Which Metrics Should Drive Incentive Plans?

How can you quickly develop an incentive plan that will get results and not take a lot of time to put together? The first step is to figure out what behaviors you want to drive among your team. Louise Anderson, CEO of Anderson Performance Improvement, advises interviewing the top performers on your team to find out what specific behaviors help them sell effectively. “Make these behaviors your incentive metrics,” she says. “Only reward for improvement, and do not duplicate your cash-compensation plan.”

Those kinds of behaviors might include the following:

• targeting more or better accounts;
• selling more valuable solutions to current accounts;
• launching new, high-value products;
• scheduling more or better meetings with key decision makers;
• scheduling more appointments with key prospects.

Because these metrics will be the foundation of your incentive plan, it’s important that they be measurable, easy to observe, and actionable. It’s useful to be able to rely on data stored in your CRM system to find the right metrics — and even more useful if you can find an incentive solution that links with your CRM. This synergy between CRM and metrics can be a major time-saver and improve the flow of communication between you and the sales team.

“You want a system that retrieves incentive points from the CRM and then sends out emails, status reports, acknowledgement of objectives reached, surveys, and questionnaires,” says Steve Damerow, president of Incentive Solutions/Performance Systems. Damerow’s incentive application is compatible with salesforce.com and can link with Oracle, Microsoft CRM, or even spreadsheets in Excel. “You want it all seamlessly communicated through emails, which are automatically triggered when reps reach their goals.”

The final element to consider is flexibility. Your initial approach might be to support immediate objectives, but build in room to make modifications as goals shift. “Keep it very simple up front,” says Brian Galonek, president of All Star Incentive Marketing. “Develop a brand and theme for your program. When you have other objectives, you can easily add them to the existing platform.”

That could include launching new products, boosting sales in difficult months, training, or participating in meetings and surveys. Remember that new goals, contest news, and other updates keep the incentive plan fresh and engaging for reps.