Motivating Your Direct Sales Team with Incentives & Contests

 You know incentives work. So does your corporate office. Think about how much product you’ve sold and how many people you’ve brought onto your team in the process of earning those free trips or other incentives your home office offers. I always say at my live trainings that people will generally do something to get something for free. And the beauty of incentives in direct sales is it’s the ultimate "win-win" because while you’re earning the incentive, you’re making money and building your team. Sweet!

That being said, incentives are an excellent way to motivate your personal team as well. Not only will it get them moving toward building their businesses, but it goes a long way toward fostering a better, more supportive relationship between you and your representatives. I used to love to shower my team with gifts!

A few things to remember when offering an incentive:

• Make it clear what they’re working toward (what’s the prize?)
• Make it clear exactly what they have to do to earn it and by when
• Have a clear system in place for tracking everyone’s progress prior to announcing your incentive

Here are a few of my best ideas for incentivizing your team:

• Want to increase the number of guests at your monthly meetings (HINT: the answer is YES!!)? Why not offer your team incentives around meeting attendance and guests?
  • Bring 1 guest, receive a small prize, bring 2 guests, receive a better gift, bring the most guests, receive something really nice (as long as it’s more than 3 – I always put a minimum if I was giving away something really good.)
  • Publicize a great gift item and let your team members know they get one ticket for every guest they bring, and 10 bonus tickets if they bring 3 or more guests.
  • Offer incentives for consistent attendance at your meetings.
     
• Create incentives around those areas of your team business that are suffering. Your representatives aren’t sponsoring? Offer incentives for those who sponsor 1, 2, or more new representatives in any given month. Are bookings a problem for your team? Choose a night, host a "booking blitz" where they all get on the phone for the same hour, then give incentive gifts for those who book 1 show, more than 5 shows, or the most shows.
   
• If, as a leader, you are up for a large monetary incentive if your team performs in a certain way, consider offering to share your bonus if you reach the goal by a certain time (I have coaching clients for whom this has made the difference between earning an executive promotion and not making it). When your team gets on board to support you (and nothing speaks louder than money to get people on board), it’s much easier to achieve the volume or team numbers you need to hit your goal.

One last thing I do want to caution you about and that’s spending a lot of money on incentive gifts (even if you can afford it), This practice isn’t duplicatable. You probably earn lots of free product from your company (often as incentive gifts, while we’re on the subject), and you may also have retired items in your storage area that you can stand to part with. I also loved to give away inexpensive flowers (a dozen carnations is usually less than $10.00) as a small incentive gift. You’d be surprised at how special people feel when you hand them a flower. The bottom line, keep spending on incentives to a minimum.

So, those are a few ideas. I’m sure yours are better since you’re all actively working in the field as we speak and I haven’t been for a while. I’d love it if you all shared with each other below.

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Julie Anne Jones is a success language consultant, a direct sales coach and trainer, and the CEO of Julie Anne Jones, Inc. She is known for her authentic and easy-to-use scripting and specializes in specific language and tools for success in direct sales. To learn more about Julie Anne and her products and services, visit her at www.julieannejones.com or check out her blog at http://julieannejones.com.