About The Client
Our client partner is a worldwide gaming, hotel and resort company that looked to Creative Group to create a robust incentive program with multi-level functionality for different audience types within their sales umbrella, including conference services, catering and sales.
As a newly selected partner, we were chosen for our ability to provide a multi-functional rewards and information platform while providing a strong customer-centric focus.
The Challenge
The challenge was to create a social and intuitive incentive platform that would drive incremental sales, increase training participation, and create a sense of cohesiveness with a geographically widespread sales team.
The Solution
Social:
Social elements within the platform allow people to send e-cards to one another, “like” and comment on posts, and share photos and videos.
Flexible:
The platform allows flexibility for unique incentives to be added over time for targeted audiences. Holistic visibility for these programs is important because in the past, Directors could create spurt programs for their region but all of the details lived outside the platform. With the new program’s flexibility, ancillary programs can be created based on regional needs, and those programs – and results – are visible to the whole team, spurring on competition and creating greater engagement.
Leverage Competition:
Leveraging the competitive drive of the sales team was important. Leaderboards were created throughout the platform, highlighting each participant’s standings against the team. To increase sales through enhanced learning, our client operates a sales training program and the standings from that program are integrated into the incentive and recognition platform, further spurring on competition. For personal measure, employees’ rankings for each enrolled program are front and center on their home page.
Integrated Communication Plan
In order to increase engagement and build awareness of the new program, all elements – including teaser, introduction video, kick/off training and ongoing communication – were designed with both on-platform and off-platform elements.
Pre-launch: off-platform communication included a direct mailer to participant’s homes, aiming to increase family awareness and support.
Launch: the program was launched in-person at the annual sales meeting. Subsequent training on how to use the platform was provided to all participants.
Ongoing communication: the interactive program website offers news and updates, provides leaderboard standings, shows program enhancements, and highlights individual or team achievements. Frequent informational email communications about the program redirect participants back to the platform, for increased interaction.
Rewards
Participants earned both monetary and non-monetary rewards. Monetary rewards are awarded for sales-focused incentives. Additionally, managers have discretionary funds to recognize accomplishments such as successful teamwork or project outcomes. For nonmonetary rewards, peer-to-peer and manager-to-peer recognition is offered, allowing peers to acknowledge another’s birthday or offer a note of thanks.
Redemption
The points-based program offers participants a wide choice of reward offerings, including merchandise, travel, tickets and experiences.
The Outcome
Overall results and feedback about the new incentive program and platform have been overwhelmingly positive.
Sales Results: Regional Program Success
Regional programs have been successful and delivered on their goals. One region offered a team challenge that partnered their strong, more seasoned salespeople with newer sales colleagues to encourage collaboration and information sharing as a way to meet their team’s shared goal. In this program, five of nine teams exceeded their joint sales goal by over 20%, and one team exceeded by 40%.
Sales Training Results
Leaderboard standings from the training module – used to promote learning among their sales force – are integrated in the platform. Training modules such as these typically see 60-70 percent participation rates, but because the standings are visible to all participants, they realized an astounding 92% training participation rate.
One Team Results: Create “one team” with social elements
87% of the participants have logged on and engaged with the platform. One might guess that the reason people visit most is to redeem points, but based on survey results, the reasons most often cited for logging onto the platform include liking, sharing or commenting on posts, and for leaderboard results.
An engagement survey of the participants revealed that on a scale of: 1 (Poor) – 5 (Excellent)
- 92% of participants rated the overall program as Excellent (5) or Above Average (4)
- 84% of participants rated the Leaderboard effectiveness as Excellent (5) or Above Average (4)
Client Quote:
“When engaging a virtual workforce, connectivity and relevance are major factors that continuously need to be addressed. Our new program allows us to enhance performance while ensuring that the team is connected to one another, as well as ensuring they feel their part is relevant and crucial to the overall success of the team. The phenomenal results speak for themselves. What you are not seeing in those results is the engagement level of the team in their everyday activities, and the positive cultural shift this program has helped advance. The Creative Group team understands the entire picture, and everyone has played their part to execute this strategy with great success.”
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Powering Up a Sales Incentive with Social Engagement
