Gaining a competitive edge in a tough market requires businesses to maximise every sales opportunity. Since most companies rely on channel partners, incentive programs are crucial in boosting sales. However, implementing a generic program will not give you the desired results. In a shocking study by Forrester, it was disclosed that just 5% of channel partner incentive programs achieve objectives. Lack of personalisation, wrong timing, and templated approach are some of the reasons for this. Channel partner incentive schemes work when they follow a theme or have a purpose. For example, you can plan a program to leverage seasonal sales peaks. One opportunity to run such a program is the upcoming Diwali festival.
In this blog, we will walk you through the process of designing a festive channel partner incentive program featuring corporate Diwali gifts, so that you can keep your associates motivated while improving their performance.
Festive Channel Partner Incentive Program
An incentive program that is launched during a festival season to motivate channel partners to push and leverage the estimated peak sales period is usually referred to as a festive channel partner incentive program. It is designed to reward partners with festive gifting options for improving their performance during holidays or festive times. With Diwali being one of the important Indian festivals, it is an ideal time for businesses to plan their incentive programs while planning personalized corporate Diwali gifts.
As per the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), Indian traders clocked sales worth Rs 3.75 lakh crore during the Diwali festival in 2023. These numbers give a preview into the kind of sales that businesses can record through a well-crafted and personalised incentives program for their channel partners.
Steps for Designing a Festive Channel Partner Incentive Program
Step 1: Plan Your Incentive Program Early
You must ideally begin planning your incentive program with festive gifting well in advance so that you have enough time to build it comprehensively. Starting your program early will help you shortlist the best corporate Diwali gifts to incentivize your partners. Since festive gifting will form the core of your program, make a list of gifts that your channel partners can’t resist.
Step 2: Ensure Your Objectives Are Clear
Before setting the goals of your festive channel partner incentive program, you must be sure of your sales target. First define the objectives like percentage growth in sales, overall revenue, etc., once these are fixed, you can design the program and corporate Diwali gift options targeting these broader business targets.
Another aspect of defining program objectives is understanding your channel partners’ business models, KPIs, and preferred festive gifting. Taking these insights into account will help you personalise the incentive scheme to motivate the partners.
Step 3: Propose Incentives that Your Partners Value
When planning for incentives for your channel partners, one-size-fits-all may not work. Different partners will have needs, and so the incentives that motivate them will also differ. You can conduct a survey to understand their preferences with respect to rewards. These options can include
- Cash bonuses or rebates
- Corporate Diwali gifts
- Gift cards or vouchers (preferably for festive gifting)
- Travel Incentives
- Exclusive experiences
- Product discounts
With Zaggle Propel, you get access to a wide rewards catalogue with exciting corporate Diwali gifts. Zaggle will allow you to customize the festive gifting experience for your partners.
Step 4: Use Automation Solutions for Easy Management
Planning and implementing a festive channel partner incentive program can be challenging, especially if you are doing it manually. For seamless execution, you will have to rely on a user-friendly solution like Zaggle Propel. It will automate the end-to-end process so that you can easily manage the program, streamline communication, track performance, and ensure instant reward redemption with corporate Diwali gifts.
Zaggle Propel will not only make the administrative tasks simpler but also give you data analytics to refine your program.
Step 5: Develop a Strong Communication Strategy
One of the important tenets of a successful festive channel partner incentive program is smooth communication. Right from launching the program to informing your partners about guidelines like eligibility criteria and engaging them through the program period, communication will play a critical role. With a platform like Zaggle Propel, you can ensure proper communication through polls, surveys, and other helpful features.
Step 6: Work on Partner Engagement
Festive gifting will get your partners excited to enhance their sales numbers. However, you will still have to plan for effective engagement to keep the interest till the end of the sales period. You can do that by gamifying the incentive program to create healthy competition between channel partners to win corporate Diwali gifts. Zaggle Propel, for example, gives you the option to add interactive elements like leaderboards, and badges to make the program more engaging.
In addition, your partners may require training sessions and other resources to up their game and boost the revenue.
Step 7: Create a Festive Atmosphere
The festive theme of your incentive program must reflect across your branding and messaging. It will create a festive spirit and also set the tone for your partners. Be it marketing material, visuals, language, or rewards, all the elements must feature the festive theme.
Step 8: Optimise Your Program
An incentive program isn’t a once-and-for-all event. It must be reviewed regularly by monitoring metrics like sales figures, partner engagement, and reward redemption rates. These metrics will give you an idea of how well your festive channel partner incentive program is working. Additionally, seeking feedback from your partners will help you adjust the program to suit their needs.
Give Your Festive Gifting An Edge with Zaggle Propel
A successful festive channel partner incentive program will require seamless execution, frictionless communication, and instant reward redemption. Doing this manually is impractical. To ensure you maximise the benefit of your incentive program, use Zaggle Propel. It is an all-in-one automated solution for channel partner incentives that improves channel partner experience right from partner onboarding to reward redemption. Talk to us to learn everything that Zaggle Propel can do for your festive channel partner incentive programs.
