Many of us are getting alarmed with the effects of global warming already being manifest in some parts of the world – and with the scientists warnings to us about even more dire consequences in the future if we don’t take responsibility for our environment, since it is environmental degradation caused by human activity which is the main cause of the global warming.

Many people, unfortunately, hold the view that is up to the leaders of the world – the G8 club presidents and their ilk – to work out solutions to the climatic degradation facing the world. Many of us feel powerless and wonder how our action (or inaction) can affect the world climate, as we perceive the world to be such a big place ‘out there.’

The true position, however, is that the world is the aggregation of the 6 billion or so people who make it, and it is the actions and the inactions of each individual among these 6 billions that contributes to the mass effects that we see in the world like the global warming previously mentioned. There is therefore very much something which you, as an individual can do to save the world.

As an ‘ordinary’ office worker, you might wonder, what surely can I do to save the world? Well, plenty. You can start by, for instance, initiating steps to get the cartridges that you use in the office recycled, rather than disposed off anyhow, seeing that it is things like these cartridges that have the worst effects on the environment as they are non biodegradable which is to say that they cannot rot. Rather than just disposing used cartridges any-howly, you can, for instance consider donating them to the various recycling programs that have been set up for that purpose. If you are not aware of where you can get such a recycling program, all you have to do is enter the term ‘recycle ink catridges’ in your search engine – and you gain access to a wide array of such recycling programs. The folks in the program are usually more than willing to come fetch the used catridges once you inform them that you have such ink catridges, but even if they are unable to come and fetch from your premises, you can still take the catridges to them, and walk away with the satisfaction of knowing that you have played your small part towards protecting the world climate.

Another way to get used catridges recycled is to sell them – if you can access the people who buy them. Such used catridge buyers are all over nowadays and they are people from whom you can make some money, while at the same time knowing that you have played your part in protecting the world climate. These people who are in business of recycling used catridges buy the empty catridges, clean them up, repair any parts that might be damaged, and then refill them to sell them again, usually at a lower price than what brand new catridges go for.

The nature of most organization’s business is such that their overall success depends on the success of their sales force. An organization’s sales force is its face to the public – and a well motivated sales force can just as easily create a formidable brand as an ill motivated sales force can irreparably break a thriving brand.

It is in recognition of these facts that many organizations are increasingly investing heavily on their sales force incentive programs.

The main aim of launching a sales force incentive program is to keep the force highly motivated, aware of the damage an ill-motivated sales force can do to an organization. The underlying goal of a good sales force program is to get the sales force to have a sense of ownership of the organization they happen to be working for, so that they can see its success as their own success and its failure as their own failure. The opposite to this is having a sale force that doesn’t have a sense of ownership of the organization they are working for, where they get the idea that they are working for their bosses for instance, often leading to disastrous results. This is because in keeping with intrinsic human nature, they might often feel the urge to avenge on wrongs they feel their bosses might have done them during their sales missions, thereby doing the brand they happen to be promoting irreparable damage.

Most sales force incentive programs also seeks to exploit the competitive tendencies that are deeply ingrained in our psyches as human beings. Now this is only possible after first getting the sales force to have a sense of ownership of the organization and the brand. Having gotten to this step, the sales team coach can now get the members of the team to start competing in terms of how much they deliver in terms of sales units, for instance.

The financial incentive plays an important role in most sales force incentive programs too. This is generally implemented through a commission scheme – where the members of the sales force earn a commission on an incremental basis, depending on their delivery. Here we can have, for instance, a member earning commission at the rate of 5% per unit for every 1000 units, with the same rising to say 7.5% per unit for every 2,000 units and 10% per unit for everything above3,000 units sold. A common mistake made with regard to commission schemes however is to set too high targets for the various commission figures. When you do this, the people in question just give up on the whole commission thing – and decide to wait for the retainer (if you offer one) or to go looking for another job if no retainer is being offered.

Beyond the financial incentives, most modern sales force incentive programs also incorporate psychological incentives – where sales force members who are delivering are made to know that their stellar contribution is highly appreciated and that they matter to the organization and the organization’s fate rests with them (where that happens to be the case). And insignificant as this might seem – it sometimes proves to be even more effective than the financial incentive only, especially when properly implemented.