Where to Find the Money

July 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Over the years, one of the biggest frustrations I’ve heard sales and marketing VPs talk about is motivating their salespeople to really drive hard to achieve their sales goals. They struggle to create an incentive reward program that will make their people stand up and take notice then work like the dickens to achieve it.

The other biggest frustration? Budgeting for this effective incentive reward program.

We hear it all the time:

“Salespeople like public recognition so giving them a cash bonus doesn’t really give them something to brag about.  Besides, giving cash is really expensive.”

“The marketing budget is so tight.  We didn’t even put an incentive program in it this year.  In this market, there’s no way to anticipate how many sales we’re going to get.”

“Upper management doesn’t believe that incentive programs actually gets us more sales so they don’t want to spend the money.”

In working with executives over the years, we heard all of these frustrations, and others. So we’ve developed funding alternatives that allow executives to offer the incentive program that they know is going to get them more sales.

It occurred to us that you or someone you know might find this experience useful. So we put together a short whitepaper, “How to Fund an Incentive Program,” that describes some ways to deal with this roadblock.

Click Here to receive this Free Whitepaper.

 I hope these ideas help you see that there are ways to develop an effective reward program that will  inspire your salespeople to higher performance without breaking the bank. If you’d like to talk further about these ideas, give me a call at 978-287-9500.

Filed Under: Colin, incentive, incentive program, reward

Getting Buy-In

April 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

We were asked by Incentive Research Foundation to provide tips on running successful incentive programs.  While there are many ingredients that go into this process, one of the most important, in my opinion, is getting buy-in from the people you are trying to motivate.

For more information on why this is important and a few key ways to make sure you get it, CLICK HERE to listen and read about this topic.

Filed Under: Colin, employee engagement, incentive, incentive program, Recognition, reward

Reward ≠ Recognition.

March 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

We recently worked with a new client who was confusing “reward” and “recognition”.

Sandra wanted to get even more results from a salesperson who was already hitting his quota.  Sandra knew that it would take less effort to get more out of Mark than two or three of her other talented salespeople and in the end, it would be more profitable.

First she tried a financial bonus for any sale over Mark’s original goals.  But Mark was already financially successful and was unmoved.  Next Sandra appealed to Mark’s ego by asking him to mentor some new people for which he would be compensated.  This helped the new salespeople but Mark didn’t secure any new business.

What was Sandra missing?  And how were we able to construct an incentive program that inspired Mark to sell 25% more than his target?   By understanding the difference between “reward” and “recognition.”  According to Merriam-Webster.com,

Reward:

1)      Something that is given in return for good or evil done or received or that is offered or given for some service or attainment;

2)      A stimulus administered… following a correct or desired response that increases the probability of occurrence of the response.

Recognition:

1)      Special notice or attention

We offered Mark something he couldn’t get on his own.  Something that would show his friends and family how successful he is.  Something that would affect his behavior for years to come.

Isn’t that what you want for all your salespeople?  Everyone – from beginners to veterans – needs reward AND recognition.  The challenge is what combination works for YOUR people?

We’re offering a free one-hour consultation to people like Sandra who want to motivate their top performers.  If that’s you, click the link below, tell us a little about your situation and we’ll be in touch.

I want to motivate my TOP performers.

 

Filed Under: Colin, incentive, incentive program, Recognition, reward, travel

I offered a $2,500 sales bonus. My salespeople were NOT impressed!

March 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

“I thought salespeople were motivated by money!”

I was speaking with a sales manager a few weeks ago. Ted (his name was changed to protect the innocent) was telling me about his sales team and his challenges in motivating them. He told me his compensation structure is a basic commission against draw structure.

As all good managers do, Ted sets specific goals with each member of his sales team. If they achieve their goals, they should make a nice living. Like most sales teams, Ted has a variety of achievers – those who always hit their quota, those who are more challenged but managed to get pretty close and those who should find another line of work. Ted’s toughest job is figuring out how to get them all excited so they sell more.

Ted recently instituted a bonus plan designed to get his salespeople to produce more sales. If they achieved these “stretch goals,” they would earn an additional $2,500. He was convinced that they would sit up and take notice of this generous bonus and run out to aggressively pursue more contracts. “Salespeople are only motivated by money,” he said. “Whenever we ask them what they want, they always say ‘money!'”  So he was shocked when the offer of the bonus did NOTHING to change their motivation.

Does Ted’s situation sound familiar to you? Have you cracked the code on inspiring focus and follow-through with your sales professionals? I’ve heard this scenario played out across industries, in public and private companies, and in large and small sales teams. Yes, it’s true that salespeople are motivated by money. But the form of that money matters.

Lucky for Ted, we were able to re-think the bonus offering, how it was earned and how it was delivered. The top achievers exceeded expectations, many of the middle made their numbers and even some of the struggling salespeople worked harder to get the mentoring and direction they needed to improve their skills.

Matching the right incentive to your sales team matters and it should be win-win situation for your company’s bottom line and your salesperson’s ego.

If you’re thinking about implementing a bonus program, don’t do it until you’ve taken advantage of our early 2013 free offer.

We have a limited number of FREE STRATEGY SESSIONS on “Designing Effective Incentives”.  If you’d like to apply for one of these, complete the information at the link below.

Do it now while you’re here reading this.

 

 Request your FREE
“Designing Effective Incentives”
Strategy Session HERE

Filed Under: Colin, employee engagement, incentive, incentive program, reward

A Holistic Approach to Employee Engagement

December 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, ‘holistic’ means “relating to or concerned with complete systems rather than with individual parts.” We understand that when we’re talking about medicine, a ‘holistic’ approach means to treat both the mind and the body. Have you ever thought about taking a ‘holistic’ approach to employee engagement when it comes to providing incentives?

Many companies see the benefit of implementing an incentive program to motivate their top performers. Incentive travel programs, specifically, are effective when targeting top salespeople or most loyal customers because they are in a position to generate sales or revenue to earn the reward. And the revenues they generate are substantial enough to fund the program.

But what impact does incentivizing the top echelon have on others in the organization who are either the middle performers who are unlikely to achieve the goals or in another department altogether and not even eligible?

A more ‘holistic’ approach to the engagement would mean implementing incentive programs that address the entire population or employees or customers, not just certain individual parts.

There are ways to offer incentives to every single person in your company. Even if a middle manager can’t quality for a trip to the Caribbean, they could secure enough points over time to go to a nearby city for a long weekend or choose a new I-Pad. Even at the entry level, performance can be enhanced by the promise of gift cards.

And these programs don’t have to bust your budget. You can allocate a certain percentage of any cost savings that is seen by improved performance to fund a reward program and your company will still see increased profits. (See our article Making Dollars and Sense in Incentive Magazine – Nov/Dec 2012 issue – about funding an incentive reward program.)

For more information on engaging all of your employees and customers in achieving better performance, contact Colin Higgins at colin@peincentives.com or call 978-287-9500.

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Filed Under: Colin, employee engagement, incentive, incentive program, reward

How Do You Motivate the Middle?

October 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Your top performers always perform. They earn the rewards and recognition you offer because it is their nature to consistently achieve results.

But what about the rest of your team?  How do you “motivate the middle” or biggest proportion of your target market?  This is one of the biggest challenges facing executives in a time when employee and customer loyalty as well as engagement cannot be assumed.

We are pleased to announce that Performance Enhancement Incentives has broadened the scope of its services to become a full Engagement Agency.  We can now provide you with the tools you need to help integrate all aspects of employee motivation – performance assessment, communication and learning, collaboration and innovation, rewards and recognition and the ability to measure the return on your investment.  The goal of the Engagement Agency is to help executives improve motivation and engagement in all your team members, not just the top performers, and achieve improved financial results through comprehensive and effective programs designed for your specific needs and business goals.

For example, we’ve worked with several national homebuilders who use incentive travel programs to motivate their sales teams.  Sales professionals eagerly await the announcement of the program and their individual goals.  Then throughout the year they work to earn the reward not only because they enjoy the travel experience but because they delight in the recognition that comes with being a top performer.  In every circumstance, the executives struggle with explaining why incentive opportunities are offered to salespeople and not to construction, customer service and administrative personnel.  Everyone agrees that it requires the effort of the entire team to deliver a quality home buying experience which contributes to increased sales but it is impossible to expand these particular programs to include every department.

The Engagement Agency will provide solutions to this dilemma.  Any individual in any department within a company can earn an incentive reward if they achieve their stated goals.   And this will all be managed in one place making it easy, cost effective and measurable for business leaders.

We will be soon be sharing more information about the Engagement Agency – the program opportunities, client management portal and the results you can expect to achieve in implementing an effective reward and recognition system for all the members of your business team. In the meantime, if you would like more information, don’t hesitate to contact me at 978-287-9500.

 

Filed Under: Colin, employee engagement, incentive, incentive program, reward, travel

Just One of Those “Lifetime Memories”

June 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last month I wrote about the wonderful time we had in Los Cabos during our PEI Executive Summit.  I want to talk more about one particular event that was so amazing that I just can’t stop thinking about it.

Travel is a huge part of the work Colin and I do and we love it. However it can be exhausting to always be on the road.  The last six months in particular, have been very busy with programs, site inspections, and hosting our own executive summits.  Rarely do we have the opportunity to be the recipient of any of the special services that we create for our clients.  This was an exception.

The Fiesta Americana Grand in Los Cabos has designed an evening called “Barefoot Elegance.”  From start to finish, all five senses are engaged – sight, sound, taste, touch and smell.

It starts as we approach the beach.  We are greeted by butlers who “check” our shoes, remove them on trays and escort us to a living room on the beach with overstuffed rattan couches where we are served grape martinis and hors d’oeuvres.  After enjoying this brief respite, we are then taken further down the beach where there are 12 massage therapists standing in various yoga positions awaiting their guests.  The sun is setting, casting a beautiful glow over the whole scene.  At each guest “station” there was an overstuffed rattan chaise and a small wine barrel.  What happened next was quite unexpected!

We each were helped into our own individual barrel where we proceeded to stomp on purple wine grapes.  Aided by the therapists, we smashed and laughed, not realizing that the therapy had already started.  After a few minutes, we settled into the lounge chairs and enjoyed foot and lower leg massages with rare French grape seed oil and the grapes we had just crushed.  Closing our eyes, we could hear the ocean and waves crashing on the sand in front of us, feel the wind, smell the aroma of the grapes and citrus incense as well as enjoy the sensations of the massage.

The timing of day for this event was perfect.  When we opened our eyes, the tiki torches had been lit and the sun was disappearing over the horizon.  At this point, the wine sommelier took us through an exquisite wine and canapé pairing just as the stars began to appear.  After a short presentation on the constellations over Los Cabos, we moved to a private dining table where we watched the chef prepare and serve a magnificent five-course meal.  Another unexpected delight was the staff member who performed a romantic Italian opera aria over dessert.  It was just magnificent.

After dinner, we enjoyed some social time at the fire pit, tasting Mexican liqueurs and listening to live music.  By this time, the sun had fully set and the scene on the beach was warm and totally relaxing. Good food, good wine and good friends.

It’s not often that we step out of the role of host but on this occasion, I really felt like we had been on   the receiving end of this incentive program and of the world-class treatment we endeavor to deliver to our clients.  It was an experience I will remember for a long, long time!

Filed Under: Carolyn, incentive, incentive program, reward, travel

A chance to learn from an expert, and from each other

May 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last week we hosted a number of industry executives at the Performance Enhancement Incentives Executive Educational Summit in Cabo San Lucas.  We have several goals for these summits which include 1) providing relevant information on employee incentives and travel reward programs; 2) introducing business leaders to a particular destination; and 3) demonstrating first-hand how a travel reward program can affect business results.  An added bonus is what happens when executives come together in a non-competitive environment – they share their own experiences and learn from each other.

Bruce Bolger and Colin Higgins

During the 3-day summit, attendees visited several venues and restaurants and experienced some of the attractions of this beautiful area.  Hotel executives conducted site tours to demonstrate their ability to manage groups of all sizes, arrange meetings, and provide exceptional food and service for their guests.  The food and service demonstrated at several restaurants proved that Cabo and the surrounding area can deliver an exceptional reward experience to visitors.

Bruce Bolger, managing director of The Enterprise Engagement Alliance, was the keynote speaker.  Bolger conducts research and creates measurement tools related to engagement, including the Enterprise Engagement Indicator and Meter for tracking an organization’s ability to improve performance through engagement.  At the summit, Bolger talked about the three-pronged approach to engagement – customer, employee and vendor.  When every aspect of the business is engaged, it maximizes a company’s performance and its value which in turn, impacts the stock value.  Bolger also discussed the effective use of incentives and recognition in achieving engagement success.

Summit attendees engaged with each other on topics that are important to business leaders.  They shared their challenges, successes and failures on the topic of employee engagement.  This exchange of high level intelligence is extremely valuable for these executives and they left the Summit filled with new knowledge and ideas to implement in their own companies.

Filed Under: Colin, employee engagement, incentive, incentive program, reward, travel

Our Cabo Experience – Beyond Expectations

May 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

We’ve been to Cabo before and already knew that it had world class hotels and restaurants.  It’s why we chose it for the Executive Educational Summit that we hosted last week.  But this visit exceeded all of our already high expectations.

We stayed at the Fiesta Americana Grand Los Cabos Golf & Spa Resort on the southeastern coast of the Baja Peninsula.  Management had arranged for a hotel tour which set a very high standard for all hotel tours going forward.  We viewed standard rooms and suites and an amazing Imperial Presidential Suite, which was a free standing villa with a private pool – all beautiful.  The surprise came when we visited the ballroom where the banquet manager had set up six stations each demonstrating a different themed party including sample h’orderves, entrees, and beverages.  They also showed how they integrate an individual company’s brand and culture into the event through promotional items and logo identity.  The tour ended with a proud introduction to Mexican wine as the group gathered around the fire pit overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Over and over again, the hotel management demonstrated their commitment to service.  The General Manager not only provided an introduction at the Summit conference event but stayed throughout the meetings to share his own experiences in employee engagement.  And later when a member of our group ordered a cocktail that wasn’t “on the menu,” the staff took it upon themselves to search out the ingredients and the recipe and deliver the requested beverage to the guest.  It was clear that this wasn’t “special” treatment but something they do for anyone who visits their hotel.

Off-site, summit attendees were treated to some free time in Old San Jose along with sampling of restaurants available in that town.  They experienced amazing snorkeling at the famous Cabo San Lucas arch, enjoyed walking on the beach and seeing the seals who gather along the shore.  Of course, a highlight of any trip to Cabo is a fishing excursion in waters that among the best in the world.  And today was no exception as they enjoyed the trill of catching a blue marlin.

Fiesta Americana put an exclamation point on the Summit with an extraordinary event on the last evening.  Aptly titled, “Barefoot Elegance,” our guests were treated to a unique treat.  After checking our shoes at the door and crushing some grapes with our own feet (think Lucy Ricardo!) we settled into easy lounge chairs and succumbed to foot and leg massages by spa therapists.  The combination of the crushed grapes, special grape oil from France and aromatherapy collars relieved any stress that may have crept in during the day.  We enjoyed some wonderful Mexican wine pared with gourmet h’orderves served on individual spoons (very elegant!)  After a delicious 4-course dinner on the beach we finished the evening with after dinner cocktails, dessert and entertainment at the fire pit.

Cabo San Lucas provided the perfect setting for an exchange of ideas, the sharing of experiences and the creation of lasting memories for the Summit attendees.

Filed Under: Carolyn, incentive, incentive program, reward, travel

So Glad To Be Here!

April 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

As we introduce our new website, I am thrilled to become part of the blogging world.  We have had so many unique and wonderful travel experiences through the years.  Now we have a forum in which to share them with you.  Look for my updates on destinations, experiences, challenges and successes.  I’ll do my best to bring the character and personality of the people, places and adventures we are proud to share with our incentive program clients.  Stay tuned…

Filed Under: Carolyn, incentive program, reward, travel