Generally, I like to err on the side of keeping things as simple as possible, and sales rep compensation is no different. Compensation plans like commission based on 50% of the first four months revenue are easy to understand and manage. Sometimes the desire arises to implement special sales rep incentives to help get a new product launched or get initial traction in a new market.
Here are a few special sales rep incentive ideas:
- Double Commission on the First 10 Deals – Paying out extra commission is a great way to incentivize reps when there’s a new, unproven opportunity that’s potentially strategic to the company.
- Add Extra Commission for Certain Customer Segment – If the push is to move up market or sell bigger deals, add addition commission for that type of new customer for a specific time period (always have a time period limit to special incentives).
- Comp on Logos – Some markets are a race to build marketshare and get out in front of the competition. One approach here is to compensate sales reps based on the number of logos (customers) they sign that fit a profile (e.g. Fortune 1000 companies) instead of based on the size of the deal knowing that market share or land and expand will pay off in the long run.
Keep sales rep compensation plans simple and straightforward. Selectively use special incentives when needed to better align the rep and the company.
What else? What are some more special sales rep incentive ideas?
David Cummings on Startups 
Another option – gamification and incentivizing the micro-moments and behaviors that are backed-up by data to lead to great results, rather than just waiting to incentive the results themselves.
salesman is a very assets specially for the company. Without sales, a product will not send for the customer. Selling is very important today.
Adding extra commission for cold calling leads.
Sales is a job where you can be successful either you’re working hard and smart, or you’re just lucky that your product has 90% of market share and pretty much all you need to do is waiting for customers to call you. For companies who are trying to gain market share, you have to do targeted marketing (for sure). And at the same time, sales team should be incentivized to go out there and really sell to the customers who don’t even know you existed. Just my 2 cents.