On Friday, I promised to present a cheap incentive plan. Get ready to take some notes.

I currently work for a major national retailer. One of the measures of success in our store is the number of customers who apply for the company’s credit card. These are not a particularly easy thing to get young employees to care about. We don’t see money from them. We don’t see merchandise move off the shelves. All we see is someone filling out a form.

Credit cards, however, are extremely bottom-line friendly for our company. So, it pays to get young employees caring about them. Knowing this, the managers at my store have found a number of extremely effective ways to get the store’s Gen Whys to care about credit applications.

Almost every week, they create different competitions for the cashiers at the store. Those who are able to get credit applications earn small coupons that can be traded for candy or energy drinks. Those with the most coupons win the competition and some sort of other accolade along with it. One time, the losers had to cook a pancake breakfast for the winners at a staff meeting. The next time, tickets to ball games were the prizes for winning teams.

Teams usually get goofy names (’Running Bull’ and ‘Rock Stars’ being just two examples), and the entire thing takes on a spirited atmosphere. The managers have even taken to trying to get the non-sales associates involved in rooting for credit applications by tying rewards for them to the successes of a member of the sales staff. This goes a long way in creating an atmosphere in which getting credit applications is celebrated.

Overall, the plan is cheap. The costs are printing a few coupons, buying a few candy bars and energy drinks, and taking the time and energy to come up with ways to keep it fun. Best of all, the young employees get into it. When I first started there, I would hear the cashiers paging for their coupons. Based upon the level of excitement they displayed, I figured that the coupons could be turned in for a raise, or paid days off. Imagine my surprise when I found out they were trading them for a Mars bar.

See! It’s cheap. It’s easy. It’s effective. Do it.