Thomas Russell
ZEELAND, Mich. — Howard Miller expects to spend as much as

$500,000 over the next year on a new incentives program aimed at retail salespeople.

The program, which started March 1 and runs through February 2015, is called Sell to Win. It offers retail sales staff a chance to win instant cash prizes of $25, $50 and $1,000 for each Howard Miller floor clock they sell.

They also have a chance to win $10,000 every three months and a final grand prize of $50,000 or a 2015 Chevrolet Corvette convertible.

The money comes out of the company’s marketing budget. Mark Siciliano, marketing director, believes in directing some funds to the people who have direct contact with consumers.

“I define this as true target marketing,” Siciliano said. “We can offer a sales incentive to our Howard Miller sales force, but this is truly a marketing program and not a sales program. I would rather target the end user and the person most involved in that sale by going directly to the retail sales associate…. (They are) so important to selling furniture.”

Each time a salesperson sells a Howard Miller clock, he or she will receive a Sell to Win ticket that has a scratch-off panel with a verification number, which can be entered on a secure Web site.

About half the tickets are winners, so not every sale will yield a cash prize. Still, officials believe the program will help boost interest and sales in the category.

“I think it’s an excellent program to be able to put on the front line because that is where the sales is made,” said Robert Pearson, owner of Clock Depot, a Howard Miller specialty store in Durham, N.C. “I haven’t seen this type of incentive before, not in this industry.”

Mike Forwood, president of Austin, Texas-based Louis Shanks Furniture, said he strongly supports the program and plans to match the value of every instant ticket winner up to $1,000.

“Floor clocks are always on the showroom floor, but they’re not necessarily a go-to item on a daily basis for the salespeople,” he said. “This program will get the staff thinking about them more often and will help generate extra sales.”