Best Practices
Working with an Incentive Program Management Partner
You know why incentives are important, how to design a program of your own, and the nuts and bolts of running programs targeted at both employees and customers. But before you launch a program on your own, you’ve got one last question. Is it worth working with an outside firm? Would it be better to outsource some (or all) of this work, rather than [...]
What to Look for (and Avoid) in a Bank
Banks and Rewards First things first: Most banks don’t offer custom prepaid and reloadable debit cards. And if they do, they typically don’t offer them for the purposes of offering an incentive program. Sure, there are quite a few options such as American Express gift cards. And if you’re a very small company that isn’t planning to set up a web portal and doesn’t [...]
What Are Channel Incentive Programs, And How Do They Work?
What Are Channel Incentive Programs, And How Do They Work? Here's the good news — your business is growing steadily. You've got a great team and the resources to keep up. But, you don't want to stay where you are in terms of growth. You want to get bigger and better and serve more customers and clients. How can you continue to grow and [...]
The Pros and Cons of Using Gift Cards for Small Businesses
The Pros and Cons of Using Gift Cards for Small Businesses While there's a lot to be said for reloadable debit cards, they're not the perfect solution for every type of business. Sometimes, using a gift card can have some benefits, especially for small businesses. In today's post, we'll take a look at the pros and cons of starting and using gift cards for [...]
Tax Implications of Incentive Programs
In some of our other articles, we’ve covered virtually every component related to designing, developing, launching, and running an incentive program. We’ve talked about how and why incentive programs work, the various kinds of programs you might consider implementing, how to work with a bank, the ins and outs of web portals, the advantages of partnering with an outside firm, and what it costs [...]
Sales Motivation: 8 of The Best Techniques and Why They Work
Sales Motivation: 8 of The Best Techniques and Why They Work If you Google "sales motivation techniques," you'll get about 38,900,000 results in 0.48 seconds flat. Clearly, there's no lack of opinion in the world about how to best motivate a team of sales members. Some say, "no one truly motivates anyone else." Motivation is an internal drive that only works on oneself. Others [...]
Sales Kits: What Are They and How Do You Design Them?
Sales Kits: What Are They and How Do You Design Them? Sales kits are to sales reps what medical bags were to doctors. Although you're more likely to see a businessman or traveler carrying around a traditional leather Gladstone bag (doctor's bag), sales kits are still front and center as a learning and promotional tool for sales reps. Even if they no longer require [...]
Rewards Program Launch & Rollout
In this article, we want to address exactly how you can go about launching your rewards program, along with what the rollout process is and what it ought to look like. The most common type of rewards program that we assist clients with is one that’s targeted at independent dealers and sales reps, and that’s the type of program rollout that we’ll examine in [...]
Rebate Processing: How Does The Rebate Process Work?
Rebate Processing: How Does The Rebate Process Work? When it comes to rebate strategies, they all have the same goal: Increase buyer interest Gain stronger consumer loyalty Make more money Rinse and repeat. Rebates are also known as "a premium with purchase." It's a reward dangled in front of customers to get them to buy something from you rather than your competition. The Promotion [...]
Paying Out Third-Party Rewards
One of the most effective types of incentive programs that we’ve seen involves working with channel partners such as third-party dealers and distributors. Why? Well, influencing the behavior of independent sales representatives with traditional means tends to present all sorts of difficulties. They’re not your employees, and you’re not cutting their paychecks. Why should they listen to you? What reason would they have to [...]