I have never favoured staff incentives. To me, it doesn’t make sense to pay a worker an incentive to do a job they were already employed to do. The only idea behind paying incentives is to motivate people to increase turnover by selling more items or more expensive items. Invariably, the reward is about the measure of up-selling and not entirely about the goodwill between patient and practice. I have never been able to find research indicating that money is the chief motivator for employees. Yes, money is essential, but there are many other factors, such as self-esteem, sense of achievement, being appreciated, learning, advancing a career, and so on. The long-term success of an optometric practice depends on establishing long-term relationships with patients. If we don’t get them to return, we won't grow. Successful optometric practice is about generating repeat business. If an employee is only selling with the incentive in mind, it could pose a serious threat to patient relationships. It is well recognised that word-of-mouth is the strongest marketing tool for promoting any business, and, to this end, we must ensure that our patients never experience cognitive dissonance. There are several more effective ways of rewarding your staff for good work.
Moreover, I would never allow a supplier to offer a reward to my staff to promote a particular product. This can clearly become a perverse incentive. In my view, each patient interaction should have the primary goal of establishing that patient’s real need. This may well not match the product your staff are incentivised to sell. Short-term, clever, flavour-of-the-month promotions to increase turnover carry a substantial risk of harming the business's value proposition.
I believe the solutions lie elsewhere:
Leadership
A poor leader is likely to have a poor team. The good leader will view every member of staff as a complete person, not just someone who has to rock up to work with a big smile and cheerleader moves. A strategy I favoured was to have a kitty to sort out staff emergencies, such as unforeseen medical expenses, household disasters, and legal fees. They must know they can come to the boss in time of need, but there obviously have to be parameters set here. Another function of this kitty is to surprise a member of staff on the quiet, in recognition of good performance. This must be done in strict confidence and may just be a dinner for two or a weekend away. Sometimes a little surprise of R500 in an envelope is just what is required. This engenders trust and goodwill. In my experience, if they know you are there for them, they will be there for you. Good leadership motivates employees to do the job they were hired to do without having to dangle a carrot.
Key Result Areas
When appointing someone, it is important to align the expectations of both employer and employee. This is best done by spelling out the duties in the employment contract. What the employee thinks her job is and what the boss thinks her job is must be one and the same thing. Performance appraisals should also be conducted at regular intervals to provide feedback on an employee’s performance. This also presents the opportunity to bestow praise where deserved.
Set Targets
Your business should have a Business Plan that includes a strategy for increasing turnover and growing the business year on year. It is amazing how motivation can be fuelled by sharing monthly, weekly, and even daily turnover targets with staff. When targets are met or beaten, everybody in the team can share the sense of achievement.
Sales protocol
There should be clear sales protocols. “Sell to every patient the way you would sell to your own mother”. You have to sell from the heart and ensure you fulfil the patient’s real need. Above all, because expectations were exceeded, the patient must have every reason to return. The patient's satisfaction should always take precedence over financial targets. To this end, there should be a very friendly exchange policy. With every grief case, do not consider the cost of fixing the problem. Just make your patient happy. Happy patients will return, and you will unleash the potential of word-of-mouth.
Weekly staff meeting
This is the platform to motivate your team and set common goals for the ensuing week. Staff are encouraged to provide input and suggest ways to improve the systems. This gives staff a sense of involvement and being respected.
Supervision over training
Often, when there is a call for training, what is really required is supervision and support. Once training has taken place, it requires ongoing supervision and support to become ingrained and habitual. It may take time to get everybody to greet patients with “Good morning, my name is Nancy” instead of “Can I help you” – ugh!!!
If you want to set your practice on the path to long-term success, there has to be more to it than relying on financial incentives for your sales team.