sales incentives programs. Companies are constantly trying to tweak their plans to keep up with the economy, but too many changes are confusing. Keep sales incentive programs simple and consistent and if changes are required, take time to explain the need for changes and allow time for employees to adjust to the changes.

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