Author: AK Gupta

In ‘HOW TO’ series in the earlier blog titled “How to make team take ownership” we suggested to encourage the team involved in operations to actively participate in the decision making process to take the ownership. In the current blog the discussion will be around how to retain your trained resources by keeping them meaningfully engaged and growing.

BETTER OFFERS: – We experienced that many times the person was not keen on leaving and would prefer to stay back but was at the crossroad because of the excellent offer from much more established organisation. Our suggestion would be to understand what will make him happy and more at peace with himself. Do look for signals of negotiation and if that is the case then decide whether to lose him now or later as he may take his chance again. With our experience we will suggest you to retain, if possible, as over time they do mature and may not succumb to further offers. Read More

In ‘HOW TO’ series in the earlier blog titled “How to manage high rewards” we forewarned to ensure successful programme are not stopped due to objections because of wrong perception by various other departments. In the current blog let us discuss about keeping team engaged and motivated through various reward and recognition that can be designed by you with support from us.

Routine work becomes boring over time, but play is always fun irrespective of the hours involved as it engages us while providing both fun and the satisfaction. Check out that almost the whole country actively gets busy watching IPL for a prolonged period and overtime infecting the less interested ones too. What if we can offer them the scope of playing the game instead of being the silent spectators? Why not design the crucial parts interestingly so that the work itself becomes the play? If you are not getting the engagement you seek, ask the magic question: “What’s being rewarded?” The things that get rewarded get done but more important is what needs to be rewarded. Also, important here to highlight that no matter what the game is, a small percentage of people will perform brilliantly or poorly due to factors such as personal ability, needs, values etc., factors over which one has no control.  Read More

In ‘HOW TO’ series in the earlier blog titled “How to design rewards programmes” we explained what to keep in mind while designing various rewards programmes. In the current blog let us ensure that the extraordinarily successful programme is not derailed due to the wrong perception by various other departments. For example, in IPL cricket series the players earning large money should not be under scrutiny for the higher rewards they are earning but must be acknowledged for achieving the stretch goals which they are overshooting within the predefined budget and making IPL so popular. Let the aggrieved departments put forth worth while suggestions to earn similar or better rewards for the upward swirl of one and all.

In ‘HOW TO’ series earlier blog titled “How and why to avoid gifting vouchers” we explained why large companies strongly believe and insist on giving gifts and not the gift vouchers. In this blog let us focus on what all to keep in mind while designing various rewards programmes. 

Long Term: – Rewards programmes are like rockets which takes a lot of energy when you launch it so why not design it keeping long haul in mind and change it only when necessary. If your business model demands, then you can have additional programmes from time to time to achieve other objectives but let the base programme remain focussed on the main goal. Be ambitious and stretch the top slab which you would like the team to achieve individually or collectively. Read More

In ‘HOW TO’ series in the earlier blog titled “How to successfully cross sell” we covered how you can successfully design and execute a reward and recognition scheme to achieve your bigger objective of adding various promising products through existing partners and keep all stakeholders such as brand, stockists, retailers and even end consumers happy. In this blog let us focus our energy on why gifting vouchers is after all not such a great idea. 

The thought of gifting vouchers is considered and accepted by few companies due to the following challenges: –  Read More

In ‘HOW TO’ series in the last blog titled “How to open newer sales outlets” we covered how you can successfully design a reward scheme to achieve your objective of adding new sales outlets to increase both coverage and sales. In the earlier blog titled “How to increase sales through rewards” we talked about ways and means of increasing your sales month after month. In this blog let us focus on how to successfully cross sell your existing and new range of products. 

In mid-nineties we faced a situation where many IT partners were not willing to either keep the dot matrix refill ribbons or even sell new printer cartridges as the invoice value was too small. We ran a scheme where on all fast-moving items depending on the value of the items bought on every billing, we started giving free either the dot matrix cartridges or refill packs. Over a period, we manoeuvred partners to start liquidating the accumulated free scheme stocks to their existing or new clients thereby increasing business for all of us and better service for their end users. The bundling strategy thus designed also increased our overall sales for regular fast-moving items as competition could not counter, block or match the overall offer.
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In ‘HOW TO’ series in the earlier blog titled “How to increase sales through rewards” we talked about ways and means of increasing your sales month after month. The current blog covers how during mid-nineties we motivated stationery shops to promote and sell IT consumables through right rewards and recognitions. India started opening its economy during early nineties and the rapid computerization resulted in demand for office consumables like floppies, dot matrix ribbons to start with and subsequently various storage medias, inks and toner cartridges. 

New challenge was how to increase sales for recurring office supplies through existing IT vendors who were reluctant to get involved due to non-compatibility to their existing business model due to extra pain of stocking, delivery and collections for very low-ticket items. Ideal solution was traditional stationers, but they needed lot of hand holding to enter an alien territory, so a novel scheme was run for onboarding them as regular office consumables sellers. Salespersons were given rewards for onboarding every new outlet resulting in even few xerox shops onboarding under the phenomenally successful reward and recognition programme. 

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Our primary job is to increase sales for our products month after month and so let me narrate what has worked for us over the last 40 years. I started my career with Eureka Forbes Limited mid-eighties as a door to door salesman selling vacuum cleaners and earned mainly on commissions. I also enjoyed exciting gifts for clocking in qualifying sales in the first week of every month and various other rewards & recognition programs run by our dynamic sales manager Mr. Anil Ambo who also shaped my thought process. During the early nineties, I also read a book ‘How to motivate people’ by Michael Leboeuf where he talked about “Rewards: the greatest management principle in the world” further moulded me in running various programmes in my business for sales persons, managers, buyers, retailers and stockists. 
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