Two-thirds of B2B businesses experience a summer sales slump when sales teams disengage mid-year. Sales teams often hit a motivational slump during the summer months. Between vacations, slower deal cycles, and mid-year fatigue, maintaining momentum can be tough. But your sales compensation plan can help generate sales motivation this summer.
In this post, we share three proven ways to use commissions to re-energize sellers, realign behavior to revenue goals, and finish Q3 strong.
Key Takeaways:
- How to use commissions for motivation by creating targeted, short-term SPIFs.
- Reps are more likely to move a deal forward when they can see the earnings impact.
- Recognizing sales reps to increase engagement will help create a Q3 sales performance boost.
1. Run a Targeted, Time-Boxed SPIF
Let’s start by motivating the sales team with short-term commission incentives to give Q3 a sales performance boost. SPIFs, or special performance incentive funds, are limited-time incentives designed to drive specific behaviors. SPIFs are valuable devices to have in your summer sales incentives toolbox that create immediate urgency and laser focus for a set period.
Leverage these tips when creating SPIFs to overcome your summer sales slump:
- Choose a short-term goal aligned to business priorities, such as a new logo, ARR, multi-year deals, or a specific ideal customer profile (ICP).
- Examples of high-impact SPIFF ideas for sales:
- $1,000 bonus for each new logo over $10k closed before July 31
- Double commission for multi-year deals signed in August
- Make it visual and public by using a Slack leaderboard or a QuotaPath dashboard.
- Pro tip: Finance should help model cost vs. expected lift
2. Surface Forecasted Earnings to Connect Pipeline to Payday
Creating your SPIF is a great first step in motivating a sales team. Rep visibility into forecasted earnings is another of our recommended sales comp motivation strategies to generate real-time sales motivation this summer.
Most reps don’t realize how deals in the pipeline = commission dollars. Showing real-time forecasted earnings based on pipeline health and probability enables reps to see how each deal will impact their paycheck.
Reps are more likely to move a deal forward when they can see the earnings impact, prioritizing deals that have the greatest impact rather than those that close the fastest. Use a tool like QuotaPath to give real-time earnings visibility, rather than spreadsheets, for motivating sales teams.
3. Celebrate Attainment Loudly and Often
Another of our sales comp motivation strategies is celebrating wins. This is especially important over the summer months to re-engage sales reps. According to Gallup, employees who receive recognition are 2.9 times as likely to be engaged. They also found that engaged employees are more involved and enthusiastic about their work, resulting in 18% higher sales productivity.
Following these 4 best practices for recognizing sales reps to increase their engagement will help create a Q3 sales performance boost.
- Reinforce progress toward quota and accelerators mid-quarter by keeping it clearly visible.
- Share small wins: “closed won” shoutouts, SPIF winners, attainment streaks, to recognize success and keep reps engaged.
- Use dashboards, Slack channels, or “payday preview” emails to maintain engagement with additional recognition.
- Tie recognition to behaviors, not just results, such as multi-threading and early renewals, as reinforcement.
Design, track, and manage variable incentives with QuotaPath. Give your RevOps, finance, and sales teams transparency into sales compensation.
Talk to SalesConclusion: Summer is Temporary. Momentum is Everything.
The summer sales slump is a common occurrence. Don’t let a seasonal dip drag down your H2 goals. Use your comp plan as a lever, not just a payout engine, to generate sales motivation this summer.
Small tweaks can create urgency, engagement, and better revenue outcomes. Steps such as creating a targeted SPIF, providing reps with visibility into forecasted earnings, and celebrating wins will create a Q3 sales performance boost.
Schedule a demo or start a free trial to see how increased visibility drives desired behaviors and outcomes.
