By now, it’s safe to say everyone is familiar with the concept of motivating sales performance through incentives, rewards and recognition programs. Sure, an all-expense paid trip to some exotic locale can be a powerful motivational tool. But even the best prize can prove ineffective if your contest loses the momentum it needs to keep your sales team on task.

The key to doubling the effectiveness of your sales program without doubling your budget is simple. Engagement.

Here are 3 easy and effective ways you can keep your people engaged and attentive throughout the length of your sales program:

1) Use Real-Time Updates. Think about it like this, would you read a newspaper from three days ago? Probably not, it’s full of old news, old information and old numbers. So why give your people old information during the sales program? Use dynamic, data-driven content automated to update in real-time to give participants a reason to stay consistently engaged.

2) Unleash the Inner-Competitor. A little friendly trash talking never hurt anyone – and, if anything, it can be an extremely effective motivator. That’s why any effective program should create opportunities for social networking, giving participants the chance to fuel healthy competition.

3) Let the Inmates Run the Asylum. Once you’ve designed the sales program, let people roam free and explore the possibilities. This creates an atmosphere that allows your program to become self-sustaining. As people share insights, tips and stories with each other, the content becomes richer and people become excited to be part of it.

Generating excitement for your program up front is still an important step in creating a buzz and promoting that crucial initial engagement. But the ultimate success or failure of your program lies in your ability to achieve sustainability. The secret to that lies within your contestants themselves – all it takes is smart engagement.

See first-hand how these tactics helped H&R Block tackle their sales motivation goals head on.