A growing element in sales compensation is the use of supplement programs, such as sales contests or nonfinancial incentives. Sales contests typically reward personnel for short-term, highly focused activities. For contests to succeed, salespeople must believe they have an opportunity to compete for the prize. The objectives must be within the reach of each person. A contest that ties rewards to percentage improvement over last year’s sales effort is one way to allow each person to compete. Programs should be simple and easy to communicate. Rewards should be attractive incentives, including cash, travel, or merchandise. With the use of nonfinancial incentives, the goal is to reward the salesperson through recognition-a personal letter, an award, or other publicity. The value of a nonfinancial incentive is to reinforce the salesperson’s higher-order needs, such as selt-esteem, as presented by Maslow (see Chapter 4).