The document discusses common mistakes companies make with sales incentive programs. It notes that most companies have a "hockey stick" distribution of sales performance with few top performers and many mid-to-bottom performers. Effective incentive programs aim to increase sales from the middle and lower performers rather than just focusing on top performers. The document advocates using incentive programs backed by data from over 600 previous programs to avoid guesswork and maximize sales lift.

1. of sales people
will select a goal
aimed for the highest
goal offered
98%
#2
42%&
WHEN GIVEN THE CHANCE TO SELECT THEIR OWN GOALS...
“ALL OF MY SALES REPS SHOULD BE
WORKING TOWARDS THE SAME GOAL.”#1“I BELIEVE MY CASH COMP PLAN
MOTIVATES MY SALES REPS TO
PERFORM AT THEIR HIGHEST LEVEL.”
A recent study found that
merchandise rewards led to
3x INCREASE IN SALES —
over cash rewards.
$
$
$
$
TON
5
TON
1
TON
10
YOUR BIGGEST LIFT AND HIGHEST POTENTIAL
LIES IN YOUR MIDDLE & LOW PERFORMERS.
of participants have increased sales
above the run-rate with a properly
designed incentive program.56.3%
#5“ONLY MY TOP PERFORMERS SHOULD
BE REWARDED WITH INCENTIVES.”
of ‘home-grown’
incentive programs
succeed in reaching
their goals.
ONLY
25%
#3“I KNOW WHAT MOTIVATES MY TEAM
TO REACH THEIR GOALS.”
SALES INCENTIVE
MISTAKES TO AVOIDNINE
#4“MOST OF MY LIFT COMES FROM
THE TOP 20% OF MY SALES FORCE.”
ONLY ABOUT
of the lift comes from
THE TOP 20
35-40%
#6“WHY SHOULD I REWARD MY REPS
FOR NOT ACHIEVING QUOTA?”
Most sales teams have
50% or more of their
representatives
below quota.
Rewarding sales reps who are
below quota can cause a
growth from 50%
to
90%
of plan
#8“MY SALES RESULTS
SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS:”
Nearly every sales organization has a “hockey stick” graph with few
top performers and a long line of mid-to-bottom performers.
SALES REPS
75100
1
250
500
750
1000
50 25 1
SALES
SALES LIFT COMES FROM MOVING THE OTHER 80%
SALES LIFT RUNS
HIGHERDURING BUSY PERIODS.
5-10%
#7“I SHOULD RUN THE INCENTIVE PROGRAM TO INCREASE SALES DURING SLOW PERIODS.”
When sales people are
putting in maximum
effort, they increase
their closing rate.
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Sales less than they should be? Businesses frequently take a do-it-yourself approach to increasing the bottom line.
Discover the nine pitfalls that can plague a homegrown sales incentive.
• Improving Performance through Self-Selected Goals | 2012
• GoalQuest®
Study: Moving Toward the Other 80% | 2011
• Monetary vs. Non-Monetary Rewards, Comparative Studies | 2010
SOURCES:
GoalQuest®
is the industry's only patented incentive solution and platform. It has demonstrated
results for over 600 programs and 700,000 salespeople. To see how easy it is to run a GoalQuest
program for your sales force or channel partners, visit BIWORLDWIDE.com/GoalQuest.
#9“MOST SALES INCENTIVE PROGRAMS
ARE GUESSWORK—THERE’S NO
SCIENCE INVOLVED.”
Hard data evidence collected from
OVER 600 PROGRAMS
in our system take the guesswork
out of it by projecting the
performance of
sales teams.
©BI WORLDWIDE™ 2012