In sales, victory lies with the bold, persistent, and innovative. But how can you ensure you keep hold of that talent?
First, you must show your high achievers that you’ve seen their hard work by putting them in the spotlight via an awards ceremony. It’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate every feat, every smart strategy, and every quiet act of resistance.
This guide will walk you through the 15 best sales award ideas that work to motivate and inspire a team. Delve into the many ways you can showcase all the accomplishments and talent that help drive your business forward.
1. The Top Seller Award
The Top Seller Award is a high-profile, prestigious award honoring the person who achieved the most sales. How you measure this will depend on your company. But you could use total sales volume, number of new sales, or profit margin.
This classic employee recognition award is a great motivational tool. It’s a fairly measured prize that singles out someone for their effort. It fosters healthy competition and shows you value high-performing individuals.
Prizes for this award should be tempting enough to push your sales team to go that extra mile. Examples include cash bonuses, premium vacation packages, and high-value gift cards.
Alternatively, you could opt for experiential rewards like masterclasses or industry events. Some businesses even offer company shares as rewards.
2. Rising Star Award
The Rising Star Award celebrates the achievements of someone relatively new to the role.
It’s given to a sales team member who has made a noticeable impact in a short space of time. This is an individual who won’t necessarily have made the most sales, but their potential performance shows a promising upward trend.
Organizations can pick some career-enhancing prizes for this sort of award. That might include extra training, or it could be exclusive mentorship with senior leadership or tuition fees for further education.
A plaque award for their workplace will also serve as a reminder of their accomplishments.
This award is vital because it allows any new hire to excel. Plus, it nurtures that growth and helps you create the next generation of sales stars for your business. It fosters a culture that values progress as much as results.
3. Customer Champion Award
Your sales team has the most frequent interactions with your customers, so it makes sense that you should reward them for helping to nurture that customer relationship.
The Customer Champion Award honors the person with the best customer satisfaction awards.
You could do that by a measured score using customer surveys, or you could make that choice based on exceptional feedback from a customer about a member of your sales team.
Recipients of this reward could be presented with an engraved plaque as public recognition of their efforts. You could also provide prizes such as extra time off work or a financial bonus.
This award is a great way to put customer excellence first. It will remind your team of the importance of customer happiness as much as revenue.
4. The Game Changer Award
You don’t have to focus on your product design team to find innovators- they exist in every part of the organization. You are likely to have creative problem solvers in your sales team too.
The Game Changer Award is a title given to the most innovative salesperson on your team. This award is for someone who thought outside the box to secure a challenging sales deal.
You can reward that person with a customized glass award. And you can offer the opportunity to attend career-boosting events and conferences.
An award like this cultivates an environment where people problem-solve to find sales solutions. Recognizing and rewarding innovation will help your teams think beyond traditional sales roles.
5. The Team Player Award
Great teamwork is the hallmark of any successful sales department, and the Team Player award is something for you to offer to the individual who has made the most outstanding contribution to the team.
This may be an award to someone not involved in direct sales. Nevertheless, their support and collaboration make them a central part of the team.
Rewards could include personal perks like vouchers for events, meals, or experiences. You could also reward an entire team with a group event. This award emphasizes that successful selling is a collaborative effort.
By rewarding a team player, you’ll create a powerful message that unity and shared goals help your business to thrive.
6. Most Notable Turnaround Award
The Notable Turnaround Award recognizes the sales representative who made a surprising transformation. It could be turning around a declining sales account into a success story.
It could be securing an incredible deal when all seemed lost. It is a way to showcase an individual’s resilience, perseverance, and strategic prowess. In addition to an award, recognize this individual publicly.
For example, you could explain the turnaround story via an employee awards ceremony or in the company newsletter. You could also offer a generous award that recognizes the effort that has gone into pulling something back from the brink of failure.
A financial or career prize is perfect in this situation. By rewarding determination, you foster a more resilient team, and you send a message that failure is temporary, not permanent.
7. The Cross-Selling Guru Award
As the title implies, the Cross Selling Guru Award recognizes someone who has successfully cross-sold a product or service. It’s an accolade that values the importance of product knowledge.
The role played in understanding the needs of your most loyal customers; Reward this person by writing their name on a perpetual plaque plus something that helps boost their product knowledge.
It could be a free product, or a unique training opportunity, maybe offering them a job placement in another company area. This award tells your team about the importance of understanding your product.
When you understand the features and benefits of a product or service, you can sell that to anyone, even if it’s not a product the customer requested.
8. The Most Referrals Award
The Most Referrals Award goes to the person who has secured the highest number of new customers via referrals.
It’s the ideal reward if you have a referral scheme for your business. And it’s a way of rewarding efforts from networking and relationship-building. You could also make this part of your prize, in addition to an award.
For example, you could reward the winner with tickets to prestigious networking conferences. An overseas event is a perfect example if that’s within your budget.
It will show the rest of the team the value of building relationships and growing revenue via a business network. And ensure referral schemes always play a part in helping to grow your customer base.
9. The Best Product Knowledge Award
The Best Product Knowledge award is a subjective choice. Still, it’s offered to someone who demonstrates exceptional information about your product or service.
It’s an excellent award to include if you operate in a high-tech or science industry where product knowledge is challenging.
You can pair this award with a prize that gives the winner access to new products before they hit the market. And as an accolade, it underscores the importance of product knowledge and sales success.
It will drive the rest of the team to improve their understanding. It also reminds the sales team that part of selling is about the ability to convey the value of a product. And you can only do that if you understand that product or service inside-out.
10. The Negotiator Award
The Negotiator Award is given to the person who managed the most challenging negotiation and closed that deal.
Since negotiation skills are such an integral part of selling, this is an essential award on your list. Pair the award with prizes such as books, workshops, or training packages.
This award stresses the importance of following proven negotiation skills when closing a sale. It’s worth using this as an opportunity for the winner to run a workshop with the rest of the team so that they can learn from the winner’s achievements.
The Negotiation Award serves as inspiration for everyone in a sales team. It will help them push their communication skills and take critical steps to secure a significant sale.
11. The Social Selling Star Award
Social media is beginning to play a more significant role in selling.
Even for big companies with lengthy negotiations, social media plays a part. This modern award recognizes that role, highlighting the person who has made the most impact via social media challenges.
It could be someone who has leveraged social media to engage with prospects, or it might be a person in your team who has created viral marketing via social media and helped boost company revenue.
This award can go to anyone in your office who uses social media challenges to market your business.
In sales, victory lies with the bold, persistent, and innovative. But how can you ensure you keep hold of that talent?
First, you must show your high achievers that you’ve seen their hard work by putting them in the spotlight via an awards ceremony. It’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate every feat, every smart strategy, and every quiet act of resistance.
This guide will walk you through the 15 best sales award ideas that work to motivate and inspire a team. Delve into the many ways you can showcase all the accomplishments and talent that help drive your business forward.
12. The Above and Beyond Award
The Above and Beyond Award celebrates the accomplishments of someone who did more than their job role. It is a plaque to give to someone who showed exceptional commitment to your company and the team.
That could be working extra hours to meet a deadline, solving a complex problem, or stepping outside their role to get something done. Reward options could include a high-profile award ceremony, vacation, or vouchers.
By making this award part of your business, you’ll show the value you place on dedication and hard work. It will encourage everyone to take extra steps to achieve something in your industry.
13. Best Sales Presentation Award
Your sales team must have exceptional presentation skills when selling your products and services. You can reward efforts in this area by offering the standout star a Best Sales Presentation Award.
It should be someone who delivers the most effective and persuasive sales presentation. Prizes for this achievement could be job-related, such as a training workshop or cutting-edge presentation software.
It could be the chance to present at a more senior-level company event. This award highlights the importance of exceptional communication skills and the art of storytelling.
It will push the rest of your sales team to fine-tune their presenting skills and learn from the best.
14. The Peak Performance Award
The Peak Performance Award is something to give to someone who consistently excels and surpasses their target.
It could be someone who didn’t quite hit the Top Seller Award but still deserves recognition for a consistently high effort. Rewards could include cash bonuses, advancement opportunities like placements, or exclusive access to important company events.
This award places value on sustained excellence rather than one-off achievements. It shows you value someone who has consistently pushed themselves to be their best.
By recognizing enduring performance, you’ll create an atmosphere will others strive for excellence too. And it places importance on long-term sales results rather than short-term gains.
15. Lifetime Achievement Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award is conferred to someone who has dedicated years to the role. It’s for someone who has been with your company for years and demonstrated commitment and loyalty.
They may have even been a mentor for some of your more junior sales executives. It’s a high honor that should include a commemorative plaque plus a generous financial prize.
And don’t forget to feature this person in your company-wide communications to thank them. It will offer an inspirational figure to the rest of the team. It will show your salespeople what a skilled and committed team member does and what they can achieve.
Fifteen Winning Sales Award Ideas
Rewarding and recognizing your team is the best way to drive sales results.
It’s how you’ll retain the most talented people and how you’ll motivate those who can stretch themselves further. Use these sales award ideas to plan your next annual award event for your business.
Take the time now to order the plaques for your sales awards by heading to our corporate product range. Our stunning and impressive products will show your team how much you value their service.