CRM
June 3, 2025

Sales Incentives: Importance, Types & Examples

Wingmate
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Sales incentives have long been used to motivate employees and drive up sales. Letting your employees know that they are valued and valuable members of your team can help with employee satisfaction and retention. Investing in your employees is investing in your bottom line, and sales incentives are an incredible way to let employees know you appreciate their hard work.

Holding onto key employees during a time where many companies are hiring and employees are starting to leave jobs in droves for better working conditions and experience can be a difficult task. So how do you retain employees and keep them satisfied when they could easily find another job elsewhere? The answer is sales incentives. According to a study done by Deloitte, a whopping 44% of people surveyed said they would remain at their job if they were incentivized with bonuses, both cash, and non-cash.

So what kind of sales incentives should you be offering your employees? Before we delve into that, let’s take a look at what, exactly, are sales incentives.

Sales Incentive Ideas

First and foremost, it’s important to ascertain whether you want to give out cash rewards, or non-cash rewards, or maybe even a mix of both. It really depends on what it is that motivates your team members to work their hardest. Some people are motivated by financial incentives, while others prefer gift cards or material rewards. There is no right or wrong answer here. It truly depends on your team members and their desires for rewards.

If you opt to go with the non-cash rewards, it can be anxiety-inducing trying to decide what to choose and what your team members would like best. Here are a few ideas to get you started on creating your sales incentive strategy.

Gift Cards

Everyone likes gift cards, and they also give your team more freedom to decide what it is they want for their reward. Prepaid Mastercards or Visas are always good, as are gas cards, grocery cards, and Amazon.

Food Delivery Credit

Sometimes, we’re just not in the mood to cook. Credit for companies like Uber Eats or DoorDash may be good incentives for some employees who are too tired after work to cook full meals.

Subscription to a Streaming Service

Everyone has some sort of streaming service these days, so why not offer a year subscription to a service like Netflix or Hulu to a top-performing team member so they can relax with their favorite TV show or movie after a long day of work?

Tech Gadgets

Some people prefer material rewards to incentivize them. Tablets, smartwatches, laptops, noise-canceling headphones, and things like VR headsets or gaming consoles are good ideas for those techy team members.

Wine Club Membership

Wine or beers of the month clubs are huge these days. Offering a month or year-long subscription to a wine club is great for those hobby sommeliers.

Subscription Boxes

Subscription boxes come in all shapes and sizes, and are always fun to get. Who doesn’t like a monthly surprise in their mailbox? From food and snack boxes, to monthly book clubs, to board games, candles, ties, cigars, and much, much more, you can find a subscription box for just about anyone.

A Gym Membership

Gym memberships are great incentives for employees who love to stay fit!

Learning Opportunities

There are online and in-person classes for so many things these days. Team members can develop further sales skills with professional courses, or learn a new language to tap into a new market, or even open up their artistic side with a writing or painting course. Some people just love to learn.

Final Thoughts

As a manager or team lead, it’s your job to keep your team members happy in their jobs and motivated to do their best. Sales incentives can help you do this easily, as long as you draw up the right sales incentive strategy for your specific team. Remember that everyone is an individual, but they also work together as a team, so creating the right incentive program is important to ensure everyone’s happiness. Investing in your team is investing in your bottom line.

How we do it at Wingmate…

Relationship selling is a great marketing tactic to not only sell your product or service but also to retain customers. Prospects are looking for long-term relationships these days, and are far more likely to return to a company that they trust and have a good relationship with. If you follow these tips and tricks, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a relationship selling pro.

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