A reward and recognition strategy is a set of guiding principles which aligns all forms of reward and recognition to the

business strategy in order to clarify the deal and to motivate and recognise desired performance and behaviours. Reward and recognition is concerned with the range of practices an organisation undertakes (financial and non-financial) to compensate employees, maximise employee engagement and encourage behaviours that lead to organisational success. Creating a culture of trust; leveraging the power of peer recognition; and focusing on the enablers and tools that help salespeople reach their potential in an increasingly complex business environmentthese are all critical parts of the overall picture of motivating a sales force more effectively. Some factors may not immediately sound anything like factors that appear in traditional motivation studies. They include things like sales enablement and tools, reducing quote cycle times, getting better documentation, and developing a product that is differentiated and therefore easier to sell. These are some of the things that actually motivate salespeopleeven more than sales compensation incentives. "There are two things that Nortel has never stopped or changed, even through challenging economic times. One is our annual sales conference, where we bring our sales team together, both to interact with each other in a forum setting, but also to do peer recognition. You get the sales team up there on stage and you reward them in front of their peers. That is hugely important to them." "Decreasing the amount of time a salesperson spends on non-sales activities is critically important to raising overall productivity. Every minute spent by a salesperson verifying compensation data is one less minute available to meet with customers and close deals." The second thing Nortel has never changed is what Joannou and his team call their "circle of excellence." With this program, he continues, "we take the top 10 percent of our sales force and treat them to an all-expenses-paid trip to a nice location. One reason we've never cut that program, despite all of the cost pressures, is because it motivates your best performers to do even better because they want to be a member of this elite group."

74% of companies running programs believe that they can build a more exciting, memorable program around travel and merchandise (non-monetary rewards) than cash. ----Incentive Federation Survey, 2005. The most common factors considered in structuring incentive programs: Cost versus shared result Freshness, uniqueness over time, Perceived value, Ease of administration, Being fair to everyone, Profitability - Incentive Federation Survey, 2005.

12 BENEFITS OF STARTING A SALES AWARD & RECOGNITION PROGRAM FOR YOUR COMPANY

Businesses from start ups to large corporations can benefit from employee benefit programs designed to increase sales, generate referrals, build customer loyalty and improve employee performance. Whether you are looking to reward your loyal customers, top sales people or distributors. If you are still considering whether or not starting a program is right for you, below we are listing the twelve top benefits and features of starting a sales award and recognition program. We are adding to this list monthly. If you would like a complete list or need help starting a program, give us a call at 714-773.1105.

1. UNIFY SALES EFFORT

Most successful sales professionals seem to be individuals who focus on their sales goals by separating themselves from the group. A SAP (Sales Award Program) encourages all your sales people to unify and work closer together because their individual results and accomplishments are more visible it seems to raise the efforts of everyone.

2. CONSTANT MOTIVATION
As the sales manager for your company, the more you can touch each sales person, the more you can motivate them to sell. Unfortunately, the daily role of a sales manager today is filled with a growing number of management and personnel duties. So you simply dont have time to work with each person individually as much as you would like. So an SAP is a visual motivational tool to help you keep the pressure on, to strive for more productivity.

3. ACCOMPLISH SPECIFIC GOALS Every department has annual goals. Weve found that if you ask most sales people what these are throughout the year, less than 10% can actually tell you what they are. And if they are not sure what these goals are, how are you as the sales manager or business owner going hold them accountable or accomplish them? Our programs can be structured around achieving one or all of your departmental goals.

4. RECOGNIZE GROUP EFFORTS

Nothing encourages positive behavior more than being recognized for doing something good. Even though in most sales departments, 80% of the sales come from 20% of the staff, a vital key in building the sales activity of your 20% is making them a part of achievement and/or total results. This builds confidence, and confidence leads to more sales.

5. REWARD INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS

Psychologists tell us time and time again how the more you reward individual results, the more often that person will tend to replicate that activity. Over time, if each sales person can replicate a specific activity, which leads to a sale or positive sales function, the results will only be higher productivity for your company.

6. INCREASE SALES WITHOUT ONGOING ADDITIONAL EXPENSE

Most companies find some way of trying to motivate their sales people throughout the year. If you were to look at the total cost of these last minute ideas, they often seem to add up to a significant amount of money. Not to mention that most of these motivational efforts are not accountable. If you are using an incentive that you cant verify is fruitful, you are wasting money. How many more new business sales do you have to make to pay for this? One company we work with says that they have to generate $6 in new business sales, for each $1 the sales department spends (just to break even).

7. PROVIDES A FORMAT FOR LOW-COST INCENTIVES

Each quarter, do you take the sales team out to lunch or dinner? Do you give everyone the afternoon off when a goal is met? Are you rewarding the proper activity? Once again, how much money are you spending? While money is a very positive motivator, simple recognition is every bit as good, and in some cases more effective. An SAP encourages the use of low-cost incentives to entice your sales people to sell more. A small $1 item presented in the right way can be more motivating that a $100+ gift will. Remember, as a sales manager your goals are going to be met by

the results of the total team, not individual results.

8. IMPROVE MORALE OF SALES TEAM AND ALL EMPLOYEES

We recommend sales people attend as many sales and motivational seminars as possible. These seminars only provide hype, but if a sales person feels this energy often enough, it really can make a difference. An SAP is a great tool for continually motivating your sales staff and all your other employees as well. By presenting the program to all your employees, they will tend to work together more effectively. Breaking down walls, which are often built between departments, leads to higher production and lower operation costs. Every successful company weve ever worked with has found ways to get their people to work better together.

9. FORMAT FOR TEACHING NEW SALES TOOLS, TECHNIQUES AND METHODS

If youve ever had trouble teaching your sales people new techniques or getting them to try new methods, make it part of your SAP. This way, the learning tool will have higher visibility and accountability. Your program can be created around specific educational themes and track their overall understanding and usage.

10. ENCOURAGE NEW IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS

How would you like to create an open forum for sales people making suggestions, which could lead to more sales? Almost every sales department weve worked with whom we have surveyed in meetings, answers yes to the question, and Do you know of ways your company can sell more? The answer is almost always yes. The reasons for not providing this information are numerous. If your want to make your sales people partners to your goals (increasing sales), give them a forum or process for opening up and giving you their creative ideas.

11. COMMUNICATE WITH THE SALES TEAM

Part of an SAP is monitoring regular results and displaying or posting them on a consistent basis. Once sales people get the feel for this format, they will make checking the results part of their regular routine. So, instead of having to make individual contact with each individual sales person when you want to communicate with, make the communication part of the program.

12. IMPROVES ACCOUNTABILITY

The single key to any program being successful is accountability, results you as the sales manager can see, and results your sales people will see. Particularly in sales, no one wants to be beat by another sales person. So by creating another way of making your sales staff accountable for all their sales goals and activities, the main benefactor in the results will be your company. The more you can monitor activities ... the more successful you will be. Its just that simple!

Salesforce will be awarding badges with each seasonal release, and overall winners once a year. There are badges for "MVP Ideas", "Top Ideas", "MVP Answers", and "Top Answers". The company lists the criteria as: Badge: MVP Ideas Criteria: Top 5 IdeaExchange contributors with the most votes received for Ideas posted during reward cycle (June May) Each recipient of this badge will receive a FREE pass to Dreamforce as a token of gratitude for all the hard work they put into helping make the community successful!

Badge: Top Ideas Criteria: Top 20 IdeaExchange contributors with the most votes received for Ideas posted during the seasonal release awards cycle Badge: MVP Answers Criteria: Top 5 Answers contributors with the most comments submitted during the reward cycle (June May). Each recipient of this badge will receive a FREE pass to Dreamforce as a token of gratitude for all the hard work they put into helping make the community successful! Badge: Top Answers Criteria: Top 20 Answers contributors with the most comments submitted during the seasonal release awards cycle
Recognition Rewards can help create the right employee - management team environment. An atmosphere that is encouraging and favourable to achieving the contributions and efforts you need! Recognition Rewards accomplishes this by offering two main services to our customers:

Awards & Rewards - A wide selection of traditional and unique Awards & Gifts that fit all price ranges and budgets. We offer products that say ~ Thanks .. for a job well done! See our .. "Product Selection Menu" in the left column. Support Services - Various books, research articles, case studies & strategies along with our surveys, programs, workshops, training and other services that support the development and implementation of effective recognition programs. See our .. "What We Do" icon in the upper right.

You should recognize your best people! Take a few moments to reflect on the many successes of your company or association. Are there people you should be recognizing? We think there are!

Reader's Stories of

Recognition Success
We can never have enough ideas or examples of what works! Here, readers share some of their successes.

Bravo
"We developed a BRAVO BALLOON with gifts and cards are placed in the basket of the balloon. Staff can choose something from the balloon to give to a co-worker to thank them or recognize them for a job well done. We located the BALLOON in a central location in the office, hanging from the ceiling and visible to all who walk by. It has been well received and we track the use by asking people to sign a tracking sheet with the gift they chose, the recipient and the reason. We have left the signing out as optional but most seem to have not concerns with filling out the sheet. Gift values range from $5.00 to $10.00 and include gift coupons for coffee, music CD's and health food, as well as pens and coffee mugs. We have a suggestion box placed near the balloon to solicit ideas for other gifts." Heather M. Rice, RFT, Forest Health Officer, Vernon, BC

Recognition Rock Star

"A Supervisor within our building distributes rocks as awards. The rocks can range in size from a tennis ball to a football, but each is hand-painted with "YOU ROCK!" , "You're a ROCKSTAR!", etc. Along with being free, and very well received by the recipients, they also serve as a great conversation piece sitting on a desk, and have encouraged other colleagues to adapt similar ideas, thereby increasing the level of overall recognition." Jeff Leining, U.S. Bank

Calendar of Fun
"Our "Have Fun" team ("Have Fun" is a Core Strategy here) produces a calendar every month that shows all the fun events happening: ie Halloween Party and dress up this month, plus any lunch and learns or charity events happening within the company. It also shows all weird and wonderful national celebration days. For instance, did you know that yesterday was National Bring your Teddy Bear to work day? One of the employees dressed his 3 month old in the cutest white teddy bear costume, took pictures and emailed them to all of us!" Deborah Peck, SunTech Optics

Written Treasures
"I have a note that my director wrote from 10 years ago. It always makes me feel good to go back and read it when work is getting me down. Last month I gave each of my 98 employees a wooden box with a letter inside encouraging them to use the box as a treasure box - a treasure of kind words, thank you cards, words of encouragement or recognition so that they too could go back and read them." Kathy Ehlers, BA, RRT, Director of Respiratory Care, Forrest General Hospital

Peer Recognition Book

Patricia Marsh, Manager, Ministry of the Environment writes: "When I was at your course [Strategies for Recognition Programs that Work] one of the participants (BC Lottery) told us about a simple, inexpensive way their group did recognition - I adopted it here, and the feedback is amazing people love it !! I just got a ringed book (about $4.00), started with my own entry, and passed them out - six books, six hundred staff. I call it "You're a STAR" - on the inside cover is the message Someone thinks you're a STAR - the person writes the name of the person they are thanking, the date, and signs their names. The idea is to keep the book moving." And this is what one recipient had to say: "That little book you are sending around asking people to write something nice about someone and forward it along is a wonderful idea! It made my day!

Thanks so much for reminding us to stop and say thank you once in awhile, it makes all the difference in the world."

Game to Reinforce Recognition

Cheryl Miller of Wells Fargo created the game, Race for Recognition (see photo), with the help of her art and design group. Wells Fargo managers played this western-themed board game as a way to reinforce both basic recognition principles and Wells Fargo's recognition programs. Nicely done!

Manager-Driven Efforts Succeed

"I have been sharing your weekly tips with my peers within my Division. We have been focusing on improving our overall employee satisfaction for recognizing when deserved and your suggestions have been helpful. Over the last few months we have seen a positive increase in our satisfaction in this area and I would appreciate it if you continue to provide these tips in order for me to share." Linda Kendrick, Compliance Integration Manager, VSP

Team Appreciation
"Recently, our Human Resources team had a lengthy discussion regarding the Department's dress code; specifically, appropriate hosiery and footwear during the summer months. The following week, I presented my staff with some flashy, fun socks to thank them for being professional from "head to toe." Our HR team works incredibly well together to serve the 2300 employees of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. We don't always feel that we're appreciated by the masses, but we always show our appreciation for each other." Linda Bos, Recruitment and Retention Coordinator, Nebraska Dept. of Correctional Services

Balanced Opportunity for Recognition

To ensure that all members of the sales team have the opportunity to be awarded, we have instituted the Director's Award. Each quarter, I present the award (a director's chair pictured in the photo) to an outstanding individual whose work supports the efforts of the sales team. Doug Purcell

Senior Director, Federal Service Sales Worldwide Cisco Systems

Small Business Recognition Idea

"My company is relatively small with 6 full time employees. In the summer I give the staff an extra day off before a long weekend to make a 4 day weekend. We also have a staff barbeque every Friday. Gives us a chance to sit together, eat and chat. Seems to work well with everyone always participating." Rick Clarke, President, R&D Corporate Services Limited

Simple, But Effective

The IT Recognition Committee at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation created a recognition wall. As part of this wall they put up a big whiteboard and some dry erase pens. They use it to write notes of praise and appreciation to the team and to individuals. The whiteboard is used by both staff and managers and often includes project milestones, thanks for personal help, and congratulatory type stuff. They erase items after about a week so that the notes are fresh and interesting. This keeps people coming back to read what has been written. The bricks that appear at the bottom of the wall each have a plaque that commemorates an IT milestone. These bricks are laid in simple celebratory ceremonies.

Real Results!
"As a new sales manager, I found that by applying
the principals in Make Their Day! I have been

able to create a healthy, success driven culture for my team. Since reading this book and attending the workshop my team has exceeded sales goals every quarter. Regional Sales Director

How to Motivate the Sales Force

There are three critical elements to motivate a successful and high performance professional sales force. These elements are Appreciation, Recognition, and Compensation. It is necessary to provide all three ingredients with integrity. Appreciation Giving Recognition and Compensation is not the same as demonstrating Appreciation. Recognition implies personal performance. Appreciation requires a mutual understanding of the value of the personal performance as a contribution to the greater good of the organization. The sales professional is just one important participant. All of the employees and roles in the organization contribute to the success of the organization. To effectively demonstrate appreciation, it is necessary to understand and communicate how the roles of the various departments and functions work together, and the impact of each on another. Once appreciation is measured in terms of benefit to the organization, then it becomes easy to identify how to express appreciation. Quite often, this expression of appreciation is bestowed in the form of training and development. The training is intended to help the sales associate sustain and expand on successful performance by providing a platform to learn more about the product, process, integration, or techniques. Appreciation may be presented in the form of tools that enable and empower the sales associate with hardware, software, or knowledge. Appreciation acknowledges contribution to the organization and empowers continued success. The contributions of a sales associate may be worthy of demonstrating appreciation, even when personal attainment has not achieved the necessary levels for recognition or compensation. Recognition Give recognition for the attainment of personal goals. Recognition may be shared in the form of awards, certificates, or personal accolades. It may also be provided in the form of written communication. It is important to give team or group recognition when appropriate, just as it is important to provide individual recognition when appropriate. Recognition should be fair, balanced, and earned. When it is earned, it should not be forgotten. Verbal recognition is a nice gesture, but not a lasting one. If the contributions of the sales associate have had a significant benefit to the organization, and if the associate has achieved personal commitments, give lasting recognition in the form of a certificate or award. An award is a lasting reminder to the recipient, and to those individuals who may also want to receive one, that the organization recognizes and appreciates personal achievement. Compensation The professional sales associate is measured by compensation to the organization in the form of revenue. Is it a surprise that the sales associate measures the performance of the organization to the sales associate in the same manner? Commission and bonus plans should be clear and easily understood. Commission, as pay for performance, should be realistic, even when it is treated as a 'stretch goal'. Some sales cycles and customers take longer to close. Does the company strategy or compensation plan change more frequently than the product offering? How significant are these changes, and how well are they understood? Are compensation plans based on history, opportunity, the sales pipeline, or an unattainable pipe dream? Does the plan reward the team as a percentage of individual effort, thereby encouraging reciprocal support? Commission plans should be based on an allocation, as opposed to a budget. Commission should be an appropriated investment as incentive for team building and individual compensation. Putting It All Together

Is your sales force treated as the pipeline to profit, or as a necessary evil? Beware if your competitors value your top performers more than you do. Loyal customers are just as likely to be loyal to a trusted sales associate as they are likely to be loyal to a company or brand. Cultivate, educate and motivate your sales force to nurture a high performance revenue generating engine. Use a balanced approach of Appreciation, Recognition and Compensation to acknowledge, reward and motivate the sales force as an investment to growing revenue.
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