What’s the goal of every sales rep on the planet? To sell more products or services in less time.
As we all know, one of the best ways to get reps to sell more is to motivate them with enticing incentives. If they want the proverbial carrot badly enough, they’ll move mountains to get it.
By some measures, making positive changes to your incentives program has a 50% higher impact on sales performance than making changes to your advertising structure.
Which leads us to two all-important questions:
- Have you chosen the right incentives?
- Are you communicating those incentives in a way that keeps them top-of-mind for reps?
Lackluster sales incentives won’t do much to inspire and motivate your reps. By the same token, a fat pile of world-busting incentives won’t motivate reps if they don’t know those incentives exist or how to achieve them.
You need a solid sales incentives program.
Beyond that, you need an engaging way to get the word out about your incentives, quickly tell sales reps when those incentives change, and update them regularly with progress stats that keep them hungry.
Using repetition (and video) to communicate incentives
If your company is like most, you probably announce new incentives during your sales meetings. This is probably also the time when you update folks on the front runners in the race toward the prize. Maybe you pair this with an email in between meetings.
This isn’t a terrible approach. But it isn’t the most effective approach either.
We know from brain science that to make a message stick, you need to do two important things:
- Share your information sparingly.
- Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Your current approach fails on both of these fronts. Your all-important incentives get stuck into the middle of a jam-packed agenda, and then your reps get radio silence until the next meeting.
One of the boldest and most effective ways to solve this problem is by using video to communicate your incentives.
Video is short and memorable
If you put it in a video, it’s easy to communicate all the information about an incentives program in a minute or less. (When was the last time that happened in a meeting?)
Video is clear and easy to reference
People retain 95% of a message when they see it in a video, compared to only 10% when they see it in text.
Also, if you put your information in a short video, it’s easy for reps to go back and watch it whenever they need a refresher. No need to comb through their handbook or recall what was said at the last meeting.
Video allows for repetition
To keep sales incentives top of mind, you need to regularly remind reps about the details and give them updates on which bonuses are still up for grabs. Video is quick to watch and quick to make (especially with a template), you can share updates every few days without overwhelming your team.
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Choosing the right incentives for your team
The second piece to the puzzle is choosing the right incentives to motivate your reps. There are plenty of ways to go about this.
You could, for example, offer a cash prize to every rep that exceeds their monthly quota. Or extra PTO to the top seller of the month. You could get crazy and give your company’s #1 sales rep an all-inclusive vacation to Cancun — we’re not stopping you.
As a starting point, it helps to break the different types of incentives down by category.
Role-specific incentives
What it is: Incentives awarded based on the individual roles of each sales rep.
When to use it: This sales incentive program is best for companies that ask different reps to perform different tasks, i.e. prospecting, canvassing, closing, etc. That way, each rep is fairly compensated for the specific jobs they’re asked to complete.
Split incentives
What it is: Incentives awarded to multiple sellers at one time, i.e. when two sales reps, or one sales rep and one product manager, work together on a sale.
When to use it: Best for companies that regularly deploy two or more reps to every deal. This ensures everyone involved in the sale is fairly compensated for their contributions.
Presale incentives
What it is: Incentives awarded based on incremental milestones rather than closed deals. When selling enterprise-level software, for example, a rep receives an incentive when they schedule a product demo and another incentive when the prospect becomes a customer.
When to use it: Best for companies that have long, complex sales cycles. This ensures reps are compensated for their dedication to making sales.
Omnichannel incentives
What it is: Incentives awarded to sales reps who participate in a sale, regardless of whether they close the deal or not. (For example: a rep could talk to a customer who later makes a purchase directly from the website.)
When to use it: Best for companies that have strong digital sales strategies. That way reps aren’t penalized for customers taking advantage of a company’s digital channels.
Analytics-based incentives
What it is: Incentives awarded based on advanced analytics data. Analyzing rep behavior and choosing specific, sales-boosting actions to incentivize.
When to use it: Best for companies with complex sales cycles, an analytical-minded management team, and the budget for in-depth analytics software.
Three ways to put this into practice with your sales team
Once you’ve ironed out the details of your sales incentives program, you need to communicate them to your team. Like we already said, if reps don’t understand their incentives — and hear about them often — they won’t be as motivated by them.
Use these three types of video to communicate your incentives in a way that moves reps to action.
1. Announcement videos
Announcement videos can be used to introduce new sales incentives policies and commission structures. They can also be used to announce incentive winners or share specific details about a particular incentive.
For example, your company’s incentives policy may state that reps will earn gift cards once they meet certain goals. But which gift cards will be available to them? You can create a monthly announcement video clarifying which gift cards reps can earn each month.
Pro tip: Save time by working from a video template. (It’s easy with Biteable Teams.) With a template in place, regular updates take only minutes to prepare and send. Just plug in the latest info and you’re all set.
2. Update videos
It doesn’t matter how great your incentives are, your reps will forget about them from time to time. It’s human nature. Update videos are a great way to remind sales reps about the incentives available to them, without having to host a time-consuming team meeting.
3. Sales metrics videos
Metrics videos are an ideal way to update your sales reps on how they’re performing toward their incentive goals.
These kinds of videos will keep your sales team hungry.
When they know that they’re only x-number of deals away from an incentive, they’ll be that much more motivated to achieve it. When they realize the bonus amounts left to be claimed, they’ll come to work with a burning desire to close more deals and earn extra perks.
Supercharge your incentives program with Biteable Teams
The key to a successful sales department is an effective sales incentives program. Once you choose the right program for your team, it’s time to get the word out with video and Biteable Teams.
Biteable Teams puts the power of video-making in your hands — no experience necessary. With an easy-to-use platform, plus loads of video templates, stock footage, and brandable scenes, Biteable Teams helps you create videos in minutes, not hours.
You’ll make your first video before your sales reps can say, “ka-ching!”