Month: June 2014

Incentive and Recognition Program ROI – Review Objectives and Indicators

Incentive and Recognition Program ROI – Review Objectives and Indicators“I”

“I BELIEVE”

“I BELIEVE THAT”

“I BELIEVE THAT WE”

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL KEEP OUR INCENTIVE/RECOGNITION PROGRAM FRESH BY REVISING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES THROUGHOUT THE LIFE OF THE PROGRAM.”

Now that we have that out of the way, I find myself guilty of not pushing clients to adjust program goals and objectives as their needs evolve.  For example, if you are a transportation company and you have a recognition program implemented to specifically focus on tenure, because you have high turnover.  That works.  Let’s say six months later, you see a continuing rise in late deliveries.  Late deliveries will cost you money in lost business, so does it not make sense to add a measurement for on-time deliveries to your program?  Just like you are paying for the tenure portion of your program with reduced training costs, you can pay for this part of your program with a percentage of the business gained or not lost due to late deliveries.

On the sales incentive side, it is equally important to continue to update your goals and objectives.  This is probably the easier side to understand.  As a salesperson myself, I think it is safe to say that the majority of us have at least a slight case of ADD.  I often find myself distracted by the newest shiny object.  Sales professionals in general are also accustomed to a culture of friendly (and sometimes not so friendly!) competition among their peers.  It only makes sense that this same philosophy should apply to the sales incentive program.  For example, we want to improve the sales process of our sales team.  Let’s use our platform to issue points for attending training seminars/webinars.  We have two lines of products, one is a higher margin item and one is a lower margin item.  Let’s increase sales of the higher margin items by offering double points in the 3rd quarter for sales of the higher margin product, which we are glad to pay for with a percentage of the higher margin products.

Having confessed that sometimes I need to be more aggressive in helping my clients make adjustments as programs evolve, there is a silver lining to brighten my mood.  Our  account management team is always focused on the task.  They analyze program data and compile quarterly reviews – providing our clients with a clear picture of incentive and recognition program effectiveness.  With this information we are able to make adjustments in order to improve program results and keep engagement high among participants.

Contact us here, or give us a call at 800.621.9745 for assistance with your current or future programs.

July – Incentive Program KPI Awareness Month

OK – I admit naming July as Incentive Program KPI Awareness Month is a stretch (and hard to say in one breath), but turns out it isn’t really that far off the plate (just a little bit outside).  We have no shortage of national awareness causes and events each month and July is no exception. … Read more »

Program Design: Balancing Meaningful Budgets and Measurable Expectations

Our sales team recently worked on a channel sales opportunity that highlighted the importance of program design – specifically balancing the program budget and participant expectations. The key to success in this process is to understand and reconcile the following factors: the value of expected incentive earnings that will be meaningful to the program participant,… Read more »