Think you have all the answers? Prove it. Sales & Marketing Management magazine regularly poses a hypothetical management question to readers in our Closer section. Tell us what advice you'd give to solve this difficult—albeit fictitious—dilemma.
All responses must include a name, title, company, and location. The deadline is September 15, 2006. (Responses may be edited for length or clarity.) The winning response, as well as other contenders, will appear in our November/December issue of Sales & Marketing Management magazine. Good luck!
The scenario: Every year at the Morrison Corporation, top regional salespeople win a President's Club trip with the CEO to an international destination. The company is known for putting the winners and their spouses up in lavish hotels and paying for all expenses. In fact, Morrison has a reputation for treating their salespeople like royalty on these trips, and the travel incentive is a draw in recruiting new talent.
But there is a catch--upper management places a lot of conditions on the reward, which ends up making it demotivating. There are restrictions on the dates for travel, there are no alternative destinations for winners who prefer something closer to home, and if business matters arise, there is an unspoken understanding that work should be the top priority. As a result, only about 70 percent of the salespeople who win the trip end up going in a given year.
Regional sales manager Brian Lawrence often overhears criticism from his sales force about how the trip is not the carrot upper management intends it to be. Lawrence has voiced concerns, but executives brushed them off as complaints from a grumbling minority. Morrison regularly exceeds its sales goals, has long-standing relationships with vendors that give the company lavish excursions at a lower cost. Management does not feel the need to change its program.
Lawrence, however, is convinced that if different incentives or changes to the current program were introduced, sales would be even better. Morrison's salespeople get a higher percentage of base vs. variable pay, which means any noncash incentive they receive has the potential to be a great motivator.
Question: Should Lawrence continue to make a case to upper management for a new incentive program? How can he prove to them the value of changing up the rewards? Should he do more individually to keep motivation high within his sales force? Or is there another solution? What should Lawrence do to get management's attention? (Click here to submit your solution.)
Do you have a conundrum you would like presented in What Would You Do? Tell us about it.
Comments