A Guide to Sales Incentive Planning for Financial Institutions
Why Bother With a Sales Incentive Program?
In today's environment, any financial institution that hopes to maintain its market share must develop a sales culture. Since the financial services industry is now more retail-oriented, there is a rapid increase in programs designed to encourage sales.
Developing a Solid Sales Environment
Customer-contact personnel need to understand the challenges the industry faces, and they need to know the features and benefits of all your products and services. With factors such as high turnover and low pay, additional motivation is needed.
A sales incentive program -- combining contests, enthusiasm-building techniques and meaningful rewards -- is a key ingredient in any successful marketing plan for financial products. Incentive programs demonstrate management commitment to the products and help focus employee efforts on the selling and cross-selling of your most profitable products.
Incentive programs complement your established marketing plans. Marketing plans utilize external merchandising such as advertising and lobby displays and other tactics to attract customers and prospects to a featured product. Sales incentive programs are an important strategic component and are a proven, vital aspect of success.
Combined with training and productivity goals, incentive campaigns result in more skilled -- and more satisfied -- employees. Your employees, your customers, and your financial institution all enjoy the benefits.
Devising a Sales Incentive Plan
After you settle on your general marketing plan, chose the product(s) on which to focus, and set up systems to monitor performance, it is time to put your imagination to work to develop your sales incentive plan.
The process of structuring an incentive program offers unlimited creative opportunities to be creative. You may want to develop a theme to make the concept easier to promote. Popular themes have been developed based on types of currency, television shows, sporting events, and other aspects of popular culture.
It is important that the contest keeps sight of the program's primary goal, which is to encourage more sales. A successful program will reward those who produce without inadvertently giving the advantage to any one individual or team, so that all participants remain motivated. One way to avoid this is to design a contest that offers several ways for employees to win.
Team contests foster teamwork and pride and involve all the employees at each branch. Set a goal for each team and reward each team member once the goal is met. This encourages each team to reach its own potential rather than worrying about competing with other teams.
The more potential winners of a contest, the broader its appeal. Widespread awards reinforce the sales activities of a large number of workers. These awards are usually in cash and include set amount given per sale of the featured product.
You may choose to give out major awards for top performers. It is not advisable to offer a few large prizes as the only rewards in the contest, since this limits the number of winners and ultimately will diminish the motivation of many employees.
With mini-contests, you provide more chances to win and heighten enthusiasm. Mini-contests may focus on one specified time frame within the entire contest. For example, awards may be given to those who have top performance during a "Fast Start" period at the beginning of the contest.
If a customer-contact employee solicits a Mystery Shopper, he or she will receive bonus awards. This tactic encourages employees to overcome any inhibitions they may have about selling financial services.
A sweepstakes provides an element of chance which keeps everyone interested. It should never be the primary feature of a group sales incentive.
Types of Prizes
The surest and simplest way to make the desired impression is to give cash as an incentive. Cash is best presented in person by a senior executive. Other prizes such as dinners-for-two, trip packages and even extra vacation time also can be useful as premium awards, especially for employees who already have earned substantial cash.
Many sales-driven businesses forego awards; instead, they rely on formal recognition as motivation. Salespeople find recognition alone unattractive as compensation for their efforts. The combination of the tangible reward (cash) and an intangible reward (recognition) will best motivate employees.
Eligibility and Scoring
These matters must be planned carefully, and rules concerning them must be made clear at the outset of the contest, so misunderstandings can be avoided.
The Kickoff
This is a key element in the merchandising formula for a new or reinvigorated product. Let your imagination run wild: Create a theme party, decorate with balloons and banners, and distribute materials on the sales contest as well as on the products. To show their commitment, senior executives should be in attendance. The kickoff should be followed immediately by training to reinforce product knowledge and sales skills.
Nothing Builds Like Success
A typical sales contest for a financial institution lasts 60 to 90 days; remember that enthusiasm can't be kept at a peak indefinitely. When the contest ends, your employees will be ingrained with successful sales practices. Once you have established the habit of selling, it will continue to enhance the productivity of your people.
The Ongoing Incentive
Ongoing incentives compensate your customer-contact employees for sales performance year-round. Awards need not be large, but the system should be constructed to bestow premium awards for cross-selling.