Well managed well throughout incentive programs play an important part in achieving and exceeding sales targets. If you incentives are structured properly they can result in a high level of motivation.
Here are a few basic principles I recommend to my clients.
- Avoid incentives where individual salespeople are competing directly with each other to win a single prize. This often causes animosity. It is much better to ensure that every person has a chance to achieve an incentive by reaching a certain level of sales.
2. Incentives should be introduced with some pizzazz and excitement to help generate an air of urgency. Incentives are designed to get salespeople excited and motivated so the way they are presented needs to reflect this.
3. Incentives should not be long-term – usually a month and, under certain circumstances, incentives could be offered for one week only. Don’t’ make the mistake of running incentive programmes more than three months.
The fact is It is hard to sustain interest in incentive programs if they are run the over too long a period of time. Salespeople tend to focus on incentives only when they are close to achieving them. A year-long incentive, for example, will only really generate real interest among salespeople about three months from the end of the year (by which time it’s too late to impact on the result) – for the rest of the year, the incentive seems too far away.
Have a great week selling your stuff.
Mike
PS.Have you tried out my 7-day challenge yet?
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME OUT!
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