Selling Incentive Programs to the Sales Troops

Success comes from Relationships

By Jeffrey Hansler, CSP

You hear it all the time. "Incentives don't work." We expect change, but as humans we often fear and resist it. For incentives to work, the proper groundwork must be laid. Incentives are devices used to create a desired change - increased performance. Although increased performance is a positive change, it can be frightening sometimes. How do I know? I'm a salesperson who's experienced both sides of an incentive plan.

I clearly remember a sales manager repeatedly mentioning to a fellow salesperson that she had done so well during an incentive campaign that he expected that level of performance to continue. She finally quit and the message to the rest of the sales force was clear "Don't do too well during future incentive programs or be prepared to face the same attitude". Needless to say, future incentive programs never elicited much change after that.

You would think that offering incentives would obviously result in increased performance. It worked with my children when they were three years old, but at four they were increasingly complex. Sometimes they sacrificed a reward to communicate something either externally or internally more important to them. The same is true for salespeople, who have a few more years behind them in their complexity.

The best incentive programs take into account that the incentive program must be sold to the troops. It takes more work up-front than simply shoving a program down their throats, but just like relationship selling, which requires more effort, it has enormous benefits. Besides salespeople love to be sold, and selling them properly gives them a chance to experience a good sales model.

Incentive programs often come into play when a company is attempting to band-aid deeper problems. If an incentive program hasn't worked for your company, this is a great opportunity to try to find out why. It may have been a bad incentive program (there are plenty of them), or it may have been a deeper problem with market position, salesperson attitude, or management. It is amazing to witness the money invested in incentive programs without consideration for follow-up on the results. Good salespeople always follow-up the possible why's of results.

Values are playing a bigger role in peoples lives, especially with the focus on relationship selling which requires more personal involvement by the buyers and salespeople. The incentive program goals need to be seen by the salesperson as beneficial for their customer, the company, and themselves. One of the best ways to insure this is have your sales team involved in creating the incentive program. The benefits in active participation in the program development are a program congruent with the needs of the salespeople, the company, and their clients, and a sneak pre-introduction to the salespeople that a change in performance is desired. This participation forum for the design of the incentive program will give the salespeople a chance to express any concerns that could impede their success. In this way, personal issues can be cleared up before it affects performance at the cash register.

To make incentives work and to lay the proper groundwork, you must create an environment that allows them the greatest preparation for success. Once you have held your first incentive program, continue to develop new ones. You will soon discover that they pay handsomely for your company, your customers, and the sales staff.

By having ongoing incentive campaigns, your company will become more effective at running them, thus reducing the administrative costs. You spotlight areas that are working and not working, both internally and in your market. Your sales staff has more opportunity for success, self-discovery, and evaluation of their performance. You even increase the chance of helping to discover a dynamite salesperson that was just waiting for the right motivation to shine.

If you haven't run an incentive program for your company before you might proceed with the following steps. Professional assistance with experienced incentive designers will help you avoid disastrous pitfalls, but don't be sidetracked from the involvement of your staff:

 A) Create a handout that explains some basics about incentive programs and ask the following questions:

1.  Would an incentive program help to increase sales?

2.  Do you feel your sales might increase as a result of a special incentive program?

3.  What would be some incentives that would work for you? Please rate these in priority order #1 being the best. ( i.e.: cash, trips, and prizes).

4.  When should we start this program in your mind? Why?

B) Set a meeting expressly to talk about a possible incentive plan. Provide the handout, let them review it and conduct an open discussion on their interest in an incentive program (you may be surprised to find that they may feel other actions would increase sales more) and any ideas they may have. Request them to complete the handout and turn it in. Based on the feedback, you may determine to proceed with the incentive program. If so,

C) Design a general outline for the incentive program. Announce this framework and request volunteers for a small committee.

D) Set two meetings with this committee about two weeks apart. During the two week break have them give and get feedback from those not in the meeting. The second meeting finalizes the program.

E) Implement the incentive plan within 30 days of the second meeting, and learn from what occurs. Six-month intervals to incentives might be a good place to start. You may find that running several small programs during the year and one grander incentive is a good mix for your group.

As a final note, this article is targeted to dealing with the sales staff, but as a sales manager you are in a great position to recommend incentive plans that reward everyone in the company. Use these same hints to introduce incentive programs to other departments, and watch your sales really climb.

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Jeffrey Hansler is a professional speaker, author, and consultant. He is a frequent speaker at association events and is the author of Sell Little Red Hen! Sell! He can be reached at jhansler@oxfordco.com.

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