Sales and channel partners determine a major part of an organization’s revenue, which is why incentivizing their performance has always been an important goal for a company’s management. The main reason organizations don’t get their desired outcomes from channel programs is that they fail to incentivize their partners the right way or fail to make it clear what the reward is in the first place. A successful sales channel incentive program has some common features. Here are some of the most important ones.
Personalized programs
An efficient sales channel incentive program isn’t made to fit all sizes, it’s developed in partnership with the client or partner. You must assess how the partner operates to tailor your incentives accordingly. It’s also important to adhere to the partner’s brand ethos, as well as the needs of their own customers. Rewarding them with multi-brand vouchers can be an easy and effective way to ensure personalisation. Multi-brand vouchers give them the freedom to choose their rewards and is shown to increase the redemption rates up to 80%.
Seamless communication
When partners have a clear understanding of the rewards available, they’re better equipped to deliver what you’re asking. If communicating your incentives is proving difficult, you probably need to rethink things. Create a simple incentive program and communicate it fully to everyone involved.
Realistic targets
If you’re setting targets that are constantly being missed by your partners, the chances are that your sales channel incentive program is just too challenging. And when this is the case, people become disheartened and disincentivized, costing your business both sales and goodwill. Set targets at achievable levels, but make sure they deliver value to your business.
Measurable results
Develop a system for measuring the success of each of your sales incentive programs. After all, each one is different, with its own set of challenges. Partner scorecards can tell you at a glance how all your programs are performing. Having a reward program software can help in gathering the data of your program and measuring its effectiveness.
Make it fun and engaging
An incentive program is more effective when it is fun for everyone involved. It is imperative that you have a rewards and recognition platform make your incentive program engaging. The program interface should be simple, smooth, and user-friendly. Gamification in the R&R module, where employees can exchange rewards or appreciation, have an internal leaderboard, points allocation, etc. can motivation and inspire them to perform better.
Work Backwards
Think about what it is you want your sales channel incentive to achieve. This is where you should begin your program planning. Start with the objective and work backward to create the measurable and achievable goals required to deliver it. Decide on a target that will make the incentive worthwhile to your bottom line. Think about what will drive sales of more expensive products and give your partner the tools and incentives to deliver.
If you want to take your channel program to the next level, you need to start by incentivizing desired behaviours. Compensate people for doing the things you want them to do, and they’ll do them more often. However, manual methods of sales tracking, channel partner data collection and incentive distribution have resisted optimization in this area. The easiest way to transform your sales program is through a data-driven approach to sales incentives, backed by robust technology and a carefully planned incentives structure.
