If there’s one thing we know about incentive programs, it’s that they can’t stand still. Markets shift, competitors get louder and let’s face it, attention spans aren’t getting any longer. That’s why even the most established programs need to keep evolving. To say ahead, they have to keep finding new ways to stand out. Ways that spark deeper engagement, push top performers to go further and build loyalty that actually lasts.
For programs that primarily use cash to motivate sales performance, it presents a unique challenge. How do you keep leveling up the value of your program without exhausting the budget? Better yet, how do you activate something even deeper to keep sellers loyal long-term and sustain great performance at a manageable cost?
The Situation
How do you energize a long-standing incentive program?
A mature incentive program run by a large-scale manufacturer had been using cash to effectively motivate and reward dealer sales reps (DSRs) for driving performance and promoting them first in the market. While their existing strategies had worked for years, businesses always need to keep evolving.
They wanted to re-approach the program from a different angle and find new ways to capitalize on the momentum they had gained over the years: driving more tier advancements, creating a more competitive partner experience and deepening emotional connections between sellers and the brand.
As part of their long-time collaboration with Maritz, they began exploring a new perspective on the challenge. We saw this as an opportunity to take a program that had been successful and reinvigorate performance with new, impactful experiences and rewards that truly resonate with partners and their unique motivations.
The Solution
Reimagining the Reward Experience
To amplify the value propositions of the program, the business needed ways to make rewards more compelling without increasing base payouts.
While cash remained a foundational incentive option, we spotted smart opportunities to complement it with more meaningful reward experiences that would make the entire program more fun, motivating and memorable.
Diversified Reward Types
We introduced a new points-based system providing sellers with the ability to choose the rewards they want to earn while the client could still drive more incremental behaviors like.
- New points-based system
- Branded gifts
- Premium merchandise
Seasonal Promotions
We launched limited-time promotions to create a sense or urgency and exclusivity around earning opportunities like:
- High-value merchandise
- Unique travel experiences
Gamification Elements
To make the program more interactive, we incorporated engaging gamification elements like:
- Prize drawings (for things like iPads and other in-demand products)
- Random drawings for motivational boosts
Recognition Gifts
We saw a window to stir up more emotion and boost the program’s loyalty potential with a new gift system for key milestones like:
- “Rookie’s First Sale” gifts rewarding early progress
- “Top Performers” gifts recognizing Gold-Tier achievers
The Results
Reinforced Loyalty, More Top-Performers and Greater Sales Growth
While this non-cash rewards strategy played a big role, it was one of several updates we made together with our client, including a Participant Insights Study and Rules Structure Analysis & Tier Optimization. Working together, these changes:
- boosted engagement across all performance tiers
- strengthened partner loyalty
- drove notable sales gains
Navigating Forward
When you go beyond cash alone to motivate sellers, the impact is real. You see stronger engagement, deeper loyalty and even a lift in revenue.
For mature programs, keeping sellers motivated ins’t just about bigger payouts. It’s about finding fresh, meaningful ways to make participation feel valuable and truly worth it.
By bringing new incentive types, promotions and forms of recognition alongside traditional cash options, Maritz helped this long-standing program through it’s refresh and reinforce itself as a leading market example of a well built program. With a few simple pivots to enhance the reward experience, the program now drives top performers further, creating deeper loyalty and boosting bottom-line growth even higher.
This Your Program Has Room to Grow?
Let’s zoom into your program’s reward experiences to pinpoint exactly how you can evolve so participation is more impactful for sellers and performance is more profitable for your business.
Check out the full case study here!
