The
Cure for Gloom and Doom
By
Mike Schoettler
An
incentive is the quickest tool in a sales manager's kit. It can
be used to institute change or simply set a fire under staff who
have slid into their 'comfort zone'.
Just
follow these four easy steps to focus your sales team's energy and
attention on your critical issues.
1.
What needs to be done?
What single objective do you want your entire team to achieve this
month to produce the best possible gain for the business? The idea
is to focus all their energy on as small an area as possible to
guarantee the result. Be specific! What do you want them to do?
2.
How will you measure the results?
Way back in 1926, Western Electric proved in its productivity experiments
that you get what you measure (The Hawthorn Effect). Whether you
make the job easier or harder, results always improve for a while
just because the people know they are being measured.
The
system must be clear, simple and honest. It can't take a lot of
effort to control or it will just detract from the result you want
and end up as an additional overhead. No cheating!
3.
What's it worth?
When they do what you have asked, how much extra profit will the
business make? Or, if they don't do anything different for another
month, how much will that cost the company?
One
way or another, you must put a value on the outcome. Then you can
be sure the rewards you select cost less than the benefit produced.
It can be a percentage or a set figure. Set yourself a 'no result,
no cost' guarantee. This makes sure that both the sales people and
the business benefit from your proposed incentive. No result, no
reward and no cost!
4.
How will you make it fun?
Time to be creative! Now that you know what you want, how you will
measure it, and the size of your budget, you can put your incentive
program together. It must be fun, highly visible, and offer rewards
your people want. The ideal approach would be to have the individual
rewards chosen by each participant. Just make sure the reward is
something they want.
It
has to be visible to hold their attention. Knowing the progressive
scores will work to lift everyone's game. And a bit of fun is what
keeps it from just being more work. Constructive competition will
support a positive attitude and help them to push a bit harder without
taking the setbacks too seriously. The fun will also help to keep
a good perspective when working in new or difficult areas.
The
use of teams can make everyone's efforts just as important as the
high flyers. When you are part of a team you can't give up. You
would be letting your side down. And it is not a question of being
as good as someone else when we need the best efforts of everyone.
Isn't this the attitude you want to encourage in your company?
So...
A sales
team is most productive when it knows exactly what needs to be done
and everyone is working together to accomplish their goal. And don't
be fooled into thinking that only big money will motivate people.
Visibility, praise, recognition and management involvement are much
more important.
The
best reward is to be part of a winning team!
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