8 tips for credit unions building employee incentive programs

by The Financial Brand

Here’s an 8-step process to develop a successful incentive program — one that improves productivity, increases employee retention and boosts your overall sales culture.

by: Jeff Eells and Sean Payant

1. Begin With the End in Mind

Banks and credit unions must first ask, “What are the results we are trying to drive by implementing an incentive plan?” Answers like “increase sales” and “drive production”
are fine goals, but what do they look like? What sales are you trying to increase? It is important to be specific. A successful incentive plan will limit its ambitions to a single product or two where you’re really trying to move the needle.

Once you have an idea on which product(s) will be central to the incentive plan, how will you define success? How will you know if you were successful? You must define the metrics by which the program will be judged. An example could be a specific number of retail and business checking accounts opening per branch per week. Another might be a 10% increase in the bill pay usage rate.

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