Offering incentives for sales people can increase motivation, raise productivity, and boost morale, which is why you have incentives for performance built into your organization’s sales compensation plan. Yet sometimes sales people can become used to the incentives written into the compensation plan, and may require unusual sales incentives for inspiration. Following are five great incentives for sales people that you can use to urge your team towards superior sales productivity.

1. Work Perks Incentives for Sales People

Chances are your organization already offers so-called “work perks” to top performers. As the name suggests, these incentives are directly tied to the workplace environment. Work perks are beneficial to the organization since they tend to cost little, especially compared to other incentive options, but are perceived as high-value status markers by sales people. Consider work perks as incentives for sales people such as:

• Preferred, reserved parking
• Upgraded office space
• Remote office privileges
• Extended lunch hour “passes”

2. Merchandise Incentives for Sales People

Merchandise incentives can be luxurious, cost-effective, or both for an organization that can leverage its ties to suppliers to obtain items at a discount that its sales people will still find motivational. The means to making merchandise incentives work is in ensuring that the products offered are of sufficient value to the sales people you intend to motivate, which includes offering products that most of your sales people don’t already have. Providing several options to choose from for meeting incentive goals ensures that most of your sales people will find value in the program.

3. Experience Incentives for Sales People

An experience incentive works to increase sales on several levels. Sales people may be driven to work towards a reward that they might not have access to on their own, and may be encouraged to earn an experience incentive as much for themselves as for spouses or partners. Experience incentives can become even more desirable if the experience involves one-on-one time with sales managers or company executives. Possible experiences at various budget levels that can act as incentives for sales people include:

• Expenses paid day outings to golf or other resorts
• Comprehensive long weekends with complimentary sports or event tickets
• All inclusive vacations to remote destinations
• Frequent flier miles or other bonus travel transferred to a sales person’s personal account

4. Career Development Incentives for Sales People

Top performers and up-and-coming sales people are serious about advancing their careers. Organizations that offer sales people training and development with a career focus benefit from increased staff engagement and improved performance, so tying high value career development opportunities to an incentive program is a mutually beneficial way to increase sales excitement. Incentives in this category include:

• Covering dues for membership in professional associations or societies
• Paying for attendance at educational conferences and seminars
• Reimbursing tuition for successful completion of career certifications

5. Bonus and Cash Incentives for Sales People

The prospect of earning more money is usually a strong incentive, but only if sales people view the amount that can be earned as worth the effort it will take to earn it. For most organizations, that means that to work as planned cash and cash similar incentives must be impressive as measured against the bonuses already offered in the compensation plan. However, by reminding sales people that commission and salary will be earned in addition to bonuses and cash incentives, organizations can help reinforce the value of such incentives.

No matter which type of incentives for sales people your organization offers, recognize that incentive programs work best when they reward measurable behaviors and are structured so that all sales people have a fair chance at earning an incentive. Educating sales people about the program is also important; otherwise, you might be surprised to find that some sales people on your team do not know what incentives are available, and thus are not working towards the goals the incentive program was designed to help meet.