Kick your sales incentive program into fifth gear!
Sales incentive programs can be powerful motivators across various industries, but one of the strongest we’ve seen is within trade channels. Automotive trade channels such as tyres, spare parts and aftermarket can all benefit from the change in behaviour and growth in market share that a well-deployed program can earn from its most valued customers.
Sales incentive programs can be powerful motivators across various industries, but one of the strongest we’ve seen is within trade channels. Automotive trade channels such as tires, spare parts and aftermarket can all benefit from the change in behaviour and growth in market share that a well-deployed program can earn from its most valued customers.
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Automotive Industries Sales Chain for Sales Incentive Programs
The sales chain flows down from specialised manufacturers within the automotive aftermarket industry. These manufacturers can vary in size from international to smaller, independent brands. They create spare parts for aftermarket sales, which go onto major brand and independant resellers and dealers.
These parts are sold to end customers, such as mechanics, smash repairers and tyre stores, who use the products in their interactions with B2C customers. An incentive program can motivate the aftermarket retailers to prioritise specific branded stock over others, as this is where the B2B manufacturer can direct their sales to B2C end customers.
With a robust and thoughtful incentive marketing strategy, the manufacturer can deploy a creative campaign to roll their stock preference down the chain, ensuring familiarity with their brand at all points of the B2B and B2C sales chain.
Purpose of an Automotive Aftermarket Sales Incentive Program
As previously mentioned, these incentive programs are potent motivators for stock preference. Your incentive campaign should target reseller and dealer staff, owners, and back-of-house finance handlers, or it should be a sales incentive directed at the floor staff selling the products.
With a targeted program, the brand can expect management of various pain points, depending on how the program is designed. These programs are usually used to gain additional wallet share in a crowded market, taking advantage of competitors who aren’t adding extra value to their transactions with these dealers and resellers.
An incentive program thrives in giving purchasers additional reasons to prioritise their brand over others. The incentive program sweetens the deal, advising the customers that you’re aware of the struggle to offer competing options for their end customers and that you’re willing to come to the table and provide additional incentives to favour your brand.
These programs allow your brand to take up more floor space and give the staff a reason to recommend and prioritise moving your brand, as the value you’re adding through your incentive program rewards them directly for their decisions.
How to Reward Your Customers in Your Sales Incentive Program
The way of incentivising behaviour change within your program can vary, as there are many ways to ensure your customers will showcase your brand over others. The first step is determining the budget, which limits your reward selection.
It is also essential to consider how your program can be self-funded through expected sales. By setting targets within your program that are costed around particular stock and sales levels, your brand can ensure that customers only receive their value from a specific level of expected return.
It is essential to ensure that you set these targets appropriately, as they can disincentivise the favour your brand hopes to gain.
Once you have determined your budget and factored in the option to self-fund your program, it’s time to decide on the reward offered. There are two major schools of thought regarding the payoff within your incentive program: physical rewards or travel incentive experiences.
Physical rewards benefit from working within reward tiers, meaning you can set targets to ensure that each level of participation is shown appreciation for the effort they put into the program. Smaller retailers can achieve payoff within the program, with larger resellers and dealers being able to earn larger rewards based on more prioritisation of your brand.
The other option, travel incentive programs, comes with a higher budget and payoff. Treating your program participants to an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime experience fully funded by their interactions with your brand will likely make those customers into brand advocates for life. However, the limitation is that it depends on your budget, meaning that the people who can reap the rewards can be somewhat limiting and potentially be a turnoff to those who strive and fail to reach the final target.
The perfect program probably offers a combination of the two—an aspirational trip for the high performers and reward bundles for those who participate but fail to reach the highs of those who can reach the top tiers. This allows everyone to draw value from the program but truly converts customers into firm believers in your brand.
When it comes time to consider creating an incentive program for your customers, it’s important to consider who to partner with. Incremental has been successfully working with brands across Australia, New Zealand, and even globally since 1998. We know the best way to create and manage an incentive program campaign to achieve your goals and can help you deliver the goals you’re looking to achieve.