A lesson in sales force engagement

There’s a great Seinfeld episode where Kramer bests Jerry by giving Elaine a birthday gift she really wanted — an antique wooden bench. Jerry gives her
a wad of cash.

Elaine had been dreaming of having this wooden bench in her apartment for some time, so when she compared the bench to Jerry’s gift – the wad of cash
– the bench won by a landslide.

Are we more motivated and inspired by a gift that gives us pleasure than we are by cold hard cash and, if so, can we use this insight to engage our sales force?

In 2009, Victoria Shaffer, Ph. D, and Hal Arkes, Ph. D, published an impressive academic study¡ on employee motivation and rewards. Their research proved this: although employees say they want cash incentives, they are actually motivated more effectively by non-cash incentives. Their study showed that employees would work harder to earn a reward such as concert tickets or a new computer than cash.

We decided to put their study to the test, in this case with a focus on sales
associates in a distribution channel during a two-month sales incentive.

In the first part of the study, we asked one group to rate cash and non-cash
incentives in terms of what they would prefer.

By a two-to-one margin, study participants told us they would, if given the option, choose cash over a non-cash reward. But here’s where our research gets interesting.