Sales incentives strategies to engage, inspire & motivate

We love the thought of incentives driving productivity and rewards tied to growth. There's a pile of data out there that justifies the spend for a catalog or points for travel. We spent countless resources after the recession finding data points that proved programs worked and improved their effectiveness. And finally, a breather letting us focus on business as usual. Right?

Maybe not so right. The ever-shifting world of the go-to-market chain is winding up right now to throw us yet another curve ball: the options and opportunities of the job quitter.

According to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) job quitting is on a substantial upswing. Quits exceeding layoffs is a fairly decent constant and a sign of an economy that's at least comfortable. Layoffs and discharges outnumbered quits during the recession through 2009, but things rebounded in a somewhat healthy fashion in the years that followed.

But recently the options for the employee seems to be limitless, and the result is a knock on the loyalty of the employee. In May 2019, JOLTS reported 3.4 million quits against 1.8 million layoffs and discharges.

That means action is necessary. Compensation is one angle, but it's rarely enough. It needs more teeth.

Combined monetary and non-monetary reward and recognition programs can drive improvement in recruiting, performance and – wait for it – employee and partner retention.

A recent study performed by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) took a look at what Top Performing Technology Companies do differently for Incentives and Rewards. This study found that top performing technology firms are significantly more likely than those at average performing firms to:

• Regard their reward and recognition programs as a competitive advantage (twice as likely – 86% vs 44%)
• Believe that rewards and recognition are a critical tool in managing the performance of the company (15% more likely)
• Strongly agree that their reward and recognition programs are effective recruitment tools (33% more likely)

In a channel environment, can a "thank you", "good job", or "thumbs up" really matter? We believe so. According to a January 2019 study by Harvard, companies with strong recognition programs enjoy increased productivity, lower job turnover, and greater returns on investment than other companies in the same industries. And the IRF tells us that top performing companies in their research were over 20% more likely to assert that their non-cash reward programs were effective recruitment, retention, and engagement tools.

The war for talent – both recruiting and retaining – is more real today than it has been in years. To win, your organization needs not only the right compensation plan, the right manager and the right work benefits, but it needs the right reward and recognition tools as well.

Luckily you know a team of experts in the space who are more than happy to spend the time it takes to better understand your needs and design a recognition, incentive and reward solution that can fight the good fight against turnover.

Consider that a blatant plug for our services.