What is the difference between sales incentives and sales promotions?
Last Updated: 28.06.2025 07:47
A sales incentive is any amount of money or non-monetary reward offered to motivate salespeople to sell. This could be cash, debit card, gift cards, reward points redeemable for merchandise, or group incentive trips.
Different sales incentives have different advantages and best use cases.
In a sales or distribution channel, a sales promotion can also be a limited opportunity for a vendor or supplier’s business buyers to get rewards or bonuses for selling a particular product or service. For instance, if the supplier has a points-based loyalty program, distributors or dealers could earn double reward points for buying or selling products.
Sales promotions can have a couple of different definitions, depending on the context.
Debit and gift card rewards work well for short-term SPIFs. People already know how to use them—get right to the motivation! Great for international participant bases—mail a physical card or email e-cards.
Online rewards, or points-based rewards, are effective for long-term goals like employee engagement and customer loyalty. Ideal for large or diverse participant bases—easiest way to offer a wide variety of desirable rewards.
Group incentive travel is great for when you want to reach a MAJOR goal. No other reward will have such a massively positive impact.
In retail, a sales promotion might refer to a discount or special offer on a product. This is usually associated with the release of a new product. For ex., “The local donut shop is running a two-for-one promotion on their new flavor, Peanut Butter and Chicken.”