How are you motivating your sales team? When was the last time you thought about trying something different? If you're exploring sales incentive ideas and practical incentives for sales teams, consider broadening your approach. Everyone likes cash rewards and monetary incentives, we can't argue with that. Those in sales roles are even more extrinsically motivated by money. However, incentives for sales should cover everything from the monetary to the meaningful and everything in-between. Money is easily forgotten without an additional emotional connection since it generally goes into the same bank account as a paycheck.

Rewards work—90% of top performing companies use rewards other than cash to reward their sales teams—when you know how to use them. In particular, well-timed sales incentive rewards can reinforce the right behaviors. The most important thing is that your sales incentive plan plays to the strengths of your individual sales reps.

Summary

This guide shows how to motivate sales teams with a balanced mix of monetary and meaningful, personalized incentives that reinforce the right behaviors. It emphasizes understanding your people, recognizing contributions across the full sales lifecycle, and calibrating competition and collaboration. You’ll find practical program structures (quotas, activity and creativity contests, company-wide wins) and flexible reward types—points, curated catalogs, bonus boxes, and charitable donations. Best practices include aligning incentives with fair compensation, creating positive emotional connections, and using Awardco tools (including Earn) to automate, scale, and tailor recognition.

Sales Incentive Planning and Programs

Sales are an important part of your business, which you probably already know. But it can still become an afterthought without a plan and programs that allow you to stay organized. Keeping a running list of sales incentive program ideas can help you stay organized and ensure consistency over time.

Understanding Your Salespeople

If you're on a large team, several people could help close a deal. So how do you make sure everyone's contribution is valued even if they aren't closing the sale? You need to know your team well and understand the roles they fill. Every sales team and every product works differently, so get to know how YOUR team works.

What motivates your particular sales team? Do they get fired up with friendly competition or do they like to work together as a team to meet goals? If your sales team is like every other sales team we've encountered, we'll assume it's a little of both. Understanding how much competition and cooperation to introduce is key. As you shape sales incentives for employees, choose the right balance that fits your culture and goals.

Sales Impact and Rewarding Various Roles

Our motto here is the more recognition the better, so are you recognizing all the people who contribute on your sales team? We love people who close deals, but there are so many other touchpoints in the sales process. When you brainstorm ideas for sales incentives, make sure these contributions across the journey are included.

Sales don't happen in the traditional way they used to with one or two face-to-face conversations with a salesperson. Sometimes the customer comes to a salesperson after already doing a lot of their own research or after having other touchpoints with the brand or product.

Here's a list of touchpoints. They may happen in this order, they may happen in a different order, or they may happen more than once. If you're an HR admin, you may not know all the steps to sales or why it's so important to have solid sales incentive programs for everyone involved:

1. Find. The salesperson finds and approaches the client.

2. Prepare. Do they need an RFP? PowerPoint presentations? One sheets? Other collateral?

3. Pitch. Who prepares the presentation or the pitch? Who does the actual presentation?

4. Close. Everyone knows about this one. The person who closes a deal and "makes the sale."

5. Follow-up. You can't forget about the client after they sign something. Recognize the people who take care of the client even after the sale closes.

Do you know that feeling of working super hard on a group project just for someone else to take all the credit? That's the feeling we want to avoid. We don't want anyone to feel invisible or overlooked. Besides your top performing sales rep, there may be sales managers who are mentoring and assisting other people in making sales. Other teams like marketing or creative may be playing a role. Your sales incentives can spread as far and wide through your company as you want. But don't worry, it's easy to set up programs that help organize and automate your rewards and recognition.

Sales Incentive Programs

Here are some sales team incentive ideas for programs, but remember, they're not limited to this list.

1. Monthly & quarterly sales quotas. These programs are the most straightforward and serve as the foundation for most organizations' sales incentives. Reward those who make their quotas and incentivize the team to outperform their goals.

• Most deals closed in a quarter. This one is pretty straightforward, but is a great way to push people each quarter. Note: Is a month a better time frame? A week? Six weeks? Break it down in time periods that make the most sense for your industry. ‍

3. Most hours spent on the phone. You can get as creative as you want with programs, don't forget to recognize the tedious work whether it's phone calls, emails spent, or hours making spreadsheets. Some of this work doesn't have inherent rewarding feelings built into it (like the thrill of closing a deal) so it's a great opportunity to create that rewarding feeling by (you guessed it) offering rewards. ‍

4. Rewards for everyone! Did you meet your goal for the quarter? Reward everyone at the company. Not only does it boost morale, it's a good reminder that everyone at the company contributes whether they directly or indirectly support sales. ‍

5. Most creative script. Break up the monotony of cold-calling prospects and sending form emails with a contest for the most creative introduction to your company. Have sales reps use the new scripts and report back on their effectiveness or vote for a winner.

These are just ideas; the best success will come from making programs that fit your team. Sales teams come in all shapes and sizes. Sales goals, sales leaders, and sales performance may look different from company to company. Know your people and choose programs that are best for them. Tailor these sales incentives ideas to your culture.

P.s. If you're not sure where to start, your contacts at Awardco can help.

Sales Incentive Ideas

Now that you know what behavior you're going to reward, let's talk about how to reward. Below are flexible ideas for sales incentives that let people choose what they value most. If you give people options, they're more likely to love what they get. For example, instead of offering one item for a prize, offer millions through Amazon and our other vendors. This can also save you if you don't quite know everyone on the sales team as well as you'd like. No more accidentally gifting a barbecue to a vegetarian or a Sephora gift card to someone allergic to makeup.

Incentives you can offer with Awardco:

1. Points. Points in the Awardco platform are the easiest and most universally appealing way to reward your employees. The points can be redeemed for items on Amazon, gift cards, hotels, event tickets, charitable donations, and more.

2. Catalogs . Create catalogs with specific items for your teams. You can reward points that can only be used for specific catalogs. For example, company swag. Or if you want to set a certain theme like "fitness," you could make a catalog with water bottles, yoga mats, or gift cards to Nike, Adidas, or a health-conscious restaurant. Or, if you want, you can create a catalog for travel items to encourage your employees to take a vacation. The options are nearly limitless.

3. Bonus Boxes . Send out a box filled with goodies for top earners, teams who meet goals, or other incentives. You pick the products and Awardco will ship the boxes directly to your employee's doorstep. Pro tip: We recommend including points in each Bonus Box as a way to ensure a consistent experience while allowing people to get what they want.

4. Charitable donations. You can issue points for employees to donate to the charities we have in the platform. This can be a great way for employees to give back while still giving them the choice to choose an organization that matters to them.

Know your team. Know what motivates them. And when in doubt, let them choose for themselves.

With meaningful rewards programs, your sales reps can get something that creates an experience. They will associate their rewards with positive memories.

Best Practices and Management

How do incentives fit into the rest of your compensation plan? This can affect how your sales reps view an incentive program. It should feel like a bonus on top of fair compensation, not something they need to supplement their income. Do everything you can to help rewards accompany positive feelings instead of something that may make an employee feel like they aren't valued enough in the first place. Make sure compensation plans are clear during the hiring and onboarding process so everyone knows what to expect. Structure incentives for sales within your broader compensation philosophy so they feel additive and fair.

Remember that sales incentives are just one piece of the puzzle. If you're looking for a way to easily manage all your incentive programs, including sales, you can do that with Awardco's Earn feature. Awardco Earn allows employees to take charge of their own rewards by letting them claim points for hitting certain goals. You can set up the goals and the amount of points earned for each one in the Awardco platform. This can be used to incentivize anything from sales to completing a survey or finishing a training.

Reward Your Sales Team

If this feels overwhelming, don't worry, we're here to help. You can set up, manage, and fulfill sales incentives all in one place with Awardco. We'll help you find the programs that work best for your organization and your sales reps. Simplify the process and save yourself time by using Awardco's management system, like uploading multiple participants at once, multiple winners at once, and even creating multiple sales incentive programs—all under one dashboard.

Let's chat.

FAQs

Question: Why use non-cash rewards when salespeople are motivated by money?

Short answer: Cash matters, but it’s quickly absorbed into the same account as a paycheck and is easily forgotten. Non-cash rewards create positive emotional connections and memorable experiences, which reinforce the right behaviors. In fact, 90% of top-performing companies use rewards other than cash—especially when they’re well-timed and personalized.

Question: How do I recognize everyone who contributes to a sale, not just the closer?

Short answer: Map the full sales lifecycle and reward contributions at each touchpoint: finding prospects, preparing collateral (RFPs, decks, one-sheets), delivering the pitch, closing, and post-sale follow-up. Include roles beyond frontline reps—sales managers, marketing, creative, and client success. Program ideas that help: activity-based recognition (e.g., most hours on the phone), creativity contests (best script), and company-wide rewards when team or company goals are met.

Question: How do I balance competition and collaboration in my incentive programs?

Short answer: Know your team’s culture and tailor the mix. Use competitive structures for clear, time-bound pushes (e.g., most deals in a quarter, quota attainment), and pair them with team-oriented incentives (e.g., reward everyone when the company hits a target). Calibrate time frames (weekly, monthly, quarterly) to your sales cycle and keep the emphasis on reinforcing behaviors that align with your goals.

Question: What reward options can I offer through Awardco, and when should I use each?

Short answer:

• Points: The most flexible option—redeemable for Amazon items, gift cards, hotels, event tickets, charitable donations, and more.
• Catalogs: Curated, themed, or limited selections (e.g., company swag, fitness, travel) for brand alignment or budget control.
• Bonus Boxes: A tangible, celebratory shipment for top earners or goal-hitting teams—include points inside to keep choice and consistency.
• Charitable donations: Let employees direct points to causes they value, adding meaning and choice to recognition.

Question: How should incentives fit with compensation, and how can I manage them at scale?

Short answer: Incentives should feel additive—on top of fair, clearly communicated compensation—so they create positive associations rather than replacing base pay. To scale and simplify, use Awardco’s Earn feature to set goals and let employees claim points when they hit them, and manage multiple programs, participants, and winners in one dashboard. If you’re unsure where to start, Awardco can help design programs that fit your team.

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