A recent study of sales organizations at Best-In-Class (BIC) companies reveals that they are more likely to use recognition in the form of non-cash rewards to boost sales staff performance.

A majority (55%) of respondents to a recent survey conducted by Aberdeen Group and distributed by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) indicate that noncash incentives and rewards are a "vital component" of sales performance management, and 57% say that "internal recognition for positive performance" is a critical nonfinancial motivator.

The February 2013 Aberdeen Research Brief, Non-Cash Incentives: Best Practices to Optimize Sales Effectiveness, explores how BIC organizations extend beyond simple cash compensation to use noncash incentives and rewards as a vital part of their modern B2B sales performance management efforts.

Aberdeen Group surveyed 312 end-user organizations to better understand how sales performance management is most effectively deployed. BIC firms (those comprising the top 20%) had higher customer retention rates, higher year-over-year increase in the number of sales reps achieving quota and a much larger increase in deal size/contract value than industry average firms or 'laggard firms' (those comprising the bottom 30%).

The Research Brief, supported and distributed by the IRF, found that organizations with formal internal sales employee recognition programs had 14.8% higher team quota attainment and 5.9% higher customer renewal rate.

The study also found that BIC firms were:

• 11% more likely to offer verbal praise, 90% more likely to offer public recognition and 94% more likely to offer peer-to-peer recognition for progress towards goal versus all other firms;
• 23% more likely than all others to offer group travel, 75% more likely to offer company sponsored events, and 60% more likely to offer peer-to-peer recognition as a year-end sales incentive; and
• 26% more likely than all others to list teamwork as a very important part of the sales process—and 47% more likely than laggard firms.