Our Employee Sales Incentive Programs at a Glance
- Enhanced Retention and Training: Our internal sales incentive programs help synchronize sales teams, leading to increased ROI.
- Adapting to Modern Sales Environments: Our programs are designed to align sales processes across multiple locations and adapt to the evolving remote-selling landscape.
- Addressing Market Challenges: These sales team incentive programs tackle issues such as low job satisfaction and engagement, which are leading causes of salesperson turnover.
The key is to start with the basics – retention and training. After all, these pillars are essential to any successful sales strategy. Without them, your team will be disjointed and require more time and money than you can afford.
When addressed properly (and, no, we don’t just mean throwing more money at the problem), your team will be in sync and accumulate the collective experience that allows them to work in tandem and increase ROI. To do that, properly tailored retention and training incentives will improve collaboration and motivate your team to increase new sales and consistently move existing customers up the sales ladder.
QIC’s internal sales incentive reward programs are designed to synchronize your team’s selling process across multiple locations, install more effective success metrics, and assist your team with an increasingly virtual selling landscape. This includes sales through distributors, strategic selling partners, and other third parties and includes participation from relevant sales support staff.
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Fill out the form below to learn more about our services and the sales incentives you could be offering your employees.
Questions
Is your business struggling to retain your salespeople in today’s uncertain market? Are supply chain disruptions hurting sales of preferred products or services?
Is your business having a tough time managing third-party operations or strategic selling partners (SSPs)?
Has your sales team been effectively trained in selling your suite of products or services? Did this training include practice in person and in remote selling environments? Does your company leverage the art of “meaningful” interaction?
How Our Custom Incentive Programs for Sales Teams Work
Our incentive programs for salespeople are entirely custom, leveraging proprietary technology that allows us to create a points-based employee incentive system specifically tailored to your unique sales needs. This points-based program allows you to motivate, measure, and reward achievers within your sales team by seamlessly tracking and recognizing their individual accomplishments.
What to Expect When Implementing Sales Team Recognition
After implementing custom internal sales incentives within your organization, you can expect to see the following:
- Measurable improvements in sales outcomes
- A more cohesive and engaged sales force
- Significant enhancements in overall productivity
- Increased lead generation
- Enhanced team collaboration and communication
- More consistent achievement of sales targets and quotas
- Higher employee satisfaction and morale
Measuring Success: Sales Incentive Programs and ROI
Sales incentive programs can be an effective way of generating revenue when implemented correctly. This can be done for channel sales incentive programs as well as direct sales. However, it is important to have measurable goals in place prior to the program being launched in order to measure and adjust the program if necessary.
Many companies struggle with establishing measurable goals at the beginning of a sales incentive program. It is often stated that the goal of the sales incentive program is to “increase sales.” That simply is not good enough. How do you plan on increasing sales? Increase last year’s sales by at least 10%. In this direct sales case study, you will be able to determine last year’s sales figures because you have access to that information, something that may not be available in a channel sales incentive program.
With this information, you can determine a threshold or goal for each salesperson. We recommend that the salesperson earn something before they hit the threshold to keep them engaged, but use the majority of the budget once they pass the threshold. You can even add bonus earning opportunities once they have passed the threshold because the client will be funding this portion of the program with incremental sales revenue. For example, in our points-based solution, once the salesperson is 10% past the threshold, they can earn double points, 25% would be triple points, etc. Salespeople are competitive by nature, and designing a program like this can be lucrative for them as well as the company.
Internal Sales Best Practice Guide
Your sales team is constantly working to close the next deal
We’ll design an effective sales incentive program with aspirational rewards and meaningful recognition – on budget and on target with your specific business objectives.
The motivation of salespeople has long been seen as a black/white or pass/fail proposition. Meet or exceed sales quotas – earn commissions. Don’t sell enough – face termination. The formula for managing a sales force, at least to the casual observer, is as simple as hiring someone with a proven track record and assigning a territory and sales quota. In reality – successfully managing a team of sales professionals demands an approach that includes compensation, motivation, recognition and coaching best practices.
This comprehensive approach extends beyond simply cash compensation and uses non-cash incentives and rewards in conjunction with recognition to bring about positive behavioral changes and improved results.
1. Clearly define rules and process
Take your time to think through how the program can and should work. Plan out every step of the program, and test the process with people in different parts of the organization. Don’t over-complicate the program with too many Key Performance Indicators and confusing scoring formulas. Your program must be easy to explain to everyone in the organization – especially participants.
2. The big three
Prioritize program KPIs by importance and business unit. The three most common sales results measures are 1) ongoing progress against individual sales goals, 2) quarterly sales achievements, and 3) year-end sales totals. How these are measured and scored will vary and can include team, department, and/or company goals as well.
3. Don’t overlook behaviors
While sales results are critically important, and should definitely be among your KPIs, recognizing and reinforcing desired behaviors can also be important. Including KPIs around such measures as the completion of product training and the adoption and use of pipeline management tools can lay the foundation for increased competency in your internal sales force.
4. Give recognition its due
Studies from Aberdeen Group confirm that sales organizations with formal recognition initiatives in place perform better than others without such programs. While earning commissions and bonuses remain highest among priorities of B2B salespeople, they perform at higher levels when a comprehensive approach is used. These performance gains translate into higher attainment of individual and team quotas, as well as an improved customer renewal rate.
5. The triad of praise
Recognition initiatives should include verbal praise, public recognition, and peer recognition – in support of the stated goals and objectives not only for salespeople and their selling activities, but their support teams as well.
6. Employ an expert provider for best results
A very basic consideration for most organizations is whether or not to attempt implementation on their own. Or, should a dedicated partner provide the management of these programs? Data shows that experienced, external providers improve results across a range of performance measurements – when compared to programs implemented and managed with internal resources.
7. Choose your partner carefully
Make sure the provider you choose has the experience, expertise and resources to ensure success – offering the latest in techniques, technology, rewards and redemption services.
Internal Sales Incentive Program FAQs
What are some other best practices for internal sales teams?
In addition to implementing a sales incentive program, other internal sales best practices include prioritizing achievable, well-defined KPIs, clearly defining rules and processes, and emphasizing smaller wins such as completing a training program.
How are the custom sales incentive programs implemented?
Once targets are established and your team begins its work, that’s where we come in! Our internal sales incentive points are distributed when salespeople on your team meet or exceed their stated goals.
Has QIC seen direct client success with internal sales incentives?
Yes! Read about how a leading U.S. developer and manufacturer leveraged our offerings to successfully motivate their internal sales team. And check out some of our other client success stories!
What types of rewards are given for sales team recognition?
Our custom incentive programs for sales teams encourage positive behavior changes, boost performance, and establish a culture of appreciation and continual improvement.
Some of the rewards commonly included in our programs include:
- Travel packages
- Concierge shopping services
- Lifestyle merchandise
- Fan experiences
Improve Your Operations with Custom Internal Sales Incentives
Ready to experience the difference a well-designed internal sales incentive program can make? Want to support your team’s achievements and propel your business forward through the power of employee sales incentives? Contact our team today to get started on building a successful sales incentive program!
Points to Consider
#1 Cause
Low job satisfaction and engagement is the leading cause of salesperson turnover.
44%
44 percent of salespeople plan to leave their job within 2 years, and 25 percent plan to leave within 1 year.
