Brainstorms

Setting Sales Targets? Give Them the First $50,000 on You

Nothing motivates like progress, even when it’s illusory.

Published

5 years ago

August 25, 2020

INSTORE Staff Instore September 2020 Issue

Nothing quite motivates like the feeling of making progress, even if that progress is entirely illusory. Several years ago, the Journal of Marketing Research published a celebrated study that found customers will buy coffee more quickly when they are given a “Buy 12, Get 1 Free” card, but with the first two stamps already filled in, than they will when given a “Buy 10, Get 1 Free” card. When it comes to the targets you set for staff, could you do something similar? Give them the first $50,000 toward their annual sales goal “free,” and see if that feeling of momentum doesn’t spur them to shift into a higher gear of work.

Honoring a Legacy: How Smith & Son Jewelers Exceeded Every Goal With Wilkerson

When Andrew Smith decided to close the Springfield, Massachusetts location of Smith & Son Jewelers, the decision came down to family. His father was retiring after 72 years in the business, and Andrew wanted to spend more time with his children and soon-to-arrive grandchildren. For this fourth-generation jeweler whose great-grandfather founded the company in 1918, closing the 107-year-old Springfield location required the right partner. Smith chose Wilkerson, and the experience exceeded expectations from start to finish. "Everything they told me was 100% true," Smith says. "The ease and use of all their tools was wonderful." The consultants' knowledge and expertise proved invaluable. Smith and his father set their own financial goal, but Wilkerson proposed three more ambitious targets. "We thought we would never make it," Smith explains. "We were dead wrong. We hit our first goal, second goal and third goal. It was amazing." Smith's recommendation is emphatic: "I would never be able to do what they did by myself."