Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! As it turns out, you don’t need the Blarney Stone to make your sales incentive program successful – just a solid design and consistent, meaningful communications. According to legend, kissing the Blarney Stone imparts incredible persuasive skill – but because most of us are a great distance from the Blarney Castle near Cork, Ireland – we’ll have to rely on best practices to engage and motivate program participants.
Keep these suggestions in mind when searching for your sales incentive program “pot o’ gold”-
A proper rules structure is vital to sales team motivation and sustained program engagement. Make sure objectives are clearly defined, measurable and obtainable. If benchmarks are used to allow eligibility – avoid setting the bar too high. Ensure that performance–reward ratios are appropriate for each objective.
Communication is crucial for getting a sales incentive program off the ground and rolling. Program stakeholders need to clearly understand things like strategy, goals, roles; and program participants need to understand the program value proposition, reward structure and rules. Communications that mark the program launch build the brand and drive participant awareness, interest and enrollment. Ongoing communications promote product sales and encourage participant engagement.
Equip your sales team by educating them on product features and benefits. Knowledgeable teams outperform less-educated teams – and are much more confident in sales related activities.
Track, measure and inform participants of progress made. Conduct progress reviews – communicating to participants that they are being held accountable for results – and rewarded for successes.
When designing your program be sure to distinguish between a contest, sales incentive or recognition construct – the effectiveness of which will be determined by purpose, participants and desired program objectives.
Contact us to find out more about sales incentives – and how to get the most out of your next program.
