REBATE PROGRAMS
Channel Rebate and Spiff Lifecycle Management
A rebate is a type of sales promotion that offers buyers or distribution partners a credit on products for meeting defined performance criteria.
Type of Rebates
Volume Rebates, Score-Based, and Other Rebate Programs A back-end discount provided to channel partners based on certain criteria like tiered sales volume, customer satisfaction or other performance scores. |
Growth Rebates Reward partners based on period over period sales growth rather than absolute sales volume. |
Pass-Through Rebates (PTR) and Teaming Agreements These programs provide preferred pricing to resellers in a multi-tier channel model. The distributor sells to the reseller at a discounted price and then claims the rebate from the manufacturer. |
Loyalty and Rewards Programs These programs are like volume rebate programs in terms of accruals based on sales volumes. However, earnings are usually in “points” or some other non-monetary units. Similarly, payment is usually "in kind”—free demo units, training credits, gift cards to the company store, etc. |
SPIFF
SPIFF is an acronym that stands for Sales Performance Incentive Fund. In common usage, SPIFF or SPIV are also used. A SPIFF is an immediate bonus for a sale. Typically, SPIFFs are paid directly to a salesperson for selling a specific product by either the manufacturer or channel partner. SPIFFs are short-term incentives targeted at individual partner sales reps, aimed at accelerating sales of a particular set of products within a specific span of time.
Automate and Streamline the Rebate Management Cycle
Incent4 automates and streamlines the entire “request-approve-claim-validate-adjust-authorize-payment” cycle. Rebates can be claimed or automatically authorized for payment or credit. Payment authorizations are automatically transmitted to the appropriate financial system for payment.
Full Rebate Program Management
Configure multiple global rebates, SPIFFs, or other incentives. There is no limit to the number of programs that can be configured.
Incentive parameters that can be defined include but are not limited to:
These program definitions are used along with transaction data to calculate rebate accruals. Incent4 provides the ability to do automated accruals and authorize payments, without the partner having to make an explicit claim.
Rebate Program Effectiveness
Double-dipping and claims overpayment are reduced dramatically with Incent4 rebate compliance controls, fed by cleansed and normalized sales data in real-time. Incent4 not only enables accurate and timely claims payments and revenue recognition, it also provides sales, finance, and marketing teams with pertinent insights for their functional areas, such as program accruals/exposure, program utilization, and program ROI. Use utilization metrics and ROI of current and past rebate programs to develop and fine-tune strategies for designing and managing future programs. Incentive data and statistics can also be used for objectively measuring partner performance.
Rebate and SPIFF performance analytics can also be integrated into the analytics and dashboards.
SPECIAL PRICING REQUEST
Streamline and Manage Special Pricing Requests
Automate and Streamline your Special Pricing Authorization Process
A special pricing request or special pricing authorization (SPA) is a promotional rebate program employed by product or component manufacturers (OEMs) to support their stocking distributors and mitigate the risks of carrying their inventory. Like ship-and-debit, a special pricing request is a rebate in the sense that it represents an off-invoice discount which reduces the actual cost to the distributor. Special pricing requests are often used in the technology hardware and electrical component industries in response to specific market conditions or opportunities via requests by their distribution channel partners.
Special pricing is mostly synonymous with ship-and-debit. Semiconductor companies typically use the term ship-and-debit while product companies tend to use the term SPA. In most cases, the terms are interchangeable. However, some companies do make a slight distinction between the two terms. A SPA is a pricing agreement requested by the distributor or channel partner and approved by the OEM to facilitate the movement of product through the channel partner at a reduced cost. While ship-and-debits are almost always tied to a specific customer, a SPA may not be attached to a specific end-customer, but tied to a time frame, market segment, or some other criteria.
The Incent4 Pricing Compliance module supports Distributor Price Adjustments (DPA), Special Pricing Authorizations (SPA), and other price incentive programs. All necessary workflows to request, review, approve, and submit authorized claims are available out-of-the-box.
Special Pricing Request Basics
Special pricing requests occur only when distributors or other channel partners already have the product in stock and may have paid for the inventory. Once a sale is made to the end customer, the channel partner submits a special pricing claim to the OEM to recoup the difference between the original cost and the newly approved lower cost.
Special Pricing Validation, Compliance, and Workflows
Incent4 supports all types of special pricing requests and authorizations and ensures full compliance for revenue tracking. Once SPAs are created, claims are then automatically validated as soon as the sales data is processed. This means that there is no need for the channel partner to make an explicit claim for the discount.
Incent4’s Pricing Compliance module will also automatically calculate the correct claimed amount and generate a credit memo to be passed to the OEM’s ERP system. This dramatically reduces errors and overhead and shortens the remittance time to the channel partner.
When coupled with our Partner Portal, channel partners and the OEM channel team will be able to fully engage with pricing compliance processes and drive additional channel sales in real-time.
SHIP AND DEBIT
Easily Manage the Complex Ship-and-Debit Process
Streamline and Automate your Ship-and-Debit Process
A ship-and-debit program is a promotional rebate program employed by product manufacturers (OEMs) to support their stocking distributors and mitigate the risks of carrying their inventory. A ship-and-debit is a rebate, in the sense that it represents an off-invoice discount which reduces the actual cost to the distributor. Ship-and-debit rebates are often used in the technology hardware industry in response to specific market conditions or opportunities via requests by their distribution channel partners.
The Incent4 Pricing Compliance module is easy to use and supports ship-and-debit, Distributor Price Adjustments (DPA), Special Pricing Authorizations (SPA), and other price incentive programs. All necessary workflows to request, review, approve, and submit authorized claims are available out-of-the-box.
When coupled with our Partner Portal, channel partners and the OEM channel team will be able to fully engage with pricing compliance processes and drive additional channel sales in real-time.