How to Build a Rewards Program to Boost Sales
Getting your sales people to meet their quotas is always a challenge—a crucial one, in particular, as these numbers are the lifeblood of the company.
Fortunately, there are ways to motivate your sales people such as implementing a rewards program. The company’s sales force has to understand that the rewards program is for them to bring in not only improvements in sales, but also to acquire new customers and retain old ones.
At the same time, it is also a forward-looking way to keep your people. After all, when employees are happy, they are likely to stay longer. Also, if your customers feel your staff’s positive energy, customer loyalty is likely to improve as they become more satisfied with the service that they are getting.
To get the most out of this activity, below are some tips to efficiently using a rewards program for your employees to boost sales.
Link rewards to sales or new customers obtained by employees.
For every sale or new customer acquired by an employee, there should be a corresponding coupon, stamp, point, or rebate. This, then, can be directly linked to your overall sales, which is crucial in achieving your team’s goals.
Automate rewards.
Although there are rewards programs based on a number of purchases, the process of the recognition and reward program can be automated through an e-commerce platform. One of the several vendors that perform this is Avail.at, which has a long experience in rewards programs.
Working with e-commerce platform providers can help set up the automated rewards system, allow the management not to worry about the prizes or rewards, generate valuable reports, and monitor redemptions to show the current progress of participants.
Stick to a deadline.
Whatever rewards program is used, it needs to have a deadline. This can be a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual deadline where the points have to be used or a day which an item is will be considered valid.
Honor preferences.
Not all participants would want to choose items from a catalog. Find out what your employees prefer and give them a choice when it comes time to redeem their rewards. Their options may include free tickets to certain events, flexible working hours, an extra hour for lunch, or even a half day they can use per month.
Make it fun.
Adding a fun factor like some sort of challenge can make it more fun and even increase your employees’ excitement when it comes to making the most number of sales. Create a game and start a competition for your sales team. At the end of the contest, the winner will share the most effective techniques or new tactics that worked.
The idea of a rewards program is not entirely new, as it is as natural as a friendly wager. If done properly, it can boost sales, motivate the sales force, and have a positive effect on customer satisfaction.
