Motivforce has topped off the first half of 2018 by winning three prestigious accolades in the B2B loyalty marketing industry in recognition of its pioneering channel incentive programs, Know Your IBM and Lenovo LEAP.

Know Your IBM scooped the award for Best B2B Loyalty Program at the 2018 Loyalty Magazine Awards in London. Lenovo LEAP also received the Highly Commended award in the same category. 

In addition, Lenovo LEAP received a bronze award for Most Effective Reward, Recognition or Motivation Programme at the IPM (Institute of Promotional Marketing) Awards in London. The IPM Awards showcase and celebrate the very best in creativity and effectiveness in the UK promotional marketing industry.

Now in their seventh year, The Loyalty Magazine Awards pay tribute to the creativity, ingenuity, technical brilliance and sheer marketing genius that it takes to produce a world-class loyalty initiative. This year saw a record number of entries from companies across the globe and Know Your IBM beat off strong competition from other finalists in the B2B category, including Mercedes-Benz, to scoop the top award. Commenting on Know Your IBM entry, the judges said: “This is about rewarding learning and sales for resellers and IBM have taken it 100%.”

“It’s a huge honour to win these awards and demonstrates that Know Your IBM and Lenovo LEAP continue to be best-in-class programs in the B2B loyalty marketing sector,” said David Cox, CEO, Motivforce. “Both programs never fail to deliver results year after year. The most emphatic measure of Know Your IBM and Lenovo LEAP’s success is the learning and sales efficacy of the program participants. Know Your IBM members consistently sell 3x more IBM products and solutions compared with similarly profiled non-participants. And in 2017 LEAP participants generated 5x more sales revenue than similar profiled non-participants.”

Annich McIntosh, Editor, Loyalty Magazine commented: “Every year the bar is raised for The Loyalty Magazine Awards and every year it becomes even harder to win. The competition from worldwide entries was tough. Congratulations on winning.”

Know Your IBM – case study

IBM is one of the world’s largest multinational computer, technology and IT consulting corporations. The Know Your IBM (KYI) loyalty program is IBM’s primary sales and learning channel initiative targeting Business Partners in its distribution channel. KYI is critical to building relationships with BPs, increasing their knowledge of products and services, and growing overall revenue. KYI is structured into two components: Learn and Earn, whereby participants are rewarded with points for completing year-round online learning modules; and Sell and Earn which rewards participants for selling certain IBM products/services. In addition, participant engagement is driven by fusing innovative gamification techniques with e-learning to drive participation. In 2017, for example, KYI BINGO involved completing specific e-learning modules via digital BINGO cards. Players were rewarded with the opportunity to share in 200,000 KYI Points Pot, earn bonus points on the Top Ten Leader board.

The overall objective of Know Your IBM for 2017 was to ensure channel partners in 131 countries across 14 languages were as technically proficient as possible, giving them a competitive edge when selling complex server products and solutions to their end clients, ultimately generating revenue and growing market share.  The most emphatic measure of KYI’s success is the learning and sales efficacy of the participants in all markets, compared with similarly profiled non-participants. In 2017 KYI participants consistently sold 3x more IBM products than their non-participant counterparts. 

 Lenovo LEAP – case study

The Lenovo LEAP program is an innovative B2B channel program designed to drive resellers’ loyalty in selling Lenovo’s server solutions. A key objective is to ensure resellers (known as Business Partners) are as technically proficient as possible, giving them a competitive edge when selling complex server solutions to their end clients, ultimately generating revenue and growing market share for Lenovo.

LEAP (Lenovo Expert Achievers Programme) is structured around two components: Learn & Earn which awards participants with points for completing education modules online; and Sell & Earn which rewards participants for selling eligible Lenovo server products. Points are redeemed for MasterCard gift cards or reloadable cards and retail vouchers.

A specific 2017 target was for LEAP to join forces with eight coalition partners - a relatively new concept in B2B loyalty whereby participants earned bonus points for selling Lenovo servers, or completing education modules, bundled with complementary vendor products. This target was exceeded as 10 coalition partners joined LEAP, contributing to a significant drive in engagement and revenue.

Another specific 2017 target was to launch LEAP in 10 additional countries (due to LEAP’s success since its initial 2015 launch in EMEA & Asia). The program launched successfully in 19 new countries in North America, Latin America and Caribbean (nine over target).

LEAP’s ROI is determined by the sales efficacy of participants v non-participants. In 2017 LEAP participants generated 5.2x more sales revenue than similar profiled non-participants.