You have many choices when creating and executing a successful sales incentive program. One wrong choice, and you risk enacting a bad strategy, which ultimately leads to ineffective results, low ROI and an unhappy sales force, channel partners and leadership team.
You’ve already made an important choice — the choice to build your program around non-cash incentives. There are many reasons why this is a good decision. Most importantly, cash is transactional, not memorable. Your team or channel partners will quickly spend the cash on everyday purchases like gas or rent, and they will soon forget how they received the extra cash in the first place. This simply isn’t motivating.
But your list of to-do’s isn’t complete just yet. To build an effective sales incentive strategy, you’ll need to make many more significant choices. Here’s our guide:
Choosing the Right Rewards Mix
Your team is diverse. Think about the different personalities, ages and job functions you work with every day.
Consider the various locations your channel partners represent? As the face of the workplace changes, examine the different work settings of each of your employees from various hybrid or work- from-home environments. This wide range of employees and channel partners also means they have wide-ranging expectations when it comes to individual rewards. A one-size-fits-all approach to rewards simply will not motivate your team. Offering a mix of reward types is critical to appealing to all audiences and embracing your team’s diversity.
Your employees or channel partners want the gift of choice, and you can give it to them with a rewards platform that offers a magnitude of rewards including name brand merchandise, gift cards, experiences and event tickets, or even the opportunity to contribute charitable donations. Also, look for a rewards platform that is easy for you to manage and even easier for your employees to navigate.
Choosing the Right Technology
How do you know if your employees or channel partners are actually engaged? Reward redemption shows program participation and audience engagement. This is why it’s important to create a reengagement strategy with communication tools to reach all audiences throughout the sales incentive program. Technology can make this easy. From an easy-to-use online portal, to regular communication via SMS, you can reach your internal team or channel partners in the right ways to make the program enjoyable for all participants and motivate them to participate throughout the duration.
Clunky websites that don’t load correctly when you’re on the go are also a detriment to a successful sales incentive program. To keep engagement high, your participants need to be able to access your portal quickly, especially on mobile devices. Look for technology that was created with a mobile-first design, which means it was designed with the smallest screen in mind.
Choosing the Right Partner
A successful sales incentive program goes beyond simply rewarding your team for a job well done. Instead, you must create a comprehensive sales incentive strategy, and this starts with keeping the end in mind. What are your goals? What will drive your participants to act? A trusted partner will help you analyze all of this so you can build and execute a sales incentive program that builds meaningful relationships with your internal team and channel partners, motivates your audiences, and enhances your bottom line.
A set-it-and-forget-it approach might seem like an easy solution, but who will be there when there are problems? Look for a reliable partner who can help you troubleshoot problems, as well as respond to and manage inquiries. This partner should also constantly review and analyze program measurement in real time rather than waiting until the program is completed. This way, you can work together to modify the program based on this data, ensuring your sales incentive program is successful.
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