Paints, check! Logistics, check! Storage, check! Channel partners, check! Loyalty programs, check!
As a paint manufacturer, you must tick all the above boxes before rolling out your paints and coatings into the market. But it would be best if you were particularly careful about the last two. Channel partners are the backbone of your brand and they can make or break your business. So, it is crucial to adopt the right channel incentive programs to motivate and keep them loyal.
1. Sales incentives
These are the most common types of incentives channel sales partners receive in the paint industry when they achieve or exceed a particular sales target. Even though a majority of sales incentives are monetary, sales incentives such as single-use debit cards, gift cards, and point-based rewards are gaining popularity in the sector.
Many renowned paint brands around the globe use sales incentives to reward their channel sales partners after they achieve specific revenue goals. If you want to motivate your channel partners and retain them for a long time, sales incentives will work like a charm.
2. Sales Performance Incentive Funds
These incentives are designed to achieve high sales targets for a specific product or push harder for sales in a relatively short period of time. A recent report in the Economic Times detailed the incentives adopted by renowned paint manufacturers such as JSW Paints and Indigo Paints to reward their channel partners for high sales performance.
The report also stated that the renowned paint makers converted their incentives into cash and credit notes to lure their distributors and dealers to sell more. Apart from achieving higher sales targets or volumes, sales performance incentive funds are also useful for releasing a new product or entering a new market.
3. Marketing Development Funds
For paint brands, entering new markets and creating brand awareness are crucial for their growth. To achieve that, they leverage marketing development funds (MDF). These incentives are given in advance to a specific group of channel partners to create brand awareness. Channel partners can use these funds to conduct marketing seminars and webinars, participate in trade shows, buy radio advertisements, and initiate more such promotional strategies.
The biggest challenge of this type of incentive, however, is monitoring the investment. Apart from that, the results are also uncertain. Notwithstanding the drawbacks, several paint manufacturers provide this type of incentive to create brand awareness in new and untapped markets.
4. Rebate incentives
As the name suggests, rebate incentives allow channel partners to earn a handsome rebate, when they sell a specific volume of paints. These are among the most effective forms of channel loyalty incentives, which are used to motivate channel partners to increase their product orders.
The main objective of a rebate program is to enhance sales volume and boost the sales of particular products and services. The biggest advantage of these incentives is they incentivize your channel partners to build a strong customer base and sell more paints. One of the biggest demerits, however, is the complexity and cost.
You may also like to read: Impact of Loyalty Programs: Pros and Cons
5. Training incentives
This is one of the most enjoyable and educational channel incentive programs in the paint sector. The main objective of these incentives is to educate channel partners about the brand and its paints.
The more channel partners know about a brand and its paints, the more they can sell. And the more they sell the more sales incentives and sales performance incentive funds they’ll receive.
In a nutshell,
Manufacturing high-quality paints and coatings is just half the battle. The other half is choosing the right loyalty programs for your channel partners. The right channel incentives can enhance your revenue significantly and keep your channel partners loyal for a lifetime. That in turn will enhance your market share, boost revenue, increase brand awareness, and forge robust relationships with channel sales partners.
At LoyaltyXpert, we have years of experience and expertise in crafting effective channel loyalty programs for paint brands. Many of our clients command unparalleled loyalty not only from their channel partners but also from a wide range of painters and end-users. If you want to run successful channel loyalty programs, we would love to help you achieve your goals. To know how we can help, Get a Personalized Demo today.