Who doesn’t love getting gold stars? Last year alone, Xactly won dozens of awards, including the Top Work Places in the Bay Area and LinkedIn’s Best Company Pages of 2012. But honestly, who’s counting?

While we’re not drowning in modesty, we’re working on better ways to motivate your sales teams. Because we all know that that part can get a bit tricky…especially if you’re doling out gold stars to the wrong performers—or worse—for the wrong reasons.

Like you, we’re obsessed with the science of motivation. Wouldn’t it be great if you could create incentives that truly motivate a sales rep, while at the same time aligning those motivations with your company’s goals?

In order to keep sales reps happy and motivated, be specific. Provide them with:

• Clear sets of rules for healthy competition

• Visibility on goals/compensation

• Dashboards that estimate or show progress

Then, follow these 4 steps from bestselling author Gretchen Rubins, on how to give people praise:

1. Praise sincerely

2. Praise process, not outcome

3. Praise an oft unrecognized person or act (For instance: Sales managers get the best ROI on coaching money by investing in their midlevel performers.)

4. Praise people behind their backs

Once you connect the dots: incentives + objectives + behavior—you’ll be handing out so many gold stars, you’ll lose count.

Christopher Cabrera is president and CEO of Xactly.