With all the factors influencing channel sales and marketing, plus the possibilities of channel incentive programs, it can be difficult to identify which incentive strategies will work for your business. Here are a few channel incentive strategies taken directly from our most successful clients’ playbooks.
2. With all the factors influencing channel sales and marketing, plus
the possibilities of channel incentive programs, it can be difficult to
identify which incentive strategies will work for your business.
Here are a few channel incentive strategies taken
directly from our most successful clients’ playbooks:
3. #1
GET INCENTIVE PROGRAM
SUPPORT FROM VENDORS.
In exchange for benefitting from their dealer’s incentive program,
some of our clients’ vendor channel partners are willing to…
o let dealers use co-op dollars or provide additional incentive
program funding
o pitch in extra funding for program participants to earn 2X or 3X
bonus points when they purchase the vendor’s products
o sponsor bonus points for training or special events focused on their
products
o fund reward points for customers who use our survey tool for
feedback on the vendors’ products
4. #2
REMEMBER CHANNEL INCENTIVES
ARE FUN AND EXCITING!
Channel rewards are fun! They’re prizes and displays of appreciation
for loyalty and hard work. Many of our most successful clients are
those who take fun very seriously. They:
o hold raffles and contests that kick their channel incentive programs off
with a bang
o throw their creativity and enthusiasm into lively marketing campaigns
that excite and entice participants with rewards
o shoot funny commercials
o recruit celebrity spokespeople
5. #3
LEVERAGE DAILY TRIVIA
INCENTIVE TECHNOLOGY.
One of our most successful clients uses our Daily Trivia
feature to capture frequent program engagement.
Product or service-related trivia provides
participants a fun reason to check into the
incentive program regularly and helps them
brush up on their training and product
knowledge.
6. #4 DOUBLE UP WITH CUSTOMER RETENTION
AND PURCHASE INCENTIVES.
Many of our clients who have thriving channel
incentive programs adopt a two-pronged approach:
customer retention + purchase incentives.
o The customer retention portion of the program targets clients’ best
customers. The program helps put up a fence around customers,
making it more difficult for the competition to lure them away.
o Purchase incentives motivate your middle majority, who have the
greatest growth potential. Focus your efforts on growing their
business by offering bonus points on high-margin items, motivating
them to purchase across your entire product offering.
7. #5
DEFINE SPECIFIC GOALS AND
SALES PROMOTIONS
Implementing channel incentive programs with highly
specific goals was a winning strategy for our client,
Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating.
Mitsubishi Electric decided to target specifically
contractors who sold their ductless HVAC units. Their
incentive program drove a 45% increase in ductless HVAC
units and reached an ROI of 307%!
8. #6 USE INCENTIVE TRAVEL AND CORPORATE
EVENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES.
“For one of our most
successful incentive trips,
we reclaimed a 16% VAT
for holding a corporate
meeting in Mexico, which
saved over $30,000.”
Devin Crane
Incentive Solutions
Travel Services Director
A well-managed incentive
trips yields a 4:1 return on
investment.
What’s even better than
hosting an incentive trip?
Hosting an incentive trip with
pro event management
services. Our most successful
clients take advantage of our
incentive travel expertise.
9. The world of channel incentive programs is ever-
evolving with today’s expanding online technology
possibilities. Business and channel marketing are
ever-growing, too. That means the definition of a
“successful channel incentive program” will always
be changing. No incentive strategy will work for
every business. But identifying tactics,
benchmarks and ROI can help today’s B2B
businesses make the most of their incentive
programs.