New research from BI WORLDWIDE reveals a persistent gap between what sales teams say motivates them and what drives performance, raising questions about how incentive programmes are designed.

The study, spanning 100 sales leaders and 200 salespeople across EMEA, finds that many organisations continue to base incentives on what employees say they want, often cash rewards, even though behaviour shows other types of incentives are more effective in practice.

This disconnect is having a measurable impact. While 85% of sales leaders believe their incentive programmes motivate their teams, over 30% of salespeople disagree. The gap points to a mismatch between how incentives are designed and how they are received on the ground.

At the heart of the challenge is how motivation is understood. What people say they want is often shaped by instinct or habit, with cash seen as the default answer. Motivation is influenced more strongly by how incentives feel in practice, including whether they feel fair, relevant, and personally meaningful.

The data highlights how this disconnect plays out in programme design. Leaders tend to prioritise public recognition, cited by 45% as the most motivating non-cash incentive, while salespeople place greater value on flexibility and experiences, such as travel or exclusive events.  This misalignment helps explain why many schemes struggle to land in practice.

BI WORLDWIDE has published a data backed playbook to address the issue, setting out how organisations can close the gap by designing incentives around observed behaviour rather than stated preference.

The approach focuses on aligning sales incentives and rewards with how salespeople work and perform, alongside addressing structural gaps in fairness, input and programme visibility that weaken trust and engagement.

The report also highlights the business cost of getting this wrong, noting that incentives built on stated preferences can lead to short-term bursts of activity that are difficult to sustain. By contrast, more effective design supports consistent performance over time and reduces the risk and cost associated with losing high-performing salespeople.

Deborah Watson, International Sales and Channel Incentive Strategy Leader at BI WORLDWIDE said: “Designing around what people say they want can introduce bias into incentive programmes. When organisations focus instead on how people behave and what they experience day to day, they build programmes that resonate more strongly with sales teams and support more consistent performance.”

The findings point to a need for a more deliberate design approach, where incentives are grounded in behavioural science and shaped by real world experience rather than assumption. The full playbook provides practical guidance for organisations looking to reassess their current approach and build programmes that better reflect how their sales teams are motivated. It is available to download from BI WORLDWIDE’s website.