A little theory…

We share our experience in creating partner motivational programs. We tell you how it works: creating effective mechanics, attracting partners to the motivation program, developing a bonus scheme and optimizing the prize Fund, legal and tax aspects of transferring prizes to partners, organizing events for partners. Since 2000, we have implemented more than 30 successful projects for our customers in the markets of IT, household appliances, Pharma, insurance, construction.

If you decide to run a motivational program on your own, we can help you develop a project plan and configure your partner interaction algorithms. We are ready to audit your current motivational program and point out your strengths and weaknesses.

The first consultation will be free of charge. Write to us and we will call you back.

Motivational program for partners. Where to start?

Task setting and planning.

You should start by setting tasks. This seems obvious, but it is always difficult. The goal of the motivational program is clear - to increase affiliate sales. Success at this stage will be ensured by a realistic assessment of the existing situation, and the ability to formulate a clear list of tasks that will be solved on the way to your ambitious goal.

Let's identify two ways that we should inevitably achieve positive changes in sales.

Expanding the number of partners.
If the market is large and you are not yet well represented, a high-quality motivation will help attract new partners. This can be either regional expansion or entry into markets that have not yet been captured by your attention. The launch of new products or the expansion of the product range may be a good reason to meet new partners. And the promised bonuses can act as a pleasant welcome to start a partnership.
Increasing the loyalty of regular partners.
This is important if your competitors are pressing ahead and there are fears that your share will narrow. Here it makes sense to realistically evaluate your positions at the start. Loyalty is a difficult thing to measure, but it is often possible to estimate the share of your brand in a partner's product portfolio. This is what we can grow up with the help of a motivational program.

These tasks can be combined well within the same motivational program. But each of them has its own tools and mechanics for solving them.
It will be convenient for you to work if the solution of these tasks is divided into stages from the very beginning, with intermediate KPIs.
Example in the table.

KPI type	Number of registered partners in the program
Main KPI	700
Apr	150
May	50
June	50
July	150
Aug	50
Sep	50
Oct	150
Nov	50
Dec	0

KPI type	Actively participate, register sales
Main KPI	60%
Apr	90
May	30
June	30
July	90
Aug	30
Sep	30
Oct	90
Nov	30
Dec	0

KPI type	Be trained
Main KPI	30%
Apr	45
May	15
June	15
July	45
Aug	15
Sep	15
Oct	45
Nov	15
Dec	0

KPI type	Main KPI	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov
Number of registered partners in the program	700	150	50	50	150	50	50	150	50
Actively participate, register sales	60%	90	30	30	90	30	30	90	30
Be trained	30%	45	15	15	45	15	15	45	15

It is important to determine reasonable time intervals for each task individually. Clear wording will save you from wasting your budget, choosing the wrong contractor, and other frustrations. Remember that the success of the entire motivational program will be evaluated by the degree of achievement of the stated goal at the start.

Disclaimer. A high-quality program motivates a talented salesperson to promote your product or brand instead of another equally great one. No motivational program can turn a bad salesperson into a good salesman, or turn a lazy sales REP into a sales genius. Choose the partners you intend to motivate with particular care. Success is waiting for you where you manage to motivate the best sellers to focus on your products.

Target audience. Companies, employees, and managers.

Here it is important to note that loyalty is a property of a living person, not of an organization. Therefore, we will focus our motivational efforts on individuals, not companies. Even if from a formal and legal point of view it will look somehow different.

It is critically important to target your activities to the person or persons making the decision about whether your product or brand will be a priority for the partner company. Here we can distinguish two main groups:
managers
(managers, buyers, sellers)
and specialists (designer, installer, it technician),
because they have very different motives and tasks in their daily work.
It also happens that several employees will participate in making a decision. The problem of motivation in this case becomes more complicated, but it does not become unsolvable.

Example. SOFTWARE purchase for the logistics Department. The Manager, whether he is a buyer or a Manager, sees it as his goal to solve the problem quickly and within budget. The specialist dreams of a high-quality product of the latest generation, which will be interesting and convenient for him to work with, as well as good after-sales support. It makes sense to take this difference into account when starting to develop the motivation mechanics and prepare the content of your communications.

It is worth thinking carefully about what might be interesting and meaningful for this target audience of yours. You can't always rely on personal experience. In addition to popular gift cards, you can offer something that meets the interests of your audience as prizes. If you work in marketing and do not often communicate directly with partners, you can get good advice from colleagues in the sales Department and managers who work with partners. Why donating money and cash cards is not the best option, we will tell you later separately.

What is important to know about your target audience:

Let's identify two ways that we should inevitably achieve positive changes in sales.

The sphere of her professional interests is perhaps the most important. The interests of builders are different from the preferences of pharmacists, and it professionals do not value the same things as architects. Social networks, forums, and industry events can help you delve into the topic. Professional communities are now in a trend, they are growing and developing. Just being present in them will give you a lot of useful information. To fit into the profile group as an expert – aerobatics. And earning a good reputation, finding a common language with the audience and becoming one of the opinion leaders is a difficult task, but it is achievable.
Be sure to find out how often people change positions that fall within the scope of your interests. A retail salesperson or plastic window installer can change jobs in 3-6 months. A qualified it technician or head of the purchasing Department is likely to stay in the company for years. This understanding will enable you to plan the timing of your motivational activities.
It is useful to know, at least approximately, the internal structure of the partner's company. If our decision maker is motivated by a leader, it is worth thinking in advance how he will welcome our initiative and encourage the employee. It is very possible that you will not find enthusiasm and support in his person. The situation when the specialist to whom we offer encouragement has subordinates is no easier. It is possible that they will have to perform our motivational tasks. Nothing is impossible, but you will have to build your motivational mechanics with these factors in mind.

Interesting data can be obtained from regular Yandex. Metrica. Study those who visit your corporate website most actively. The most useful information will be information about which devices are used for the most number of sessions. By the way, our experience shows that contrary to General trends, b2b users often prefer desktops. Call times are more likely to be during the day than during business hours. Apparently, they view the activity within the framework of a motivational program, to a large extent, as part of their work. Gender and age characteristics are much less important for the implementation of our tasks. The audience's level of education is also irrelevant. They will not significantly affect the choice of mechanics and means of communication.

B2b decision-making strategy. Logic and creativity.

We develop B2b loyalty programme strategy. We develop B2b loyalty programme strategy. A well-developed strategy is simple and coherent, leaving flamboyant ideas of gamification and complicated cash-back services to B2C market

To successfully execute the loyalty programme of your choice, we will select some of the most committed and energetic business partners in your field. It is not our aim to impress them with our creativity, but to ensure that they find working with our loyalty program software comfortable and pleasant.

B2b loyalty programme strategy is executed in two main ways:

Awarding employees for sales and signed deals with “bonuses”. They can be spent in an internal company e-commerce shop by choosing and ordering an award that suits an individual.
Competition.
Prizes are awarded to winners of an organised competition. The number of winners is established in advance.

These formats can be used simultaneously or sequentially. You will be able to add extra terms, if necessary. For instance, you can predetermine a sales plan or divide competitors into groups. Extra rewards can be added as a birthday bonus or you can reward employees participating in educational projects and courses. In this aspect, there is no limit to your imagination.

The effectiveness of each strategy will be discussed separately, along with calculating the budget for loyalty programmes.

It is worth thinking about general interests of your target audience.
Instead of giving Gift Cards as a present, you can offer something that corresponds best with interests of your target audience. In this case, it’s better not to rely solely on your own experience.

If you work in marketing and don’t personally communicate with your business partners, it’s best to seek advice from your fellow workers in sales or managers, who do communicate with your target audience.
As for reasons why, it is never a good idea to give money as presents will be discussed at length later on.

Planning. Deadlines.

Motivational program - is a long-term commitment. If you are planning to interest more than 100 people and gain their loyalty afterwards- you need time.

We suggest that you follow a division of labour strategy and set goals on a step-by-step basis.

Depending on the project scope and market specificity, phase duration will vary.

Program start.
This can take from 30 days up to 6 months. Here we attempt to establish programme strategy, map out your target audience and develop marketing automation software or an app. We initiate test-runs on a small group of participants and then publicly announce the start of the loyalty programme to targeted employees or business partners.
Establishing an active interactional loyalty programme strategy. Concentrating on expanding the project and attracting new participants. Running the programme for less than one year is not recommended and keeping it unchanged for more than three years will weaken your audience’s interest. Similarly to a good restaurant or a club, you should aim to not just meet your audience’s expectations, but to also surprise them from time to time with exclusive offers.
Rebranding.
Creating a relaunch or updating your software has an ability to revive weakening interest towards your platform. In addition, your digital toolkit should be constantly upgraded: freshening up software designs and optimising your webpage is a must. Implementing new means of attracting participants, is equally important for the success of your loyalty programme. You should start considering implementing these changes after a year or a year and a half from the loyalty programme launch. Keep in mind that implementation period will depend on the scope of the project.

#ToSumUp

Formulate your task.
Identify your target audience.
Set time frame for the loyalty programme.
Develop a strategy. Outline implementation phases.
Work out your budget.
Start!
Analyse. Develop. Change.

Good luck!

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