Ecount News & Press Releases
CompUSA Boosts Targeted Sales with RealTime Media Promotional Program and Prepaid Cards from Ecount
One of the nation's leading retailers dramatically improves effectiveness of promotional programs by rewarding sales associates with prepaid cards from Ecount when they sell specific products
Conshohocken, Pa. - August 16, 2004 - Ecount, the stored value and prepaid experts, today announced that CompUSA, one of the nation's leading retailers and resellers of personal computer-related products and services, is enjoying a spectacular increase in the effectiveness of its targeted product promotional efforts thanks to a unique incentive designed by RealTime Media around Ecount's Visa®-branded prepaid cards.
The incentive program runs through 2005, and is CompUSA's first use of prepaid cards for an incentive program. Here's how this innovative program works: Every time a CompUSA team member sells a targeted product, they logon to CompUSA's intranet, and enter the sales ticket. With every sales receipt entered, the CompUSA team member gets a chance to try their luck and have some fun with an online instant win, scratch-off style game that offers up to $250 in cash prizes per sale. Every ticket is a winner, and every time they win, the extra cash is applied immediately to their Ecount Visa-branded prepaid card.
"This is a cutting-edge program that solves the major issues with employee incentive programs," says Daniel Perrone, CompUSA's Director of Consumer Services. "It has proven to be substantially more effective than traditional methods of incenting. We are now consistently motivating team members to learn about and sell the targeted products, because they get their cash incentives instantly, can withdraw them at any Plus® ATM, or spend them everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. Before this promotion, it was tough for them to take an interest in targeted products, because there weren't extra cash incentives tied to selling them. But, given the choice between earning their normal commission versus earning their commission plus an extra $2 to $250 for every sale, well, that's something they remember."
Motivating their sales professionals even further, CompUSA team leaders can track their team's sales performance online, in real time. Individual team members can also view their sales history online, so they always know when and how much they've won. Installation and deployment of the promotion was turn-key, as the software is provided as an Internet-based hosted application service. All that was required of CompUSA to participate was an Internet connection and a computer with a Web browser.
"CompUSA needed a program to help their sales team stay motivated," says Jodi L. Kerr, Sr. Director, New Business Development of RealTime Media. "Our customized scratch and win game provides an interactive way for each sales person to win additional rewards for their sales while providing them with an incentive to keep coming back for more."
Currently, CompUSA is using the instant win incentive program to promote sales of digital services, including dial-up and broadband Internet, and the Motorola products necessary to power the services (such as Motorola Home Networking Routers and cards, and Motorola Cable Modems). DirecTV and DirecPC satellite TV and Internet services are also targeted. Thanks to the overwhelming success of this initial foray, plans to target digital music services, virtual hard drives, local telephone service, voice-over-IP, Internet telephony, home security, and satellite radio are in the works.
"This is one of our most exciting and successful partner programs ever," says Matt Gillin, CEO of Ecount. "The sales momentum is continuous, because new $2 and $250 winners appear every day, and the CompUSA team members love it. They get access to the cash instantly through their personal Ecount prepaid cards, and complete buy-in occurs because everyone is a winner, and everyone has the same chance to win the big prize - $250."