Over the past four years, Scottish & Newcastle Retail have run a series of initiatives aimed at incentivising pub staff to increase sales at specific times of the year. The main aim is to motivate management and house staff to take part in customer promotions which increase house activity and therefore sales.

Each initiative has been evaluated by Akadine Research to highlight weaknesses and strengths in order to refine the operation and effectiveness of the programme.

The research involves a series of telephone depth interviews with all levels of sales staff; regional directors, area managers and house managers and for the first time this year house staff will be included. Fixed appointments are made and interviews last about half an hour and are recorded. Participants are chose randomly to represent winners and losers; different types of pub and different regions. All interviewees are anonymous, encouraging respondents to give their true views with no threat to confidentiality.

It is a two-stage project; feedback after a short operational period allows for any teething troubles to be identified and put right. The second stage takes place at the end of the initiative when the findings are used to refine and design the programme for the next year.

The project aids the proper functioning of the programme and improves the operation for the participating staff; it also identifies attitudinal changes towards the sales effort and the company ethos, flagging up areas of dissatisfaction but also recording areas of improved morale and motivation.