10-Step Process Overview
STEP 10 - EVALUATE & COMMUNICATE RESULTS

How will you measure success? Without some evaluation process, your program may be easily sacrificed at the first sight of budget cuts. Objectives and budget are the foundation of your program's evaluation system. In order to ensure that everything goes as planned, you should perform periodic assessments to keep everything in check. Find out how AEIS incentive rewards management tool, ebility®, can help.

1. What does success look like?
   
   How will management evaluate success of the program? If COS or ROI is to be the measurement, make sure the proper increment of return or percent of sales is incorporated when you build your budget and set your objectives at the onset of the program. Make sure you tie objectives to success measures.
   
   
2. Set up feedback systems and loops.
   
   Feedback from participants, management and customers along the way can help keep your program on track. Use simple processes like call-ins, mail-ins or fax backs to survey individuals' attitudes toward the program, what's working well and what's not. When communicating feedback results, make sure to include testimonials and share success stories for other participants to use in improving their own performance.
   
   
3. Take a midpoint assessment.
   
   Use your tracking system to learn what's working and what needs improvement. If you find something is not working well, you might:

   Enhance communication and promotion efforts Hold meetings to generate enthusiasm Add a spurt activity Clarify points of confusion Adjust your objectives (do this with caution--and not on a regular basis--but there can be extenuating circumstances, such as new regulations or a drastic change in market conditions, or perhaps one or more goals were not realistic)

4. Reflect on success or lack thereof at the conclusion of your program. Calculate incremental sales, cost of sale, and return on investment to see if the program met your expectations. Even if the program was enormously successful, it can always be improved. Make sure to ask these post-program questions:

   Did the program meet my expectations? If not, why not? What incremental business gains did we achieve as a result of the program? Did the program meet the participants' expectations? If not, why not? Who and how many achieved their goals? Who and how many did not? Why not? What factors contributed to the success of those who met objectives? What obstacles were in the way of those who did not? How can I help more participants meet these objectives? Any training needs? If participation was voluntary, what do non-participants think? How can I improve the incentive program?

5. Communicate your results.
   
   By all means "Blow Your Horn" when your participants meet and exceed program results. Take every opportunity to make sure achievements are recognized by peers and management alike.

• Remember, no one program is the end-all. Success of a program is sometimes difficult to unequivocally attribute to any one marketing strategy.
• If your program results are less than desirable, it may be a direct cause of market conditions or competitive promotions. Ask yourself what would have happened if you hadn't run the program -- would your situation be worse?
• Even though you may not be able to offer hard financial results, your company may have benefited from improved customer relations or employee morale. These factors may prove to be of even greater value in the future growth of your company and success down the road.
  

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