Sales incentive strategy to accommodate your multi-generational workforce

"By providing choice but limiting their options you’re giving a sense of empowerment and can influence their decision towards having a vegetable dinner. This logic can be applied within your sales incentive strategy".

At BI WORLDWIDE our mission is to inspire people. That’s why the notion that workplace demographics are more diverse than ever before spikes our interest. After all, with employees spanning five decades working together you’d expect there to be variances in what will motivate. However, this isn’t what we see.  

If you were to believe the stereotypes portrayed in the media, the workplace is a divided. Boomers, X, Y and Z all working against each other. However, biologically we’re 99.9% the same, so boxing people in based on the age and year they were born seems counterproductive, even more so when you consider that how generations are categorised globally changes. 

Yes, outside of work, generations will be having different experiences but even assumptions based on tastes, wants, and needs are dangerous. After all, we’re all unique. That 1% is different for each and every one of us. But in work, you’d hope we all have an aligned sense of purpose in the work we do. All working to the same goal. What varies is our motivation, and it’s tapping into this that can change the game for your incentive strategy. 

So how? One word – CHOICE! 

Choice accounts for our uniqueness. Accounts for our diverse workforces. Accounts for inclusivity in our programmes by allowing us to find our niche.  

How to build choice into your sales strategy 

You might be thinking that you can’t give endless choice. That the administration, the cost, and the outcomes won’t meet your objectives.
One way to manage this is using choice architecture.  

Choice Architecture 

Choice architecture is the design of how choice is presented and influences the final choice made. Take for example getting a fussy child to eat a healthy meal. There are at least three approaches you could take: 

1. Ask the child what vegetables they want with dinner? Response – ‘I don’t want vegetables’ 

2. Don’t ask the child and serve the meal with an imposed selection of vegetables? Response – ‘I don’t like these vegetables’ 

3. Ask the child if they want broccoli or carrots with their dinner? Response – ‘I’ll have carrots’ 

By providing choice but limiting their options you’re giving a sense of empowerment and can influence their decision towards having a vegetable dinner. This logic can be applied within your sales incentive strategy.  

Choice and Goal Setting 

Just as with the child and the vegetables, imposing a target on your salespeople could lead to disengagement and limit performance, whereas providing limited choice on target allows them to engage and decide what's going to motivate them best based on their personal needs and wants.   

Choice and Rewards 

Our GoalQuest methodology takes the idea of choice in goal setting and further elevates the motivational factor by layering personal reward choice on top. In the model, salespeople not only select their target level but also select from a choice of aligned tangible or experiential rewards they will earn on achievement of that target. Again, being able to select a reward that’s inspirational to them ensures your programme remains motivational, inclusive and accessible to all without compromising on your business objectives. 

Choice in Communication 

There’s much said about how different generations like to receive content. According to a Forbes article, Gen Xers prefer email correspondence and Baby boomers prefer phone calls. The reality, as with everything, is don’t be lulled into stereotypes. Yes, certain generations may be more comfortable with different technologies but day to day people’s needs can change. As with targets and rewards, build choice into your communication strategy. Where possible, offer both choice in frequency and format, allowing people to receive their updates and information in a way that appeals to them. In addition, monitor their performance and serve communication aligned to their needs. Goal gradient theory suggests that as the proximity to our goal decreases, we speed up. Use this concept in your communications strategy and increase frequency of communication to people as they near their target or the end of the incentive period to accelerate their performance and close that final gap.  

In the book "The Power of Onlyness", Nilofer Merchant refers to a person’s ‘Onlyness’; a term to describe the spot where only each of us stand and the value only we can offer from our unique perspective in that space. So, you don't need to change your sales incentive strategy based on age but you many want to consider finding ways through your incentive design to embrace that ‘Onlyness’ of your salespeople. Using choice and personalisation allows for a deeper engagement and stronger inspiration from your salespeople. 

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Sales Incentives