The Secret Sauce to Driving Sales

Fall is the time many organizations forecast sales goals for the coming year. It’s a time to plan strategies around new products or increase share to help achieve those stretch objectives. But as you’re analyzing the market and sales compensation plans to close the gap between today’s sales and what your stakeholders are demanding for next year, remember these two words … Discretionary Effort.

Discretionary effort is the difference between “want to” and “have to”.  As a salesperson, I know I must deliver a minimum amount of revenue or profit dollars to keep my job. My compensation plan encourages me to do more than the minimum with rewards for increased sales. And my home life and personal situation drive me to earn enough to make me and my family secure and comfortable. When I generate enough revenue for job security and my family is safe and comfortable, I’ve checked all the “have to” boxes. 

When my friends see me as successful and my family as prospering, a strange thing happens – I begin to balance my work life with other ways I want to spend my time. I’m not as hungry for new business. My compensation plan doesn’t encourage me to make big leaps, but rather smaller more incremental improvements. This is the point when a salesperson plateaus. They no longer feel a burning desire to make more and more money but seek to have a more balanced home and work life.  

Now comes the big challenge for company sales executives.  How do you encourage “plateaued” reps to want to do more?  How do you gain their discretionary efforts? 

Non-cash incentive programs are proven to gain the discretionary efforts of company sales reps and the discretionary time and attention of your channel partners. Each year US companies spend over $76 Billion in non-cash awards to gain those discretionary efforts. These programs work because they create a sense of urgency to achieve set goals in a specific time period with rewards the sales rep wants. Some people call it gamifying the sales process. We prefer to think of it as adding a little more excitement to a salesperson’s world. By creating healthy competition among peers and regularly communicating standings, sales incentive programs stay top-of-mind and make people want to put in the extra effort to be recognized. 

This fall, as you’re planning those strategies to reach for the sales stars, remember the secret sauce to driving sales… Discretionary Effort.