This is the hardest chore of all. Our sister firm handles these types of assignments for our clients, because many of them just do not know where to start. We will provide you with some of the basics.

First, we'll assume that you think an Incentive Plan or Program can onlybe applicable for sales personnel. Not true. Everyone in your company can be "Incentivized". Please remember, an effective Incentive Plan costs YOU, the employer, absolutely nothing, it is a self-liquidating program. You will select the guidelines or benchmarks based upon your specific goals for each individual and your overall company. Once you have established these perameters, the rest is much easier.

First though, you must answer some important questions. For example:

If you could have your receptionist handle more calls and more efficiently ... If you could have each one of your agents handle more transactions per day ... If you could have fewer customer complaints ... If you could almost eliminate absenteeism, sick days, tardiness ... If you could teach your accounting staff to handle their function in a smoother fashion ... WHAT WOULD ALL OF THESE BE WORTH??? Only you can answer these questions. Once you've have a handle on the above, the next question is what type of a budget can you allocate to achieve these goals? Remember, if your employees don't achieve the goals/benchmarks you have set forth, they will not earn their incentives.

However, the goals or benchmarks you set forth must be realistic, and they must be attainable as well. If you accomplish this, you will have what you've always wanted - a fully productive office of top performers, who will never leave you for another job, because they (the good ones) will earn additional monies or merchandise, or vacation time, which your competition will probably not be offering them.

Incentives can be in any form: Money, Merchandise, Extra Vacation Days, virtually anything.