Special Report: Recognition and Rewards: Direct Selling’s Defining Elements

A team of Nu Skin’s field leaders celebrate together.

Direct selling’s culture-building differentiators remain intact.

“Earning a prize is something that you give yourself. Recognition is what the company gives you and that’s what makes it so special. You can’t give it to yourself; it comes from your community.”
— Steve Jamieson, Exigo

“Part of the process is really an art that comes from having a strong relationship with your field that helps us understand the data.”
—Jesse Stamm, Pampered Chef

“For those who achieved and attended an incentive trip with the company, their new enrollments were up 6,300 percent above those who did not attend a trip. Additionally, their earnings went up 200 percent.”
-Darren Jensen, CEO LifeVantage

For the millions of “volunteers” that go to work every day for their chosen direct sales company, a strategic rewards and recognition strategy can keep them motivated to share the products and opportunity they represent. As a result, the company culture and environment can become “stickier” and can lead to an increase in activity.

Henri Bonan, owner of Utah-based awards and incentives company The HB Group, cautions, however, that no reward or recognition, whether it’s a small bag or a lavish trip, is a stand-alone motivator for any independent salesforce. He says, “A company’s compensation plan has to be good enough that people are working their business and making money. The recognition supports what the company is already doing, not the other way around.”