By Ken Ryan
Paul Murfin, vice president of sales, Armstrong Floor Products, said he is a sucker for game shows. He loves to see whether people make the right deal, pick the right box or answer the right question.

Armstrong has its own version, which it calls: “What’s the Big Deal?” In this “game,” retailers have the opportunity to win cash and valuable prizes just for selling products that are already in demand.

Sounds like a no-brainer.

“The amazing thing is how many retailers don’t participate,” Murfin said. He recently attended a CCA Global conference in Dallas, where he asked for a show of hands to find out who was involved in the program. Only about 10% were involved.

The dealers who do participate stand to benefit. “What’s The Big Deal?” ran last year from Aug. 1 through November. Monthly cash prizes of $1,000 were given to the top 10 sales leaders during the four-month promo. Grand cash prizes of $20,000 were awarded to the top retail salesperson with total overall points in wood, laminate and sheet with a $30,000 prize for the overall winner. The grand prize winner won $51,000 in addition to the points.

“It didn’t hurt that we were promoting a very hot product,” Murfin said. “You could argue that we paid for something that otherwise we would have sold anyway.”

Long history

Incentive programs have been part of the flooring industry for decades. In 1954, distributor Bayard Sales Corp. launched a travel incentive award to coincide with its holiday programs. Bayard continues to reward customers through various programs. And, J.J. Haines has its Haines Loyalty Club, which features a slew of incentives and benefits all designed to help its customers improve their business. In fact, just about every distributor offers some type of incentive or rewards program.

Across some business segments, there has been a movement away from cash rewards. Studies have shown it is more cost-effective for a company to offer non-cash rewards. An Incentive Federation survey found that, on average, 79% of respondents found non-cash reward programs to be fairly to extremely effective in motivating participants to achieve sales and marketing goals.

The flooring industry runs the gamut from those companies that have pulled back on their incentive programs to those (like Armstrong) that have ramped it up. A few retailers interviewed by FCNews said the cash prizes would be their first choice, but it’s not a slam-dunk. “I would love to win some money,” said one retail participant in Armstrong’s “What’s The Big Deal?”, “but the Apple [2nd generation iPod touch] looks pretty good, too.”

Mohawk collaborated with Solutia on a spring incentive program last year in which retail salespeople earned points for selling residential carpet made with Wear- Dated fiber. Salespeople who built up enough points could redeem them for such as items as an Apple iPod nano video or a pair of Oakley “Flap Jacket” sunglasses.

Different path

Mannington’s “One Mannington” program takes a different path. It offers dealers a slew of benefits—from co-op advertising funds to a preferred listing on the Mannington Web site’s store locator. “Particularly in today’s tough economy, these business-driven benefits provide real value to dealers by helping drive traffic to their stores,” said Betsy Amoroso, director of corporate communications at Mannington.

Shaw’s largest incentive program is Shaw Rewards, which is geared to retail sales associates employed by a dealer within the Shaw Flooring Network (Flooring Alliance, Flooring Gallery or Design Center). Sales associates earn points per yard of qualifying carpet products. These points equate to dollars. Once $150 is achieved, they are issued a Visa debit card.

“During Shaw’s national advertising and promotional campaigns (i.e., Spring is Green), we may open the program to non-Shaw FlooringNetwork accounts,” said LaShon McGinnis, who handles incentives/promotions for the Shaw Flooring Network.

McGinnis said debit cards have been very popular in the past few years due to the flexibility these programs afford. Recipients can use the cards anywhere Visa is accepted—to buy gas and other necessities as well as “fun money.”

“Shaw Rewards began as a non-cash program where sales associates could use points to ‘buy’ prizes such as TVs, cameras, jewelry, etc. The debit card allows participants to find their own deals, shop where they want to shop, and use the card to pay. During slow economic times like these, we are seeing an increase in participants and activity. The program has increased in value. Smart sales associates are looking to streamline their sales (i.e. sell Shaw qualifying products) so they get points/dollars faster.”

Incentive experts say the secret to any reward and recognition program is to continually change, thereby retaining the element of surprise. The moment a reward is regarded as anexpectation or an entitlement, it fails to work.

Armstrong’s incentives “have created an awful lot of friends along the way,” Murfin said. He added that the company is discussing the idea of offering “life-changing awards” as opposed to small, incremental rewards. Fewer people win, but it stimulates greater interest.

One of Armstrong’s “outside the box” ideas that it is contemplating is to pay off a winning contestant’s mortgage. “A lot of us would take advantage of that,” Murfin said.