Incentive Planning - Rewards and Fame
Companies can find out countless ways to energize employees. This maybe through monetary or non-monetary forms of commissions or bonuses. We will focus on lower or no-cost methods to reward and provide recognition of staff members.
Non-financial compensation usually can be divided in two main categories − Recognition and Reward. There is an immense amount of interlinking between these two categories. We will measure them by parameters such as the cost involved, time taken to implement. We will start with easily implementable small-ticket ideas. To begin with, Appreciation (being acknowledged) is the reward that is mostly ignored. As the proverb says, ''A little appreciation can go a long distance."
There are numerous attributes under which people can be given recognition and appreciation for their efforts, which might not give them the instant rush that monetary benefits do. But, will definitely improve their performances over a long period by increasing their self-esteem and confidence. Let us discuss them below −
Cost-free Ways of Appreciation
A kind sounding word or a short note containing appreciation.
Congratulating a person within a team or within a corporate meeting.
Awards such as "Best Employee of the Week".
Fame within the corporate network or a mention in the newsletter of a company.
Minimally Costing Rewards
Awarding the employee with an achievement award.
Certifying the employee with a ‘Certificate of Excellence for certain accomplishments.
Awarding certain earned leaves to the employees on the basis of punctuality. This may be a little complicated at times and should always be done in consultation of the human resources.
Rewards such as a dinner for two people at a decent restaurant, gift coupons of a departmental store or tickets to a cricket match may also be given.
Work Itself can also be a Reward
Some employees feel they are being recognized and their efforts are being rewarded, when they are simply given responsibilities that are new and exciting to work on. One of the best possible ways is to assign an employee to a certain cross-platform task team (one involving a higher profile would prove to be even better).
Empowering the employee or letting him/her be the leader in something can also be a great reward. This gives the employee an opportunity to get noticed within the team, which will make him/her feel better and confident within his/her team members.
Sales Contests
An ingenious way of boosting sales is to conduct various sales contests. These contests usually come into play when there is a need to give some extra push on selling a certain type of a product or service.
These contests work best when companies project a sales target for a short term period. Implementing them too frequently is not a wise idea, because the focus and attention of employees dissipates after a period of time.
The reward for the winner of a sales contest may be as variable as being something from a miniature gift to an expensive holiday package. These holiday packages usually come in various forms. These packages maybe a trip for the individual or with a family member or friend or a joint trip for multiple winners, where the winners of the contest are sent to a holiday destination where employees might team up with their team mates and enjoy the environment and its delicacies.
Sales Meetings
These type of meetings are usually implemented to build-up the sales team. Sales meetings can be categorized into two types − the first one is the sales update meeting (usually held either on a biweekly basis or on a monthly basis). The second one is the larger team summit (typically conducted either annually or semi annually). Both of these meetings are great places to acknowledge and award individual employees or a group of employees.
In the case of a larger summit, time for meeting may range somewhere from a day to a week. These meetings incorporate exercises for team-building, sales training sessions, speeches to motivate employees, and an array of various other interactive activities that adds to the overall benefits, when it comes to recognition and rewarding of the employees.
Sales Meetings are slightly more formal when compared with Sales Contests. The biggest difference between both of them is that Sales Meetings are conducted, so that the management can communicate to employees the new paradigms in business, the vision and also to convey rewards. This is done so that the employees take a back seat here as compared to the Sales Contests, where employees take the events forward and participate actively.
