Retail carpet dealers are in an industry that is deluged with manufacturers’ push promotions on an almost daily basis, making it difficult for any particular carpet manufacturer to attract retailers’ attention with promotional programs. So when Mohawk Industries, one of the largest U.S. carpet manufacturers, launched a sales incentive program to push its DuPont Stainmaster carpets, it focused directly on the retailers’ salespeople. To initially attract their attention, Mohawk developed a customized rock CD labeled Mohawk Rocks and a poster that explained the details of the program. The actual awards for meeting specified levels of sales of the Stainmaster carpets were in the form of merchandise and free travel—typical perks for such programs. But the response to this incentive campaign was unusually high. Mohawk believes that the CD and poster provided a special touch that helped to make this essentially standard manufacturer sales incentive promotional campaign stand out from the crowd. Many salespeople, after glancing at the poster, could not resist giving a listen to the CD, and once they did, Mohawk’s promotion made it onto their “radar screens.”

Discuss the challenge of making sales contests and incentives aimed at channel members interesting and attractive enough to achieve a high level of participation.