PrintSales Incentive Programs
Sales incentive programs are a wonderfully effective way to motivate employees. They allow you to offer something beyond the base salary to generate excitement and healthy competition in the workplace. Not all sales incentive programs are equal, however. If you want to motivate someone then you want to instill a motivation that will last.
What About Cash?
Cash is probably the first incentive that anyone thinks of for sales incentive programs. Who doesn't want to have some extra money for doing work above and beyond what is required? The problem is that money is forgettable.
Think about it. When you win money or if you did win money then what would you do with it? You might buy something special but odds are you would use it toward bills. While this may be a good use of money, you never see the money again, and it has no real impact. The fact that you won anything fades quickly, and that win ceases to be a motivational factor.
Do you want to use a motivational tool that fades away as quickly as it was won? Surely, a better sales incentive program would be created with a reward that would stick with the employee who won it forever.
What Else Is There?
This is the right question to be asking. What could you offer as a sales incentive that would have a bigger impact? One possibility is that of a trip.
Many sales incentive programs offer vacations and possibly tickets to special events as motivators for their employees. Who doesn't want to win a dream vacation for all their hard work?
In this case, you are working toward a tangible prize. It is not like cash that will find its way into your checking account and will be quickly forgotten. A trip has substance and will create memories that will last a lifetime. An employee will always feel a sense of satisfaction every time he or she thinks back on that trip, knowing that he or she earned it through exceptional efforts.
What About Everyone Else?
If you think that the vacation only benefits the person who won it then you would be incorrect. When the employee who went on the vacation gets back, the stories will be told and everyone will wish that they had been able to win that vacation too.
The motivation of a vacation or a trip to some sort of special event does not end with the winner. It spreads around your business like wildfire, inspiring and motivating everyone who wishes to have the same pride in their work and to receive the same reward.
This is the perfect motivator. Not only does it stay with the winner for a long time after, it also stays with everyone else who is aware that the employee won. This motivational tool has far reaching effects long after the vacation is over.
Sales incentive programs can use anything as an incentive, but some incentives are more effective than others. You want to choose incentives that will motivate employees long after the reward has been given.
