What are the Best Ways to Implement a SPIFF?

3 Ways To Successfully Implement A Spiff Program In 2019

Not all spiff programs work the same or yield the same expected results. Spiffs, or SPIVs, are incentive programs that are designed to change or influence the behavior of a sales teams. Spiff programs reward employees for good performance, spiff programs are also known to be an effective method of increasing employee loyalty and retention. Although spiffs are short-term incentives, they are the driving force of many successful businesses. However,  if utilized incorrectly, spiff programs may fall short of their intended purpose.

Nevertheless, spiffs are still the best redemption system to use to influence or drive up sales. However, a spiff program is only as effective as the time and attention you put into creating it. In this blog, we’ll share with you a few effective ways to implement a spiff program within your company.

Your employees work hard to drive sales, so don’t be afraid to reward your team for the work they perform. If you decide to implement a pairing and spiff payout system, be sure to include the appropriate dollar or rebate amount. Throughout this article, you’ll learn several ways to implement a spiff payout system in your company.

1. Start With An Incentive System that Appeals to Your Employees

If necessary, you can conduct a survey among your sales team members, and ask them what they think is a fair incentive amount is. Once you have calculated the results, it should be easy to determine the right spiff payout system for your employees and your business. Just be sure that the rewards you’re giving your employees are rewards they want–otherwise they’ll be less likely to work for it.

Cash Pay-Outs

Everyone could use more money– whether it comes in the form of cash or visa debit cards. The rebate should equal the expectation. Monetary rebates can be in the form of visa debit cards, which work the same as cash money. However, there can be different tiers of the spiff rebate system.

For example, at the first tier, the top-performing sales member receives the highest payouts, depending on the nature of the business. You can include a large cash bonus, and a certificate of recognition for sales achievement or goals met during a particular sales promotion campaign. Not only will this keep your top salesperson happy, it will keep the team motivated to do more.

Prizes

Prizes can include a weekend getaway, a cruise, dinner for two, or a shopping spree. The possibilities are endless. Prize redemption should not be too far off following the promotional or campaign end date. Rebates should be redeemable at least 2 weeks after the campaign end date, and employees should have ample time to redeem their prize. Depending on the promotion, employees can redeem their prizes within 60 days of winning. This will ensure that everyone is available and motivated to work even harder on the next upcoming spiff promotional campaign.

2. Make Sure Your Spiff Programs Are Strategic

Don’t Just Promote Your Spiff Program Short-Term

Short-term plans are often so short-lived that no one really benefits. Give the promotion time to sink in and circulate, allowing more time to reach everyone involved. This means setting up a meeting, laying out your plans for success, and engaging your salespeople to take the initiative. Offer rebates that will make your sales team stand up and take notice. Give them something to think about, and a goal to meet and exceed. This fosters a type of competitiveness that will bring out the best in your sales team.

Reward For Levels Of Progression

Be sure to provide rebates at different levels of the promotion. This will not only attract top performers but those who want to show off their sales abilities. This means talking to partners and getting their input as to what products they worked best for them in past campaigns, and what spiffs their employees preferred. In light of driving a high-performance sales campaign, you have got to do the homework.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that the reward doesn’t always have to be based on a closed sale. In fact, many companies have found that rewarding their employees based on levels of progression in the sale can be just as effective.

Loyalty points

Loyalty points can be used with any combination of tier pairing incentives. Companies that really want to invest in a loyalty points system should be built on tier pairing with higher tier rebates. Tier one should aim for core performers, as these performers are the real rainmakers. Sadly though, they are often overlooked. In the loyalty points rebate systems, employees can redeem their points for cash, prizes or merchandise. Offer a system that allows sales member to accumulate ‘X’ amount of points in which they can exchange for prizes, cash, merchandise, or a combination of two or more prizes. This can be a long-term goal to move merchandise before or by a specific deadline. The key to implementing the best spiff promotion is to ensure that the compensation is equal to the expectation of both business owners and employees.

3. Deliver the Right Spiff For A Job You Consider Well Done

The right spiff program will deliver the appropriate payment to the right salesperson at the right time. Timing is important in the planning and execution of all campaigns, as well as in the delivery of the prize. Once the campaign is over and the prizes are distributed, it is safe and almost expected that another campaign should follow. You want to keep your competitive edge while keeping your team motivated.

Once you find a spiff that works, you want to continue implementing it. To keep it alive, consider adding another type of spiff incentive from time to time. This can be a short-term spiff to motivate higher sales for the upcoming holidays or a long-term spiff to encourage on-going performance. Either way, be sure to keep the rewards going. Your employees will thank you!

A well-designed spiff program will do more than just incentivize your employees, it will also populate the marketing intelligence necessary to grow your business. More connectivity between your sales team and your sales channel, means a higher volume of valuable information on your customers.

For more information on consumer data collection and how it can improve your marketing, visit our consumer data collection page.

Have some more questions about SPIFFs or any other incentive program? We’d love to help! We’ve helped businesses all over the country implement and execute spiff programs that work for them. Get in touch with an Incentive Insight representative today to get started.