Try These Creative Incentives to Motivate Your Sales Team Tricia O'Donnell No matter how driven your sales team is, it never hurts to show them how much you care about their efforts to bring in new business. Selling requires a lot of energy and stamina, and giving your salespeople even a small boost can go a long way toward helping them power through the rejection that comes with the job. That’s especially true in a small business, where salespeople can’t necessarily ride on your brand name to get prospects to take their call or meet with them, as they might in a Fortune 500 company So how do you keep them excited and engaged? Here are some creative ideas for motivating your sales team: Say it in pictures. Highlight your top seller of the month to your audience each month. Feature them in a blog post and post their picture on your social media sites. Not only will it give a nice nod to your salesperson, but it can even help your clients and audience recognize and get to know your top performers. Send out a press release. Many local publications like to get news about movers and shakers in their community for columns they run. When your sales stars win an important award or get promoted, send a brief press release to your local news source to show your sales team how important they are to you. Not sure how to write a press release? Type “press release template” into a search engine. There are many free and inexpensive ones you can find online. Help them blow off steam. There’s no better way for your sales team to recharge their energy than a fun, fitness-related activity. Many fitness businesses now offer inexpensive mini-memberships, where you can give someone the gift of, say, five classes. Make sure you tailor the fitness gift to each sales person’s interests. For instance, if you know one of your salespeople does yoga at the local YMCA, why not treat him or her to a few sessions at a local hot yoga studio? Similarly, someone who does Crossfit might appreciate a chance to try another facility in town to see what it’s like. Break the routine. Instead of treating your sales team to the usual drinks for hitting a big goal, look for a fun new experience you can all do together—whether it’s paintball or learning from the chef at a local restaurant how to cook a popular dish. Sites like Groupon can be a great source of ideas for inexpensive experiences you can try. Make sure to take plenty of photos and share them on Instagram or your Facebook page! Pretend you’re at Google. The search engine giant is famous for letting its employees spend 20% of their time on a passion project they feel will most benefit the company. You can mirror this approach with your sales team by giving your highest performers a day or two this month to work on the business development project of their choice. Maybe they’ve been meaning to research an intriguing new client or play golf with a particular prospect but never have the time. Give them the opportunity to do so without worrying about other work and you’ll be surprised at how their productivity soars. Make parking easy for them. If you live in a congested area, your top salespeople will no doubt appreciate a break from parking hassles. Assuming your company has a parking lot with private spots for customers or visitors, consider allowing your top sales performer to use one of those spots for a week. There’s nothing like pulling right into an empty spot to start the workday off right. Allow them to plan your next celebration. Invite your best performing salesperson to choose the menu for an in-office party the next time your sales team hits a big goal. Whether your sales star opts to bring in the best burgers in town or a locally brewed beer for a tasting, it’ll be a fun way to bring some personal flair to the celebration.