Of the suggestions that have been made, "incent" seems to grate less on the ear. Of course, you could always use "motivate", though it doesn't seem to carry the same implication of a specific incentive being given for achieving whatever the goal is. For example, you can motivate someone with supportive words, but to really get a sales rep to do anything, you need to incent them with a nice, fat, monetary carrot.

Mark Waddington

Mark Waddington