“An incentive is a bullet, a key; an often tiny object with astonishing power to change the situation” – Steven Levitt
By Clare Bingham, Engagement and Operations Director
Over the last 10 years in business, we’ve worked hard to build a reputation as one of the UK’s leading agencies when it comes to delivering sales incentive programmes, for some of the world’s biggest brands.
From brand ambassador projects to performance rewards schemes, we design programmes that drive genuine excitement, energy and, most importantly, results – and that’s what we’re all about here.
But what makes us different is our tailored approach. And like any tailor will tell you – no one size fits all.
A tailor-made suite of activity
We’re proud to include brands like Three, LG and Huawei on our client roster, and we believe it’s our bespoke approach that helps us to stand out to such brands.
Incentives are key to driving motivation – there’s no doubt about that. They’re what people get out of bed for and they’re vital to encouraging behaviour change. That’s why it’s important to the team and I that we spend time getting under the skin of our clients – so we can better understand what makes their customers tick, what challenges they face and what motivates them.
These efforts mean that our rewards and incentives programmes are often bespoke to each project we deliver. I’m a great believer in the fact that just because a programme has worked before, it doesn’t mean it will have the same impact if done again. As our world evolves, consumer expectation and needs expand with it, which means the incentive ideas we deliver need to resonate every time.
Adding some embellishment
A lot of agencies we come across are keen to start delivering from the word go. However, our years of industry experience means that we’re not afraid to offer creative alternatives – and I think that plays a huge part in why we’ve been so successful.
First and foremost, the team at FMI are here to listen to you. We’re here to digest your challenges, learn more about your audience and listen to your business needs. But it’s at this stage where we can offer so much more. The initial ideas phase is the part of the process that excites us the most, and one where we can really blend our years of expertise into a cocktail of success.
Just one example of this was when we were approached by a well-known British telecommunications company with a specific brief for an incentives programme for its UK call centre agents. However, following a stakeholder planning session, and a discussion on their specific business objectives, we managed to unpick the brief and completely rewrote it again – together.
We agreed that brand engagement and product training needed to be addressed before they could start thinking about rewarding sales performance. As a result of our extensive knowledge and expertise in the industry, we were able to challenge and advise the client on more relevant alternatives to help meeting their objectives. This questioning, during the conceptual phase, really helped to shape the design of the programme, and enabled us to apply our blue sky thinking to help drive some impressive results in the long run.
Making the right measurements
It’s important to us that we deliver results that genuinely matter to the brands we work with, so when we collaborate with them, we always make sure to agree on a series of, or a single, measurable goal(s). This means that we’re able to focus our efforts on a united front and celebrate a shared success.
It also means that we’re able to adapt live reward programmes that aren’t performing towards set goals and fix any aspect that might not be resonating.
Our work with global telecoms giant, Huawei is a great example of how setting clear goals and measurements from the outset, brings smart success. During this specific project, our objective was to drive sales of four key Huawei devices during a traditionally quieter sales period.
Utilising our award-winning trade engagement website called “Huawei n:gaged”, we incentivised Carphone Warehouse staff to drive product sales with a structured programme mechanic, a sales league table and a chance of winning a range of coveted prizes including an Audi A1, Huawei smartphones and Love2Shop e-codes.
As a result of being clear on KPIs from the beginning, the programme was hugely successful, delivering a significant increase in sales during the period. Learn more about this specific programme here.
A seamless experience
I’m proud to work alongside a team of individuals who are genuinely passionate about what they do, and the results they deliver – and those efforts certainly don’t go un-noticed.
This month, FMI was delighted to be recognised by Conference and Incentive Travel Magazine as one of the top 20 incentive agencies in the UK! We’ve been listed alongside some huge, large-scale companies, despite being a smaller rural agency. The team and I were thrilled to be recognised in such a way.
I have no doubt that this proves we can compete with some of the big players in the industry, with some clients noting that our more agile size makes us easier to work alongside. We take great pride in the online incentive schemes and travel trips we’re able to deliver for our clients, and it really was fantastic to receive such recognition.
If you’d like to learn more about incentivising your workforce or channel, please get in touch with me directly on clare.bingham@fmiagency.com.
