Situation: Excelsior Automotive sells autonomous limousines to the wealthy. They recently created a referral program where customers can refer friends in order to get a discount on their bill. Excelsior’s VP of Sales decides that, at the end of each quarter, she’ll find the ten customers who have submitted the most referrals, and the sales reps who closed those ten customers originally will each get a bonus. This is an example of:
- Adding force
- Removing friction
- Adding good friction
- Adding bad friction
Explanation: The correct answer is Adding force. In the context described, the VP of Sales is implementing a strategy to incentivize sales representatives to generate more referrals by offering them bonuses based on the number of referrals submitted by customers and closed by the sales reps. By offering bonuses, the VP of Sales is adding force to encourage the desired behavior of sales reps actively engaging in the referral program and driving customer referrals. This incentive aligns with the company’s goal of increasing customer referrals and can motivate sales representatives to proactively seek out opportunities to generate referrals and close deals. In contrast, removing friction would involve simplifying or streamlining processes to make it easier for customers to submit referrals, while adding good friction would involve introducing strategic obstacles or delays to enhance decision-making or improve outcomes. Adding bad friction would involve implementing unnecessary or counterproductive barriers that hinder the referral process. Therefore, the strategy described aligns with adding force, as it aims to incentivize and drive specific behaviors among sales representatives to achieve the company’s objectives.