Your sales team already has targets and commission. So why introduce another incentive? Sometimes you need them to focus on something different, whether that's launching a new product, building a stronger pipeline, or hitting an ambitious quarterly target.
A good sales incentive program gives reps an extra reason to prioritize that goal. Here's how to build one with the right incentives to motivate your team and deliver a worthwhile return for your business.
A sales incentive program rewards salespeople for achieving specific goals beyond their regular compensation.
For example, if you're launching a new product, you could offer reps a $100 gift card when they reach five qualifying sales.
Every successful sales incentive program needs four things:
Get these right, and your incentive becomes something your team can understand, work toward and trust.
Commission is part of a salesperson's regular compensation, while bonuses typically reward longer-term performance. Sales incentives are additional, targeted rewards designed to encourage a specific outcome, such as increasing sales of a new product or reaching a short-term target.
For a closer look at short-term incentives, read our guide to sales SPIFF programs, including when to use them and how to structure rewards.
For sales leaders, the biggest advantage is flexibility. You can direct your team's attention toward a business priority without redesigning your entire compensation structure.
| Benefit | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Focus on priority products | Motivate reps to launch something new or support low sales for a product or feature. |
| Build a stronger pipeline | Reward reps for unlocking high-value opportunities. |
| Increase momentum | Create shorter-term goals around key dates or targets. |
| Recognize great performance | Reward achievements while they're fresh and feel relevant. |
| Bring teams together | Celebrate shared wins when they require teamwork. |
Your sales team already has targets and commission to work toward, so what makes an extra incentive worth pursuing?
Here's what to consider when designing your program.
People need to believe they have a realistic chance of earning the reward. If you set a target only your top performer could reach, the rest of the team might not bother trying. Look at previous sales performance to set a target that stretches people without putting them off. Consider tiered incentives so reps can earn smaller rewards along the way instead of having to hit one big target.
People are more motivated when they feel they can influence the outcome. Think about a rep working on a six-month enterprise deal. They might do everything right, but the customer could delay signing for reasons completely outside their control.
In that case, rewarding qualified opportunities or completed demos might make more sense than rewarding closed deals within a short campaign.
One rep might love a restaurant gift card, while another would rather spend the money on something for their home. Giving people a choice can make incentives more appealing.
If someone hits their target in March but doesn't receive their reward until June, you've missed an opportunity to celebrate their achievement while it's fresh. Recognition itself can also influence performance.
Key takeaway: for sales incentives, make rewards part of the achievement. Set clear payout timelines and deliver on them, so reps know their efforts will be recognized.
Different goals call for different incentives. Here are six common approaches:
| Type | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Performance-based incentives | Reward reps for hitting a sales or revenue target. For example, offer a $100 gift card for every five subscriptions sold. | Driving sales of priority products or increasing revenue. |
| Activity-based incentives | Reward actions that lead to sales, such as booking qualified meetings or completing demos. | Building pipeline, particularly when sales cycles are long. |
| Tiered incentives | Give reps several milestones to work toward, with rewards increasing as they progress. | Keep more of the team motivated, not just high performers. |
| Team incentives | Set a shared goal and reward everyone when the team achieves it, like a quarterly revenue target. | Uniting people behind a common goal. |
| Sales SPIFFs | Offer an extra, short-term reward for achieving a specific result, like a $50 gift card for each sale of a new product. | Giving an immediate boost to a particular product, campaign, or sales priority. |
| Sales contests | Run a competition over a set period, with rewards for the reps who perform best. | Creating friendly competition and bringing extra attention to a short-term goal. |
A good incentive plan should be easy to understand, commercially sensible, and straightforward to manage.
Before deciding what to reward, define what the business needs. "Increase sales" is too broad. "Increase sales of our new product by 15% over six weeks" gives everyone a clearer direction.
Work backward from your goal. For shorter sales cycles, reward completed sales. For longer enterprise deals, qualified demos or opportunities might make more sense. Remember, more activity doesn't always mean better results. Rewarding meetings that never convert won't help you build a stronger pipeline.
Use past performance to set realistic targets. If the average rep sells three units a month, five could be a good challenge. Twenty might feel out of reach. For ambitious goals, introduce milestones. For example, offer a $50 gift card after five qualifying sales, followed by another $100 after ten.
Be clear about campaign dates, qualifying activities, reward values, and payout timelines. Decide upfront how you'll handle cancellations or shared deals to avoid surprises later.
A bigger reward doesn't always mean better results. The question is whether the incentive will encourage sales or behaviors that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
For example, offering $100 for every sale of your best-selling product might simply make those sales more expensive. But offering the same reward for a new product your team hasn't been prioritizing could help shift their attention.
Start with the value of the result. A $100 reward on a sale generating $500 in gross profit might make sense. The same reward on a sale generating $50 probably won't.
And plan for success. If everyone qualifies, can you still afford the rewards?
Decide how you'll track achievements, deliver rewards, and measure results. For larger programs, platforms like Giftogram can automate delivery and reduce manual work. Compare performance against your starting point to understand whether the additional business justifies the cost of rewards.
The right reward depends on your team, budget, and the achievement you're recognizing. Cash bonuses, merchandise, and experiences can work well for major milestones. For regular incentives, gift cards and prepaid cards are easier to manage and give people more flexibility.
With Giftogram, reps can choose from 140,000+ national and local brands, so you're not limited to choosing one reward for everyone. Prepaid Visa and Mastercard options offer even more spending flexibility, although availability and acceptance vary by country. You can also add your company branding and a personal message to make each reward feel more personal.
Once your program is running, you need a reliable way to track achievements and get rewards to your team.
For a small campaign, you might manage this manually. But as your team grows, checking sales results, approving rewards, and sending them individually can quickly become another job for your sales managers.
The simplest approach is to connect the systems you already use:
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Track | Your CRM records the sale, meeting or other qualifying activity. |
| Verify | Your CRM or incentive workflow checks that the achievement meets the program rules. |
| Approve | A manager approves the reward, if required. |
| Reward | Giftogram sends the approved reward automatically. |
| Report | Your team reviews reward activity and spending alongside sales performance. |
With Giftogram, you can send rewards individually or in bulk, or automate delivery through 150+ direct integrations, Zapier or the Giftogram API.
Reps can choose from 140,000+ national and local brands, while your team can keep track of reward spending without manually managing every send.
For teams that prefer cash rewards, Giftogram also supports cash disbursement options, including PayPal, Venmo, Zelle and ACH, subject to availability and program requirements.
Learn more about Giftogram's cash disbursement options.
Your CRM already tracks much of the sales activity you want to reward, so connecting it to your rewards platform can save your team low-value manual work.
A reliable workflow should:
You can set up these checks through your CRM and integration workflows, depending on the tools you use.
Start with the goal you set. Did the incentive encourage the behavior you wanted, and did that translate into better sales results?
Compare performance against your usual results, looking at:
Remember, some sales would have happened anyway. Focus on the additional business the incentive helped generate, rather than attributing every sale during the campaign to the program.
And ask your team what they thought. Their feedback will help you adjust targets and rewards before your next campaign.
Great performance deserves a great reward.
With Giftogram, give your team the freedom to choose from 140,000+ brands, while you automate rewards for one salesperson or one hundred.
No platform fees or markups on standard digital rewards. Just more choice for your team and rewards that are simple at any scale.
Give your sales team more reasons to go further.
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Consider the value of the achievement, how difficult it is to reach, and how frequently someone can qualify. The reward should balance motivating your team with remaining commercially worthwhile.
Popular sales incentives include gift cards, prepaid cards, cash bonuses, merchandise, and experiences. Choose rewards your reps will want to work toward, with a value that reflects the achievement and makes financial sense for your business.
Prepaid cards let your reps spend their rewards almost like cash, rather than being limited to a particular retailer. Giftogram offers prepaid Visa and Mastercard options—useful for international programs.
Yes. Rewards platforms like Giftogram can connect with CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot through APIs or no-code tools like Zapier, letting you use sales data to trigger rewards automatically.
Yes. Giftogram connects with sales CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot through direct integrations, no-code tools like Zapier, or a Giftogram API for more customized setups.
Track participation, changes in the targeted behavior, and incremental business impact. Compare results against a relevant baseline and evaluate whether the additional value justifies the cost.