Start with the job, not the prize
You want your team to sell more, so you put up a prize. The top rep wins it again, the bottom half stops trying by week two, and a month later you're wondering why nothing changed.
The prize was fine. The problem was what it rewarded. A prize for "most revenue" goes to whoever had the biggest deal land, which your best rep would have closed anyway.
So before you pick a reward, pick the job:
- More activity: calls, meetings, proposals.
- Lifting the reps in the middle, who have the most room to grow.
- Getting new reps through their first months.
- A team goal everyone pulls toward.
- Recognition that costs nothing.
- A short push on one product or one number, with cash.
The ideas below are sorted by those jobs. For the bigger picture on keeping a team going week to week, how to motivate a sales team covers targets, routines and burnout. For contest design and points, see sales gamification. Below you'll find the ideas themselves, with how to run each.
Ideas that reward effort
Effort is the part of selling a rep controls. Rewarding it helps the reps who are doing the right things in a slow month.
1. Activity points week
Give points for the things that lead to sales: say 1 for a call, 3 for a meeting, 5 for a proposal. Highest points by Friday wins. Activity points explains how teams set the weights.
What goes wrong: reps log calls that didn't happen. Spot-check a few each week and say you will.
2. Personal best
Each rep competes with their own last four weeks. Beat your best week for meetings booked and you win, whoever you are.
What goes wrong: nothing much. It's the fairest format there is. It just doesn't create much buzz on its own.
3. The most no's
Reward the most rejections in a week. It gets reluctant callers dialling, because a no counts too.
What goes wrong: run it longer than a week and reps start chasing no's instead of yeses. Keep it short, then use the reasons they heard to update your objection answers.
4. First call before 9
Every day a rep makes their first call before 9am earns a ticket. Draw one ticket on Friday for a prize.
What goes wrong: it rewards the start, not the whole day. Pair it with something else.
Ideas that lift the middle
Your top rep is motivated already. The reps ranked third to sixth are where one extra deal a month adds up.
5. Most improved
Reward the biggest jump from last month to this month, on a number you choose. A rep going from 4 meetings a week to 7 wins over one going from 12 to 13.
What goes wrong: a rep who had a bad month last time gets an easy win. Use a four-week average as the starting point.
6. Tiers, not a single winner
Everyone who hits a set number earns the reward. Hit 10 meetings this month, get the afternoon off on Friday. Five reps can all win.
What goes wrong: the bar is too high for most, or too low to mean anything. Set it at what your middle reps hit in a good month.
7. Raffle tickets for hitting targets
Each target hit earns a ticket: daily calls, weekly meetings, a proposal sent. More tickets, better odds, but anyone can win.
What goes wrong: very little. The top rep will still have the most tickets, and a rep in the middle still has a real chance.
8. Buddy pairs
Pair a stronger rep with one who's behind. If the pair's combined number beats their target, both win.
What goes wrong: pairs that don't get on. Let people swap after the first week.
Ideas for new reps
A new rep can't win a revenue contest in month one. Give them something they can win.
9. Ramp milestones
A small reward for each first: first 50 calls, first meeting booked, first proposal, first signed deal. Sales rep onboarding covers what the first 30 days should look like.
10. Lunch with the founder
After their first signed deal, the new rep gets lunch with the owner or the head of sales. It costs one lunch and they'll remember it.
11. A separate rookie board
New reps in their first 90 days rank only against each other.
What goes wrong with all three: forgetting them. Put the milestones in the calendar so you notice when someone hits one.
Ideas for team goals
Team goals get reps helping each other instead of guarding leads.
12. Team target, team reward
If the team hits the month's number, everyone gets the reward: a dinner, a half day, an outing they pick.
What goes wrong: one rep carries the team and resents it. Add a floor, for example everyone must hit their own activity target in three of the four weeks to join in.
13. Team against team
Split into two teams, balanced by past numbers, and run a two-week contest on meetings booked.
What goes wrong: unbalanced teams. Pick them yourself, from each rep's last month.
14. A shared bar on the wall
A bar that fills with each meeting booked across the team, with a reward at the top. It's simple, and everyone can see it.
Recognition that costs nothing
These are sales recognition ideas you can start on Monday. Recognition works best when it's specific: what the rep did, not just that they won.
15. The Monday shout-out
Start the weekly meeting by naming one rep and exactly what they did: "Priya called back all eleven quiet leads from March, and two booked."
16. A note from the owner
A two-line message from the founder to a rep that names the deal or the effort. It takes a minute and gets shown to partners.
17. The rep picks the next contest
Last month's winner chooses the next contest format or prize. It gives them a say and keeps ideas fresh.
18. The rep teaches the team
Ask the rep who did something well to show the team how, for ten minutes. Being asked is the reward.
Cash and SPIFFs
Cash is clear and everyone likes it. It's also the easiest reward to get wrong.
19. A SPIFF on one product or one action
A SPIFF is a short bonus for one sale or action, on top of commission, until an end date. Use it for one job, like the new service, demos in a quiet month or old stock.
What goes wrong: reps push the SPIFF product to buyers who don't need it. Keep it short, two to four weeks, and check what was sold.
20. A small cash prize for the weekly winner
A fixed amount for the top rep on the week's contest.
What goes wrong: when cash is the only thing on offer, reps stop doing anything that doesn't pay, so run it alongside the recognition ideas.
Keep contest cash separate from the commission plan. If a contest changes what people are paid in a way the plan doesn't say, write it down first.
Rules that stop gaming
Any contest will be gamed if it can be. A few rules close most of the gaps:
- Count what can be checked. A meeting in the calendar, a proposal sent, a logged call with an outcome.
- Spot-check each week, and say at the start that you will.
- Never reward a number that hurts the buyer: calls under a minute, discounts, deals pushed from next month into this one.
- Run each contest for two to four weeks, then change the format.
- Make sure at least half the team can win something. If the same person wins every time, change the format.
- Publish the rules before the start, and don't change them halfway.
- Stop a contest that's making people miserable, even if the numbers look good.
Made-up example: Rosa manages six reps selling office equipment leases. Meetings booked have slipped from about 30 a week to 22.
Week 1: she picks the job, more meetings, and runs raffle tickets: one ticket for every meeting booked. The prize is a Friday afternoon off. She tells the team she'll check each meeting against the calendar.
Week 2: meetings are back to 27. The top rep has 11 tickets, but the draw goes to Ben, who booked 4, his best week in two months. The team cheers, because he'd been quiet.
Week 3: she spots two meetings logged with no calendar invite. She raises it in the Monday meeting without naming anyone and repeats the rule. It doesn't happen again.
Week 4: she switches to "most improved" on a four-week average, and gives a Monday shout-out to the rep who called every quiet lead from the spring. Meetings are at 29. Total spend for the month: one afternoon off and two coffee vouchers.
Effort contests need a count everyone trusts. ActivityTracker's leaderboard turns every call and meeting your reps log into points, it's the board they check midweek, and the week's rankings post to your team's group chat.
What to do first
- Pick one number that's slipped, and write it down as the contest's job.
- Choose one format from the matching section above.
- Write the rules on one page, with how you'll check, and share them before Monday.
- Run it for two weeks, then count: did the number move, and who won?
- Change the format for the next round, and keep one recognition habit going between contests.
If you'd rather run the board in a spreadsheet, the sales leaderboard template scores calls, meetings and proposals and names the most improved rep.