For new dealers, base the quota on a reasonable estimate of what they should be able to accomplish in a start-up year. Distribute awards to the top performers in each volume category or region. This is easy to budget but tends to reward top performers who would excel anyway. New product introduction. Budget a small amount per unit of your new-product budget for an incentive program designed to get dealers or distributors to increase their commitment to your product.
Companies qualify in proportion to their level of commitment.
To make this work, you have to provide these companies with an exciting program that will convince them the product will sell through. The idea is to push people to try harder than they would in a program geared just to an overall increase in sales. Cooperative marketing programs. Here you provide extra rewards for dealers for participating in your co-op marketing programs. For instance, they could get bonus points for utilizing co-op dollars, putting up displays, or participating in a training program for salespeople.