Business is built on the backs of the salesforce. They’re the stars when the company performs well, and they catch the flak when things just aren’t working. A well-oiled sales team is crucial, so it’s important that the players stay motivated.

Here are five ways you haven’t thought of to do just that:

Incentivize your team with… unique incentives

Of course, all salespeople perk their ears when they hear tell of higher commissions. This, unfortunately, doesn’t always make business sense. Moreover, we all know what happens when you give a mouse a cookie: He’s going to want a glass of milk. Try offering swag to salespeople who meet certain goals or surpass benchmarks. Consider customising the giveaways with your company colors and logo to pair a proud sales team with a bit of free advertising. What should you offer? We’ve heard good things about Yeti Ramblers for starters.

Reward failed efforts

With incentives, you’re rewarding successes. But, have you considered rewarding failures? This is a particularly worthwhile idea if your team is involved with a lot of cold calling. Recognize the salesperson who earns the most “no’s” every month. The goal is to replace the weariness of being turned down with company-wide pride in unsuccessful cold calling. Be careful what you offer as a reward. The idea might backfire if your team starts sabotaging sales calls just to get their hands on a Yeti Rambler.

Bring in the head honcho

Speaking of recognition, why not bring in one of the higher-ups to commend high performers from time to time? Track down your company’s Marc Benioff, and ask him to commend your salesforce (pun intended).

Involve their better half

Your salespeople aren’t the only ones affected by the long workdays or late nights you ask of your team. Indeed, their families are affected as well. Pick up the phone and offer a weekend getaway or dinner-for-two to the wife of a lagging team member. Hinge the incentive on improved performance, and you won’t be the only one nagging said laggard to get with it.

Create a friendly competition with a sales motivation software

Pitting your people against one another in competition is a healthy way to boost performance. Using a sales motivation platform, you can display a sales leaderboard and notify the team in real time when someone makes a sale. There is little that motivates me more than being outperformed by a counterpart in front of the entire team. Once that sales notification pops up, I’d take a gulp of coffee from my Yeti Rambler and hit the phones!

Finally, here’s my shameless pitch:

Plecto is a sales software that improves motivation, increases productivity, and boosts revenue. In fact, organizations typically experience a 20% increase in sales activities after integrating our product. With Plecto, you can set benchmarks, push sales notifications, and display a leaderboard, all the while staying integrated with your existing system. Check out our full feature list here. Thanks for reading!