Examples of Incentive Plans for Motivation, Recognition, and Growth [Infographic]

Examples of Incentive Plans for Motivation, Recognition, and Growth [Infographic]

Nichole Gunn

Colleagues collaborating and smiling - cover for The Ultimate Incentive Plan Template announcement

Looking for examples of incentive plans companies use? While the specifics of an incentive plan are tailored to the organizational goals of an individual business there are several general types of incentive programs companies use. Check these out these categories in the infographic below:

Program Categories: Examples of Incentive Plans:

Examples of Incentive Plans

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Sales Incentive Programs

Sales incentive programs are examples of incentive plans that reward sales reps based on meeting sales-related goals and performance metrics. The objective of a sales incentive program is to motivate sales growth. Sales incentive programs can be used for both internal sales teams and external sales teams, such as DSRs. The most common structure for a sales incentive program is to base the reward on amount or dollars sold. However, sales incentive programs can also be structured to motivate better client satisfaction, improved area coverage or other KPIs.

Additional Reading: Learn more about why sales incentives are more effective than sales commission.

Employee Incentive Programs

Employee rewards and recognition programs are incentive plans that are used to motivate internal staff. In an employee rewards and recognition program, employees receive rewards for improving performance, upholding company core values, passing training courses, or going above and beyond. Employee incentives are an important tool to improve workplace culture and increase employee retention.

Additional Reading: How can employee incentives be used to motivate a millennial workforce?

Customer Loyalty Programs

Customer loyalty programs are incentive plans that companies use to personalize relationships with their customers in order to increase customer profitability and improve customer retention. Customer loyalty programs reward customers based on order size, order frequency, supplying accurate marketing data, or for participating in brand education. Customer loyalty programs can be used as part of a marketing strategy or as a sales enablement tool.

Other examples of incentive plans for customers include referral programs, rewards for customer anniversaries, and e-commerce incentives.

Additional Reading: Learn the difference between B2B and B2C customer loyalty programs.

Channel Sales Incentive Programs

Channel sales incentive programs are incentive plans that reward channel partners for prioritizing your product, improving brand visibility, or for selling more of your products. Channel partners are the intermediary businesses within a distribution channel that help manufacturers and distributors sell their products to the end-consumer. Examples of channel partner programs include:

Additional Reading: Check out our free guide to dealer incentive programs!

Reseller & VAR Incentive Programs

Reseller and VAR (value-added reseller) programs are used to increase market share by educating and motivating your supply chain partners. Value-added resellers are companies that add features or support to your products, and market them as a complete solution to end-users. These strategic partnerships can be a powerful tool for manufacturers to increase profit margin and strengthen market penetration.

Examples of Incentive Plan Rewards

Of course, rewards are an important part of your incentive strategy. Types of incentive rewards include:

The type of rewards you should use depends on your audience, your budget, the length of your promotion, as well as the level of personalization you need for your program.

Need Some Inspiration?

For real life examples of incentive plans and rewards businesses across various industries have used to achieve ROI, check out these case studies.