Channel partner incentive programs are a big part of what we do at Motivation Excellence. We pride ourselves on helping clients develop dynamic incentives that maximize results, often because they remain flexible and adaptable. We don’t use SaaS products. Each program is custom designed for the needs of our clients. And we build in measurements throughout the program life so if any tweaks need to be made, we can do them in real time.
Here are five reasons for making sure your next B2B loyalty or incentive program is the opposite of rigid:
1. Business and Market Needs Change
If there is one thing we can count on in modern business, it is change. Business is subject to ongoing evolution and churn. North American businesses are tied to global trends now more than ever. Supply chain issues and international trade situations can pop up overnight. Therefore, everything from business goals to market conditions to customer preferences can change rather quickly. Flexibility in how a rule structure is written makes it possible to adapt incentive and loyalty programs to current conditions.
2. Partner Needs Are Diverse
Channel partners come in all shapes and sizes. Some might be looking for training on your product. Another might want you to provide general business growth strategies as an add-on value. One might be brand new to the market, while another has a long history. The amount of time, resources and product needed is different for each partner. Ensuring incentive programs are flexible and adaptable makes it easier to meet diverse needs while allowing your team to meet each participant where they are now and help them get to where they want to be. We often suggest offering different ways a partner can earn rewards. Highest percentage of growth over goal and greatest revenue growth over goal allow small and big players to earn rewards based on their performance, instead of the bigger fish always overshadowing the small ones.
3. Flexibility Encourages Innovation
In the 40 years we have been working with clients on incentive programs, we have discovered something interesting about flexibility: it encourages innovation. When program creators have the freedom to be flexible, they tend to think outside the box. This fosters new ideas and strategies. Combining risk mitigating features with imaginative elements can really make a program stand out among competitors. For instance, if your company selects a group travel reward destination that’s more intriguing than “the other guy’s” destination, you have a better chance of luring engagement your way.
4. Adaptability Improves Partner Retention
Rigid programs that fail to meet partner expectations lead to disengagement and attrition. When you can catch this trend early on, you’ve got time to fix it. Programs designed at Motivation Excellence build in regular metrics and communication elements so our clients can see in real time what’s working and what needs to be adapted to increase participation.
Participants want to feel like they’re being seen and heard. Adaptable incentive programs show partners that their engagement truly matters, which leads to building a strong base of loyal participants.
5. Both Make Use of Performance Insights
Designing a flexible program that has room for changes as needed allows our team to make sure our clients are getting the results they want (or better) while keeping their risk low. Using performance tracking metrics at regular intervals gives our clients business intelligence they can use to adjust how the program is being run. This allows them to give certain aspects a boost, add new categories to the incentive or pull back on elements that are not seeing activity at all. Flexible and adaptable channel partner incentives can be adjusted as insights indicate.How are you doing with your current B2B loyalty and incentive programs? If you are struggling to achieve stated goals or keep your participants motivated to keep out-performing themselves year after year, maybe it’s time to change things up a bit. Perhaps your program need a bit more flexibility and adaptability injected in. We can help. Contact us to learn more about Motivation Excellence and our approach to custom built B2B programs.
