Sales is one of the toughest, most competitive fields in business. Successful salespersons invest a huge amount of time and resources into their education, training and experience just to have the required intelligence, attitude and skills that will enable them to bring the bacon, so to speak, to their companies.

With today’s fast-changing landscape, businesses need to make sure that they get no less than the best sales professionals for their team if they want to keep up with the competition. Once they have found high-performing people, they should make it a mission to invest in their training and development as part of a winning talent retention and management program. If you don’t, rival companies can easily present them a more tempting offer and a more inspiring and motivating work environment.

Businesses should invest in the right strategy that provides incentives for salespeople who are good at what they do. The right incentive will work two ways: one,drive your people to become top performers, and two, make them feel happy and inspired while doing their work. After all, you need your best people to be happy and hardworking, not miserably slaving away, if you want them to stay.

To launch incentives that transform your sales results, keep the following in mind:

Align the incentives program with your business goals. Be clear about the business objectives that you want to achieve when developing your incentives program. Know your purpose and communicate why you are offering it, so that every decision you make will be connected to the overall goals of the business. Effective sales incentives result in higher employee loyalty, increased sales, better customer experience andimproved brand loyalty.

Think about your employee profile. If most of your salespeople belong to a certain demographic, align the incentives according to what will be most appreciated by their group. For instance, a younger, sporty team will love an adventure-filled trip, while older workers will look forward to a family holiday. If your sales team is composed of people from various demographics, offer incentives with a universal appeal, such as avisit to a popular tourist spot or vacation on a hotel resort.

Make it about the experience. Studies have shown that experience-based incentives, instead of cold, hard cash, produce better and longer-lasting results. That’s why offering travel incentives are increasingly becoming the emerging options for many businesses today. The gift of meaningful travel makes employees feel that they are appreciated for their performance, and the memory of that trip will drive them to do their best long after they get back to work from the vacation.

Customize according to your needs. Talk to a reputableincentives travel agency about your requirements, budgets and expectations, and they’ll be happy to recommend the package that will be most suitable for your sales team and will bring the most benefits to your employees and the business.