There’s no doubt that businesses need to have effective salespeople to be successful. But sales is an ever-evolving role, and your teams must stay on top of their game to adapt. Keeping up with new technologies, changing consumer habits, and unpredictable market conditions is daunting, and sales incentives might be just the motivation they need.
Programs that offer sales incentives to top-performing team members aren’t new, but they’re more important than ever. Here are six statistics that prove why you should add such rewards to your compensation packages.
Only 23.9% of sales emails are opened by recipients, and it takes 18 calls to connect with a buyer on the phone. (Source: Gartner)
Sales can be a demoralizing job. To get anyone to respond to your outbound efforts is hard enough, but to get in contact with the right person, the one who might actually need and buy your product? That’s even more difficult. Make sure you recognize and reward your salespeople for their dogged efforts day after day.
For a majority of B2B decision makers — eight in 10 — omnichannel sales methods are as or more effective than traditional approaches. (Source: McKinsey & Co.)
The sales job has also changed a lot since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the growing use of digital channels, decision makers increasingly want and even expect an omnichannel approach during their buying journey. Engaging with prospects in multiple channels makes it that much harder for salespeople to track and close deals.
In the past year, about two-thirds of surveyed sales reps reached out to fewer than 250 prospects, and only 15% contacted more than 1,000 leads. (Source: Sales Insights Lab)
At the end of the day, sales is a numbers game. The more prospects you talk to, the more deals you’ll close. That’s why it’s important to incentivize not only the sale itself, but also the kinds of behaviors that lead to better close rates.
Offering activity-based sales incentives, which reward reps for hitting goals such as number of calls made or demos given, boost sales by 6% to 9% over offering only incentives based on sales results. (Source: Journal of Marketing Research)
Again, by incentivizing different steps in the sales process, not only can you increase sales now, but you can nurture good habits in your reps so they’re even more successful later.
Top-performing companies are much more likely than their less successful counterparts to use non-cash rewards and recognition, including gift cards, to incentivize their salespeople (90%). They also offer higher payouts in non-cash rewards — $3,916 for the typical salesperson, vs. $2,749 at average companies. (Source: Incentive Research Foundation)
You can no longer count on commissions alone to be enough to get the best results from your sales teams. That traditional structure is expected, so it’s helpful to sweeten the pot a bit. By incorporating more immediate, non-cash rewards — even low-value ones — you’ll see stronger commitment and better performance overall.
Two-thirds of sales managers say that it’s more challenging than they anticipated to oversee a remote sales team. (Source: LinkedIn)
In today’s remote workplace model, managers also have far less visibility into what their sales teams are doing day to day. When everyone is working in the office, it’s easy to see who’s making calls and closing deals, but that’s no longer the case. By incentivizing both activities and goal achievement, managers can be more confident that their teams have a reason to be just as productive at home.
When you go to design your sales incentive program, make sure you’re choosing rewards that your employees actually want — otherwise it defeats the purpose. According to Blackhawk Network research on holiday gifting, 65% of people prefer to receive prepaid cards and gift cards from their employer. Sales incentives are no different. And by using digital gift cards, you can offer a wide range of options, deliver them instantly and easily, and keep your employees motivated and productive.
Sales teams aren’t the only ones who benefit from incentives. Here are eight statistics that prove why you should use rewards in your marketing and research efforts as well!
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
