Skyrocketing Sales By Empowering Employees

Executive Summary

In collaboration with a global leader in the beverage industry, BI WORLDWIDE developed and executed an innovative employee brand ambassador and lead generation programme that transformed over 60,000 employees into active brand ambassadors.

Leveraging the science of behavioural economics and a robust employee rewards system, this programme successfully incentivised brand advocacy across the organisation and increased product availability and visibility across nearly 650,000 retail outlets in the United States.

Key Snapshots

43% increase in conversion rate (up from 10%)

4x programme participation by the end of year one

14,000 new distributor outlets

USD$40M in incremental revenue

The Situation

Ensuring widespread brand presence in a fragmented market

A leading multinational corporation in the beverage space faced a significant logistical challenge. They boasted a vast network of nearly 650,000 restaurants, snack bars, and convenience stores across a major market. However, ensuring consistent brand presence – where their beverages were readily available and well-promoted – across this fragmented landscape proved difficult.

The company sought to activate its greatest asset: over 60,000 employees,
who interacted with countless stores daily. Recognising this potential, the company sought a strategy to leverage their workforce as a robust brand ambassador network.

The Challenge

Breaking through traditional sales barriers

The primary challenge involved identifying and reaching out to outlets not offering their beverages, to open up new sales avenues. Traditional cold calling methods were deemed inefficient, requiring a high volume of calls with a low conversion rate. A more engaging and effective approach was essential.

The Solution

Turning employees into brand champions

The beverage company leveraged BI WORLDWIDE to design an innovative employee brand ambassador and lead generation programme. The programme’s goal was to motivate employees to identify new sales opportunities and engage with outlets not carrying the client's products.  Several key components were designed to motivate and reward employees:

	Employees were encouraged to approach outlets without the client's products and enquire for them. Following which, employees would submit leads through an online portal.
	To incentivise participation, employees earned rewards points for each lead, with extra points for successful sales conversions.
	Points could be redeemed in an online marketplace for a variety of rewards, including merchandise, experiences, event tickets, flights and hotel stays.
	A themed, multimedia communications campaign kept the programme top-of-mind, driving sustained participation.

The Results

A resounding success and significant revenue growth

The programme delivered impressive results on all fronts, transforming employee engagement and improving sales performance significantly. Over four years, the programme reaped numerous benefits:

	USD$40 million in incremental revenue: More than 32,000 qualified leads generated significant sales.
	43% lead close rate: Leads converted at a much higher rate compared to traditional cold calls (10%).
	14,000 new outlets: The programme successfully expanded the company's reach to a vast number of new customers.
	Shorter sales cycle: Referrals closed in 3 visits on average, compared to 12 for cold calls.

By leveraging strategic employee engagement, our innovative approach transformed the beverage company's workforce into brand ambassadors, significantly expanding its sales reach.

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