Protect their time: You can’t sell if you aren’t spending time with customers.

Selling can be a brutal business. You have to have strength, determination, and endless optimism. If you aren’t able to survive being told “no” by customers dozens of times a day, selling may not be your game.

The point is sales reps invest incredible amounts of emotional energy just to stay in the game. They believe in the product and the company or they wouldn’t keep showing up for work, but sometimes – especially in the middle of a run of bad luck or a down economy – there may be days that they aren’t sure they believe in themselves. Therefore, one of the best things that a sales manager can do for the sales team is to maximize any and every opportunity to celebrate every win, every time, for every rep.

This is not new information for sale organizations; at least, it isn’t totally new. Most sales organizations are very good at celebrating the achievements of high performers. The people at the top of the leader board who win most of the incentive prizes – the trips, the free dinners at pricey restaurants, etc. – have plenty of opportunities to celebrate. Also, most people who meet or exceed their quota – even if they aren’t in the top performer category – will usually find a nice bonus in their next check, which is a good feeling.

However, everyone, including top performers, can still endure losing streaks that last longer than usual. And this economy can be disheartening for sales teams who show up and make a contribution but are having a hard time reaching quota on a consistent basis. How can sales managers keep people motivated and moving when the deals seem to be just out of reach?

Some sales managers wait too long and then don’t celebrate enough. Too many sales reps only celebrate the big wins, or focus on the big numbers being generated by the high performers. That only puts more pressure – and more discouragement – on those who are feeling small right now. In fact, celebrating can be linked to many achievements besides hitting the highest revenue targets. One of the clear roles of the sales manager is to create contests that give everyone the opportunity to win while driving corporate objectives. Here are 12 ideas for sales contests that sales managers can use to create opportunities to celebrate:

1. All if total sales are above $X at a minimum of X% margin.
2. Salesperson with greatest month to month sales increase.
3. Salesperson with highest sales volume from NEW customers.
4. Salesperson who revives the most PAST customers.
5. All if each salesperson on the team meets or exceeds sales goals.
6. Salesperson with highest single sale or shipment.
7. Salesperson who sells the highest PRE-PAID order.
8. Salesperson with largest sale in a region.
9. Salesperson with the highest total Gross Margin (regardless of dollar value).
10. Salesperson with highest margin on NEW customer.
11. Salesperson with the highest average margin on an EXISTING customer.
12. Salesperson with the highest sales in a certain product line/category