Motivating to Sell: How Incentives Boost Performance

Understanding how important it is to motivate your sales force is the first step on the road to assured success. Having motivated salespeople means, in fact, having qualified people who are inclined to meet and exceed their goals and interact positively with customers. What, however, are the means that companies can use to stimulate their veditori to achieve specific goals? Among the various tools, the most effective are certainly incentives.

Indeed, it has been proven that implementing a well-structured incentive program with clear objectives and attractive rewards leads to significant improvements in productivity and team morale with major consequences, for overall business results.

However, in order for the incentive process to be targeted, personalized and in practical support of resources, it is essential that it be accompanied by careful monitoring of the processes in place in order to:

• identify and improve areas of weakness
• optimize sales strategies and facilitate performance management

Effective and well-implemented monitoring, therefore, enables companies to adapt quickly to changes, improve performance, and achieve satisfactory results.

Incentives and Monitoring: supporting scientific evidence

According to a 2023 study by Gartner, companies using advanced sales monitoring systems (including artificial intelligence tools and data analytics) experienced a 25 percent increase in salesperson productivity and a 20 percent growth in annual sales. In fact, the use of more sophisticated monitoring technologies enables better sales forecasting and more effective opportunity management. But that's not all, the adoption of sales automation and monitoring solutions can reduce operating costs by 28 percent and improve process efficiency by 32 percent(Gartner 2024 Study).).  

Let's see together, then, what types of incentives can be introduced, to achieve the results described so far.

Types of Incentives

1. Economic-Financial Incentives: this category includes all bonuses and/or commissions recognized for an achieved success, but also contests and sweepstakes aimed at stimulating healthy competition.
2. Non-Financial Incentives: this group includes all public awards and professional growth opportunities offered through training courses aimed at improving skills.
3. Experiential Incentives:variant of non-financial incentives are experiential incentives that include memorable experiences and tangible gifts that can stimulate engagement and motivation. 

Incentives and Monitoring: the Role of Management Software

Management software, such as HCMS of Alveria, are excellent tools for monitoring and analyzing performance; managing and customizing incentives; and improving communication and vendor support. By using these tools strategically, companies can optimize their sales operations, motivate salespeople, and achieve satisfactory results. In fact, Sales Incentive Management tools make it possible to manage the entire sales force incentive process: from the construction and assignment of sales goals to the reporting of results, thus improving the effectiveness of the entire process.