The case for non-cash rewards just keeps getting stronger. A new study called “Sales Performance Management 2012: How Best in Class Optimize the Front Line and Grow the Bottom Line” conducted by the Aberdeen Group and distributed by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) sheds some more light on the importance of recognition and rewards as part of the total compensation package. The top 20 percent of companies signify the “best in class.”
The key finding of this study is that organizations that provide non-cash recognition perform better, and best in class companies (21 percent) are more than twice as likely to provide this type of recognition as other companies (10 percent). Furthermore, organizations that provide non-cash rewards or recognition had an average year over year annual corporate revenue increase of 9.6 percent versus three percent for all others. Best in class companies also saw increases in revenue per sales FTE and team attainment of quote versus other companies that saw deceases in these areas.
“This study definitively shows organizations that implement non-cash reward and recognition programs outperform all other organizations in several major business indicators,” noted IRF Chief Research Officer Rodger Stotz in Premium Incentive Products magazine. “Perhaps the lesson to be learned from this analysis is that professional sales staffs respond to measureable rewards and recognition much like other employees, so it’s not surprising to find that companies using such programs post better results.”
