6 Best Sales Awards Ideas To Motivate Your Sales Team

Sales awards stand as a pivotal recognition within companies, aimed at honoring the exceptional performance and pivotal contributions of sales teams towards driving revenue and business growth. These accolades, ranging from Monthly and Quarterly to Annual Performance Awards, are eagerly anticipated by sales professionals as milestones of their dedication and success in the competitive landscape of sales.

Through these awards, companies not only motivate their sales force but also highlight the indispensable role these individuals play in achieving organizational objectives and fostering a culture of excellence and achievement.

While many individuals are passionate about their job and the value they add to the workplace – there are many reasons your team may not be performing to the best of their ability. They could be overwhelmed, burnt out, or don’t have the motivation to take on new tasks or go above and beyond. 

This is more normal than you might think. The best thing you can do as a business is to find innovative ways to fuel their passion for making sales and inspire them to give the workday their all.

That’s where award ideas come in.

With incentives, rewards, gifts, and prizes, businesses can inspire their sales to go above and beyond on everyday tasks. These small tokens of appreciation will keep them motivated, improve productivity, and keep them engaged between 9-5. Whether planning a quarterly sales contest among your sales team or wanting to organize a sales award ceremony – these gestures can be a powerful tool. 

We’re here to help you find the perfect employee recognition or performance award. 

Look at six fun and innovative sales award ideas you can incorporate into the workplace.

Why are Sales Awards Important?

In the competitive world of sales, recognizing and rewarding the hard work and achievements of your team is not just beneficial; it’s essential for maintaining motivation, loyalty, and performance. While traditional accolades such as trophies and certificates have their place, today’s organizations are increasingly creative in how they celebrate success.

From cash bonuses and award ceremonies to personalized trophies and cutting-edge gadgets, the ways to reward stellar sales performances have evolved. These rewards not only acknowledge the individual’s contributions but also serve as a powerful incentive for continued excellence and team spirit.

As we delve into modern and effective award ideas, remember that the goal is to inspire and cultivate a culture of achievement and recognition within your team.

Did you know individuals are 42% more likely to achieve their goals if you write them down? Goal setting is essential to work week success and helps increase participation. Each member of your sales team needs a set of goals. 

These goals are the driving force for their success. Without a predefined set of objectives, you’ll never know how far or close your team is from staying on task or helping the company’s overall revenue goals.

But the question is, what is driving your employees to set challenging goals? It might be job security, career progression, or loyalty to the brand, but is this enough to ensure salespeople are pushing themselves to reach the highest goals? You may have a great company culture and a team that thrives on collaboration and communication – but is this enough?

Whether it is or not, you can always do more for your employees with the help of sales incentives. Sales rewards and incentives motivate team members to go the extra mile in the workplace. 

You may be wondering, do incentives actually work? The answer is yes, they do, but you need to implement them well and understand why you’re using them.

39% of employees feel underappreciated at work, and 77% feel they would work hard if they received more recognition. These sales award ideas can meet this demand and help drive your sales team forwards.

However, before handing out random sales awards to the top performers and calling it a day, you’ll want to consider your audience. What does your team enjoy? What is something that would motivate your team, not just a few? 

If you aren’t sure, consider sending out a survey before implementing sales awards, so you can ensure you find the best suitable options for your sales team.

6 Best Sales Award Ideas

It’s no secret that reward systems work – it’s a part of human psychology. However, for the rewards to motivate your sales team, you’ll need to be strategic and think outside the box.  

We’ve looked at some of the most effective sales awards to see how you can boost motivation and engagement within your team. 

Here are our six favorites employee awards:

1. The Pinnacle Performance Trophy:

Celebrate the remarkable achievement of sales representatives who have surpassed all peers in performance. The Pinnacle Performance Trophy is presented to the standout sales representative within your team, distinguishing them as the individual who has notably excelled beyond their colleagues in sales performance.

2. Major Client Victory Award:

Honor the individuals who play a pivotal role in securing substantial accounts for the company. This award, customizable with symbols of financial success, acknowledges the strategic effort involved in winning over significant clients, thereby driving the company’s growth​ (Edco Awards)​.

3. Innovator’s Achievement Award:

Recognize those who introduce groundbreaking sales strategies that transform the business landscape. This award is for the visionaries who dare to think differently, breaking conventional boundaries to clinch challenging sales deals with their creative problem-solving skills.

4. The Ultimate Team Contributor:

This accolade is for the unsung heroes whose collaborative efforts and support are crucial to the sales team’s success. It highlights the importance of unity and shared goals in achieving collective triumphs.

5. The Resilience Recognition:

Applaud the sales representative who exemplifies a remarkable turnaround, converting potential losses into significant wins through perseverance and strategic insight. This award tells a story of determination and the power of a positive mindset in overcoming challenges​.

6. Cross-Selling Maestro:

Pay tribute to the skillful art of cross-selling, with this award going to those who excel in introducing clients to additional products or services, enhancing customer value and contributing to the company’s diversified success​ (Martin Awards)​.

Incorporating these award ideas into Spinify’s blog post, each with a unique twist and focused on celebrating diverse aspects of sales excellence, can inspire your sales team and foster a culture of recognition and motivation. By emphasizing the value of each role within the sales process, from innovation and teamwork to resilience and strategic sales increases, you can encourage a holistic approach to sales success and team development.

Gamification as the Driving Force Behind Effective Awards

Gamification is an incredibly successful tool to break big goals into smaller chunks and create a system of continuous rewards. If you aren’t familiar with sales gamification, it’s incorporating game mechanics into non-game contexts. 

Think about how addictive games like Candy Crush or Angry Birds are with their points, levels, and badges. If you apply those same principles to sales award ideas, you’ve got a powerful motivational tool. 

With the help of gamification – you can have the same impact as these games. You can turn mundane tasks into engaging experiences and promote friendly competition.

When you gamify an experience, you can recognize your top performers in your sales department and employees who meet other targets. The best part is that gamification can give people recognition in a fun, collaborative way.

Gamification creates a system of sales incentives, and it works! However, it’s not always sustainable if you plan on manually implementing it into the workplace. Instead, we recommend investing in sales gamification software. 

These tools will help you gamify the workplace and give you the tools you need to build a thriving workplace culture that uses gamification in the everyday workplace. The right software can turn gamification into an integrated part of the workplace experience and help motivate your team members with incentives, rewards, and gifts. 

Innovative Incentives Ideas

Cash Bonuses

You can get as creative as you like with your sales incentive ideas, but sometimes keeping things simple does the trick. The truth is: People love cash because they can use it however they like. 

It can take care of the basics of life, like paying bills, or it can help them purchase a luxury treat. With a cash bonus, it’s the employee’s decision. 

If you decide to share a leaderboard or start a friendly sales competition with your team, you can encourage them with a cash reward. For example, whoever brings in the newest business or becomes a top performer on the leaderboard will get an extra $500 added to their paycheck. While this may seem like a small reward, it can push individuals to make additional sales calls or book more meetings. 

Cash bonuses are powerful tools and are one of the best sales incentives, but they are limited. However, there are a few things you’ll need to consider before incorporating this bonus. For one, your business has to work within financial constraints (there’s only so much you can offer!), but secondly, it’s a very impersonal reward. 

We recommend pairing cash bonuses with another sales award idea. This will help you raise the stakes and turn them into a more personal prize for your team members.

Development Opportunities

People don’t want to feel like staying at a job for too long limits their true potential. They want to know that they’re working towards a brighter future. 

An excellent way to use this as an incentive is to make development opportunities (both personal and professional) available for your salespeople. Every employee will have goals unrelated to the business, so you can also help them achieve those goals with different resources and classes. 

For example, you can reward the salesperson with the most business for a particular quarter with an all-paid trip to a conference. These conferences are tools that will help them further their career and develop professionally. You can also provide promotions, free webinars or courses, or pay for classes that align with their passions. 

While these might not be the traditional sales incentives you think of, they can impact the individual meaningfully. These sales incentives reward hard-working individuals with resources, tools, and opportunities to grow professionally and personally – which they will always be grateful for.  

Vacation Time

We could all use a bit more vacation time. Well, why not reward your top salespeople with extra vacation days?

Your employees need time to recover and refresh their energies, ready to give 100% to chase their goals. Not only does a good vacation policy help improve your retention rate, but it also serves as a great sales award idea. 

Rewarding hard-working employees with additional vacation time is a great way to show them that you appreciate everything they do for your business. Vacation time will also inspire some friendly competition and motivate individuals to go out of their way during their work week.

To get started, we recommend creating a quarterly leaderboard. For the three individuals that bring in the most sales for that quarter, you’ll reward them with additional vacation days. The sales manager that comes in first place can get three days, second place will get two, and three can get one. If you raise the stakes high enough, you can feel confident it will ignite your team’s passions and push them to put in the extra hours. 

Want to take things a step further? You can even consider offering a paid vacation for the employee with the most yearly sales. If you want to do one big incentive for your employees, add extra emphasis around the prize. 

You can display the leaderboards and keep everyone’s progress bars top of mind. This way, your team can keep their eyes on the prize throughout the year. 

Upgraded Technology

Everybody loves getting hold of a shiny new laptop, tablet, second screen, or even a standup desk. If you’re looking for sales incentive prizes, it’s hard to go wrong with the latest technology. Technology and gadgets will help enhance the employee experience and give them the tools to have better productive days. 

Whether it’s a new desktop computer, an ergonomic mouse, or a top-of-the-range office chair – you can be sure that your team will be ready to give it their all to make it to the top. Incentivizing with an item is also a sign of your appreciation and is intended to make your employee’s life easier. 

To ensure it’s an item your team members will use, you can turn the employee recognition reward into a stipend they can use for their home office. This way, they can invest in items they need and will use during the work week. 

Team Bonding

Individual sales performance is a big part of sales, but at the end of the day, it’s always a team effort.

Your sales team should work together to achieve your business goals, and when they accomplish this, you should reward them as a team. While friendly competition may inspire them to improve their personal goals, camaraderie will add value to their workweek.

This means you need your team to work together to do what’s best for the company. You can do this by providing a team bonding experience as the reward. If all your team members reach their individual goals, you can give them an experience like wine tasting, a fancy dinner, bowling, or a boat ride in the harbor. These sales performance incentives will encourage your team to work together, inspire collaboration, and improve communication.

Sales Award Ceremony

A Sales Award Ceremony is a pivotal event that underscores the importance of recognition and motivation within a sales organization. By honoring outstanding achievements, companies not only celebrate individual and team accomplishments but also reinforce the behaviors and practices that led to those successes.

Such ceremonies contribute to a culture of appreciation, boosting morale and encouraging a competitive yet collaborative environment. Recognizing sales professionals in a formal, celebratory setting amplifies the value of their contributions, fosters loyalty, and can significantly impact future performance by setting benchmarks for excellence.

Additionally, sales award ceremonies serve as a tangible reminder of the organization’s commitment to recognizing hard work and success, thereby motivating the entire sales force to strive for higher achievements and align their goals with the company’s objectives.

Strategies for Organizing a Memorable Sales Award Ceremony

• Organizing a sales award ceremony involves a strategic blend of recognition and celebration to honor the achievements of your sales team.
• Start by setting clear criteria for award categories to ensure transparency and motivate all team members.
• Choose a venue that reflects the prestige of the occasion, whether it’s an elegant on-site event or a virtual gathering.
• Personalize awards to resonate with each recipient, highlighting their unique contributions.
• Incorporate engaging elements like guest speakers, entertainment, and team-building activities to make the event memorable.
• Finally, leverage this opportunity to reinforce company values and vision, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose.

A well-planned sales award ceremony not only celebrates past successes but also inspires future excellence.

How to Make Your Sales Award Ideas Work Well

Sales awards are effective when you have a high level of engagement. 

For example, if you only reward the top-performing salesperson each month, then many people won’t be engaged by your incentive (particularly if you have a large team). 

Not every salesperson at your company will be the greatest. But you can aim to get the best possible contribution out of each person, so your sales award ideas should reflect this. 

Try to break goals down into smaller chunks, and make sure you reward individuals for their contributions regularly.

As we mentioned with our first sales award idea, gamification is an excellent way of doing this. 

We offer an easy-to-use sales gamification tool. We use game elements like leaderboards, badges, progress boards, and personalized videos to help inspire friendly competition and keep your team engaged from start to finish. 

Ready to learn how Spinify can help you motivate your team and help you create a recognition program?

Request a demo today.