B2B Channel Incentive Program: Leading Global IT Manufacturer

Industry

Overview

This customised B2B channel incentive program delivered a significant improvement in channel performance for a leading global IT products manufacturer. By removing administrative barriers, the program transformed passive distributors and resellers into active brand advocates, resulting in substantial sales growth across targeted high-margin hardware and managed print categories.

Key achievements

The Context

As a leader in the global IT products and commercial printing hardware market, the manufacturer is known for reliable technology. However, the B2B sales landscape has evolved. IT hardware, managed print services, and client devices are now highly commoditised, giving partner resellers and distributors significant influence.

Relying on an indirect, multi-tiered partner network, including commercial resellers, system integrators, and distributors, the manufacturer experienced increasing disconnect from the point of sale.

With competitors offering significant discounts, the manufacturer recognised that traditional, passive sales support was insufficient to protect market share. To sustain profitable growth and margins, they needed to move from a vendor-client relationship to a proactive strategic alliance with their reseller network. A structured, motivating B2B channel incentive program was required to influence individual salesperson behaviour.

The Challenge

In this competitive reseller environment, sales floor representatives offer multiple competing brands. The manufacturer’s main challenge was the lack of direct visibility or communication with these frontline sales representatives.

Traditionally, manufacturer incentives are paid as backend volume rebates to the reseller organisation’s corporate account, rarely reaching the individuals who influence customer purchase decisions.

The manufacturer set out to solve three critical friction points:

The main objectives of the program were:

• Market Share: Help Fujifilm achieve sales targets and grow market share by rewarding brand loyalty and incentivising future sales
• Customer Engagement: Educate the salesperson on Fujifilm products by rewarding them for completing training modules
• Build Brand Advocates: Develop and grow a trade program that other in-store staff will aspire to be a part of

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The Objectives

To build sustained channel momentum, the program was designed around three key strategic pillars:

• Strategic Sales Growth: Increase unit sales in high-margin product categories, such as commercial desktops, notebooks, mobile workstations, and managed print solutions, ahead of key competitors.
• Seamless Platform & Engagement: Provide an intuitive digital platform that allows sales representatives to track performance instantly and enables resellers to manage data without administrative burden.
• Rewards & Brand Loyalty: Offer a desirable, flexible, and tangible reward system that fosters long-term alliances and directly recognizes individual sales efforts.

The Solution

With Incremental’s expert partnership, the manufacturer launched a customised, automated B2B channel incentive program that rewards partner businesses for sales volume and directly motivates individual sales representatives.

Bypassing the Data Bottleneck

To address the industry-wide challenge of data visibility, Incremental developed a unique “Company Allocator” feature. Instead of bypassing the reseller organisation, which can create channel friction, the program designates an administrator within each partner business to serve as the Allocator.

1. The manufacturer uploads verified bulk sales data to the secure portal fortnightly or monthly.
2. The Company Allocator logs in and assigns those sales to the team members responsible for making them.
3. The platform automatically converts these allocations into reward dollars and loads them onto each representative’s branded, reloadable corporate Mastercard.

Cultivating Consistent Upside

To support the program and drive engagement, a customised communication engine was implemented with the platform proactively sending targeted notifications to Company Allocators as soon as new sales figures are ready to be assigned.

Additionally, tactical “over and above” promotions are regularly deployed to focus the channel’s attention on specific product launches or end-of-quarter initiatives, allowing sales representatives to earn up to $30,000 annually while boosting sales of selected products and lines.

The Result

By simplifying the process of doing business with the brand, this B2B channel incentive program bridged the gap between the manufacturer and frontline sales teams. The direct-to-card, instant reward mechanism built a responsive and motivated partner network.

The program successfully shifted daily sales representative behaviour, establishing a strategic alliance between the manufacturer and its resellers. High daily portal engagement continues to drive reliable, self-funded sales growth, demonstrating that aligned incentives create a healthier, more profitable channel.