Our SPIFs stopped moving anything. Here is what the data showed

I would not write them off. They fail when they are used to patch a core plan that points the wrong way. If the main plan pays the same rate on every product and you want a new one sold, a 500 dollar SPIF is fighting the whole plan. We put a 1.3x product multiplier in the plan for strategic lines and now run one or two short contests a year, mostly for fun.

Requiring a baseline before launch is the single most useful rule. We added a second: the sponsoring sales leader presents the result to the compensation committee afterwards. Requests fell from around 20 a year to 5 as soon as people knew they would have to stand up and show the numbers.

A dissenting note from the field side, since I spent ten years carrying a bag before moving into operations. A SPIF is sometimes the only way a regional manager can say thank you or create a bit of energy in a flat quarter. Measured purely on sales lift it fails. I would give managers a small recognition budget and stop calling it an incentive.

That distinction between recognition and incentive is fair and I had not separated them. Two of our fourteen were really team recognition with a product name attached. I will propose a small discretionary pot for managers, outside the three-a-year limit and outside the plan.