Channel & sales incentives aren’t expenses – they’re relationship and business builders.
The expenses associated with offering rewards, events, and exclusive experiences for distributors and channel partners can be a daunting proposition – especially if you work with a large network and have a limited budget. But what you might be missing is the value of these incentives – not to your partners, but to your business.
Looking at channel & sales incentive costs as an investment in ongoing business relationships changes the discussion from expense to ROI.
Many incentive specialists will readily discuss measurement and analytics of your incentive programs, but all you’re really getting is a laundry list of what you spent, who it was delivered to, and how efficient the process was. In many cases, it’s like getting an itemized receipt of what you paid for. Butwhat was your return on investment? How did the program ultimately impact your business?
Through a cyclical process of discovery, development, delivery, analytics, and insights, you can shift your sales and channel incentive programs from an expense to an investment that can yield measurable growth.
- Discovery and Development: We dive deep into your company’s data to gain a full understanding of your unique situation, helping to uncover data and issues that are critical to improving performance. Then we work with you to develop a custom solution that addresses your goals.
- Delivery: Together we launch your program, complete with training, communications, and continual measurement in order to regularly refine success.
- Analytics and Insights: At major milestones and the end of the program, we analyze performance data to form actionable insights. Did your partners move more of your product after the incentives? Which incentives moved the needle the most over time? Were there seasonable impacts? Then, an ROI/ROO analysis will validate investment vs. expense so we go back and begin the process again.
In short, we use data to drive behavior change and show you how that impacts your bottom line. And over time, with ongoing insight and adjustments, you’ll leverage your investment to simultaneously cultivate your partner and distributor relationships and grow your business.
Done right, your incentive program can be as valuable to your business as it is to your partners and distributors.
If you want to learn more about improving your channel and sales incentive ROI, contact us today and we can get started on a customized incentive plan that drives sales, builds relationships, and helps you achieve positive outcomes.
I will definitely consider how I can use sales incentive programs as a way to invest in cultivating future business relationships. As an employer for a large company, we’re always brainstorming ways to increase performance within our limited budget. After reading this article, I feel confident that new incentive programs can be just as valuable to my business as it is to our partners.