Years ago, I was talking with a prospect (now a client), and he shared with me his concern over a failed mid-year Sales Incentive program. We discussed the various program components, and when I asked how he had communicated the program to his sales force, he indicated that he had made a “big splash” when kicking off the six-month program, which had him perplexed as to why the promotion wasn’t a success. As we dug into specifics however, this gentleman admitted that, other than monthly sales volume statements, he had not promoted the program once during its six month run. He just expected his sales team to remember that the Incentives were out there and to get selling. Case closed. . .no program communications or promotion led to the demise of the program. Looking back, I can only wish that all of our clients’ problems were as easy to diagnose and fix.
Properly designed Incentive Programs change behaviors and deliver business results in all sorts of areas, including sales, safe work, quality, productivity, referrals, attendance, and idea generation. But when Incentive programs don’t drive results as planned, it is usually because the organization forgot to take a holistic approach and neglected to include one or more of six key program components; let’s call them the Incentive Basics.
Sales and Marketing managers are already familiar with each of the Incentive Basics, but over the next few months, we’ll dig into each of them in depth as a refresher course on Incentive Program design, regardless of if you are in Sales, Human Resources, Plant Management or any other discipline. The reality is that most incentive solutions in place today are lacking either a holistic approach or attention to some of the Building Blocks (or both!), hindering the chances for optimal results.
Here are the six Incentive Basics that you always need to holistically weave into your performance program:
• Performance Strategy
• Communications Plan
• Training
• Rewards
• Analytics
• Recognition
Miss any of these elements, and you are decreasing your chances of a successful Incentive initiative. As we check back in, start analyzing how your Incentive program fares in each of the above areas, and begin thinking about how you can Reimagine Incentives to re-engage your participants and better change behaviors and drive performance.
