Incentives Are Not Just For Sales Teams

Long gone are the days where sales teams are the sole winners of incentive trips to far-flung destinations and five-star hotels. Now, other departments want in on the sales incentive action too, and rightly so. The word ‘incentive’ was once a corporate code for a ‘sweetener’ to drive sales (teams) to exceed their targets and earn a reward on top of their salary and commission. For many, that’s still the case, however, tides are turning.

There’s more to a company than sales

Let’s address the elephant in the room. For a business to succeed, they have to make money. Sales is a big factor when it comes to that, however, there are plenty of other cogs and departments that help a business thrive and survive. Remember the social post that highlighted the services you offer, and you got leads from? That wasn’t down to the sales team, that was marketing. Remember the time a customer got charged twice and the Accounts team sorted it out, helping relieve a headache that would have been made a lot worse regardless of how much paracetamol you took? That wasn’t down to sales. Or, do you remember the time the website crashed, and due to technical support, it got back up and running within minutes? That was the IT team.

The point is that all teams work together to help the company sell products, increase revenue and grow. Now, there is a big focus on diversity and inclusion, employee experience, and mental health. And that goes across all teams. In the past couple of years, there has been a big shift, and if people aren’t recognised, they will jump ship and go somewhere they are. This means you’re losing out on their talent because you didn’t treat them how either they should be, or how you treat and favour others in the company compared to them.

The stats don’t lie

In our most recent Whitepaper ‘The Changing Face of Reward and Recognition,’ we highlighted 2019 findings by Forbes that reported a 90% brand trust rate in employees who had received recognition or thanks from their boss in the previous month. A total of 86% of HR professionals suggest a values-based reward and recognition programme makes their employees happier. This is because 83% of us are driven by a need to be appreciated. According to another 10-year long study, 79% of leaders cite “lack of appreciation” as their reason for leaving a job.

If other departments see the sales teams going on five incentives a year, yet they haven’t been on one in their three years of being there despite generating leads, helping generate cash, or sorting tech issues that bring in and keep customers interested in your business, they will quickly lose interest and check out. Reward and recognition is now an integral part of the employee journey in a company, and if it’s included from the off, ensures the best employee onboarding experiences.

Look to LinkedIn

Just a simple scroll through your LinkedIn timeline or a look at the trending news, and you will see plenty of people sharing their stories, what they’re up to and milestones they’ve achieved. Shockingly, they don’t all have a job title with sales in it. They are marketers, accounts assistants, project managers, the list is almost endless. Some will have the word sales in their job titles, and that’s fantastic. They should absolutely share their successes and be rewarded appropriately when they’ve done a job well done. So should everyone else regardless of what team they’re in.

LinkedIn published an article in January 2021 that gave us the top 15 jobs that are on the rise. The top five were e-commerce; loan and mortgage experts; health care supporting staff; business development and sales professionals; and experts in workplace diversity. While sales did make the top five, there were four other areas that companies clearly need. To keep the staff they recruit, employee experience and reward and recognition have to play a factor in this.

Reward and recognition is fantastic and doesn’t have to be flashy

From a sales POV, reward and recognition is a great way to motivate employees to constantly deliver and improve. It gives those involved a clear focus. It’s able to be tailored to the individual or group, and team members can personalise this even more if they put forward an idea or a bucket list goal they’ve always wanted to do yet never thought possible. Reward and recognition isn’t just about travel though. The same can be said for a spa day, a dinner to that cool restaurant you’ve heard a lot about, incentive reward cards, or a simple mention at the next team meeting celebrating a job well done.

If you’re having trouble when it comes to reward and recognition, employee experience management or incentive ideas and examples, that’s where Penguins Events come in. We have the knowledge to help propel your reward and recognition strategy to the next level. Forget staying in a dodgy hotel off the motorway or a treatment at a spa that has awful reviews online, we wouldn’t ever book something that we wouldn’t be happy to do ourselves. We have the connections, history, and communication skills to back this up. To enquire, call us now on 01753 833 811.