the pitch: as seen in sales and marketing management
featuring rodger stotz, vice president & consultant,
maritz inc.
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rodger stotz
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http://rick.telberg.mr-2.us/feature1.phtml
motivating your top performers is a no-brainer. but will that alone increase your bottom line? not quite. that’s the finding of a recent survey by maritz incentives, a provider of reward and recognition programs based in st. louis. midlevel performers thrive when they know they’ve got something to work toward ? and you’ve got to give that to them. in fact, 52 percent of respondents who qualify for incentive programs at their companies ? which typically reward the top 10 percent of workers ? feel they have only somewhat or no chance of winning an award. this is far from motivating. “your b-players have a significant effect on your bottom line,” says rodger stotz, vice president and managing consultant for maritz inc. “you’ll always have a top five percent, but those rewards don’t move the middle.”
a typical company may have 10 percent a players and 80 percent b players, stotz says. if you get the top 10 percent to improve by 20 percent, then overall results climb 2 percent. but if you get just 5 percent more out of your mid-performers, overall results will go up 4 percent. that is why managers must recognize and reward those who may not perform at the top level, but who perform consistently. “studies say that well-designed sales incentive programs do increase performance,” stotz says. “ask your b players what their impression is with the current recognition and reward plans. they may think, “i can’t try, because i can’t make it,” when it comes to top-performer incentive programs. that is just demotivating.”
so what can you do to make sure your rewards plan doesn’t alienate your b players? stotz offers the following suggestions:
be clear on your objectives “instead of only using top-performer measures, such as most volume, create an incentive for the most improved, which will attract the b’s,” stotz says.
promote the plan sometimes executives “launch a program but participants don’t know they’re in the program ? that’s not good,” stotz says.
stay involved the sales manager’s role is critical in any type of incentive program. salespeople are independent but they look to managers for direction.
set up goals work with b players to set up individual goals for achievement and recognition. this can get them out of a rut and improve performance.
create a mentor program “if it is within the culture, look to a players to mentor the b’s,” stotz says. “they can offer ‘tips from the top’ class sessions, for example, once a month. sharing tips for success motivates the b’s.”