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How Purchasing and Procurement Impact Incentive Travel Decisions
It's no surprise that there's a disconnect between incentive travel planners and corporate purchasing and procurement departments. They have different goals. According to Bob Dawson, research committee chair for the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), "Incentive travel planners are driven to create the most effective program and award experience possible for participants, while procurement departments are tasked with containing costs." But a recent IRF study on "The Involvement of Procurement or Purchasing in the Incentive Travel Business," results of which were announced last month at the IRF's 15th Annual Incentive Invitational in the Bahamas, found that there are constructive ways to address this relationship and have the two work together more effectively.
In fact, survey respondents suggested that the increased involvement of procurement departments in incentive travel planning has implications which suppliers would be wise to note. For example:
- In the current marketplace, procurement cannot be ignored. Doing so would exacerbate the provider/purchaser relationship and alienate a key stakeholder department.
- Incentive travel providers need to acknowledge procurement's increasing role, and address their needs and issues during the proposal and implementation processes.
- It behooves providers to educate procurement executives about the value of their services with a strong emphasis on return on investment, to show how incentive travel programs can maximize "bang for the buck."
For more information about the Incentive Research Foundation and its current and ongoing research programs, visit www.TheIRF.org; for a more detailed summary of the IRF study on procurement and incentive travel, click here.
Motivation Show Attendees Will Get More Educational Sessions
"The results of a recent survey to corporate end-users conducted by the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) indicated that the most important aspects of The Motivation Show for this audience were 'education specific to me' and 'opportunities to network with my peers,'" says Pete Erickson, managing director of The Motivation Show. With this in mind, the Show – which will take place September 23-25, 2008 -- has "expanded the conference program to include more seminars led by experts from some of America's leading companies" and has added "a number of new networking opportunities each day."
Specifically, the Show's Executive Leadership Series: Strategies to Motivate, Empower, and Reward will feature more than 60 seminars with corporate speakers presenting best practices they have developed in order to improve employee performance, customer loyalty, and corporate profits. In fact, according to Donna Oldenburg, the Motivation Show's conference director, "This year we have nearly doubled the number of conference sessions and have attracted some of the brightest names in American business to serve as our faculty."
The five learning tracks for the Executive Leadership Series include:
- Employee Engagement and Recognition
- Motivating Sales and Channel Partners
- Consumer Marketing
- Meeting and Incentive Travel Strategies
- Promotional Consultants
Keynote speakers for the conference will be Chester Elton, co-author of The Carrot Principle, who will speak on "How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance" and Tim Sanders, author of Saving the World at Work, whose presentation is titled "The Next Big Thing Is People!"
For more information on attending or exhibiting visit www.motivationshow.com or contact account manager Kevin Fields at kfields@motivationshow.com.
Incentive Federation Unveils New Informational Web Site
The Incentive Federation Inc. is the umbrella organization founded to promote, protect and research the incentive field, encompassing recognition, promotional products and related promotions. In addition to being the industry's primary lobbying entity, the Federation provides the infrastructure for industry-wide corporate outreach efforts spearheaded by the Incentive Performance Center (IPC), as well as for research developed by the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement at Northwestern University. The Incentive Federation also commissions the industry's only benchmark studies on the use of incentives by U.S. organizations. All suppliers and customers in the incentive and promotions marketplace benefit from these initiatives.
For information about these and other Incentive Federation activities and research studies, as well as information on joining the Federation, contact George Delta, executive director, at IncentiveFed@cox.net or visit the Federation's new Web site at www.incentivefederation.org.
Promotional Products Sales Hit Record Levels
The Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) released the results of its annual study confirming that distributor sales of promotional products in 2007 increased 3.5% to $19,440,837,547 for 2007 – setting a new sales record for the industry for the third consecutive year. Distributor sales for the same period in 2006 were $18.8 billion. That means sales of promotional products have increased by more than $670 million in 2007, in stark contrast to the revenue numbers for more traditional forms of advertising.
In fact, promotional products sales growth far surpassed advertising revenues for newspapers (down 9.4%), television (down 4.4%), business magazines (down 4.2%) and radio (down 2%) from 2006. Participants in the survey also predicted that next year's results would continue the upward trend.
"This report marks the largest sales figure in the history of the industry," says Steve Slagle, PPAI president and CEO. "I find it particularly interesting to note that the more tangible and personally engaging forms of advertising continue to do well. Promotional products, event marketing and direct mail are on the rise, while ad revenues for more passive media —television, radio and newspaper—are showing a sharp decline. These numbers clearly support our research that proves when used as a key element in the marketing mix, promotional products effectively cut through advertising clutter to create a more positive outlook toward the ad and the brand."
For a more detailed look at PPAI's survey results, including sales by product category and by program category, click here. For more information on PPAI, including additional research and case studies, visit the PPAI Web site at www.ppai.org.
IMA Executive Summit Will "Unlock the Vault"
The Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) will hold its 9th Annual Executive Summit, "Unlock the Vault," from July 27 -30, 2008, at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. The event promises to be an important networking opportunity, and the educational program will be cutting-edge, pragmatic, and targeted to industry needs. The keynote speaker will be Terri Sjodin, author, trainer, and consultant, whose book, New Sales Speak – The 9 Biggest Sales Presentation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, is an Amazon Top 100 Best Seller. Sjodin will discuss sales presentation missteps and share tips on how to elevate an informative presentation into a persuasive one, as well. The IMA Recognition Council will also host a panel discussion on "What's New in Recognition Best Practices?" at the IMA Summit on Tuesday, July 29. A panel of recognition experts will discuss the purposes and planning of recognition programs, how they differ from incentives and are critical in a difficult economy, and how reward selection reflects the message and mission of the client. For information, visit the IMA Web site at www.incentivemarketing.org.
IPC White Paper Outlines "New Rules of Engagement"
With competition high and employee retention and customer loyalty at all-time lows, the need for companies to create an emotional engagement with employees, channel partners, and customers has never been greater. That's the message delivered in a recent white paper, "Going One-on-One: The New Rules of Engagement," sponsored by the Incentive Performance Center (IPC).
Drawing on interviews with some of the leading experts on engagement, including Don Peppers of the Peppers & Rogers Group, Mark Schumann of Towers Perrin, Alex Edmans of the Wharton School, and Allan Schweyer of the Human Capital Institute, the white paper offers a working definition of engagement and discusses some of the prerequisites of engagement in organizations, including:
- A clear and promising direction.
- Clear development opportunities.
- Confidence in the organization.
- Teamwork and collaboration.
- Meaningful objectives and expectations.
- A system of measurement.
- The necessary skills and tools.
- A system of reinforcement.
The paper has an important message for brands as well. To build customer loyalty, customers will have to step up their efforts to fulfill the brand promise. "And to ensure that you are fulfilling the brand promise and meeting customer expectations," the white paper argues, "companies will have to have employees who are engaged and enthusiastic about their work, have the right training, have the right tools and information, and have the authority to take action." The IPC white paper offers some suggestions on how companies can begin to move in that direction.
To see a copy of the complete white paper from IPC, click here.
PPAI Offers "Award-Winning Customer Service" Workshop
The Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) has launched a one-day workshop on the "Principles of Award-Winning Customer Service," to be held at a number of sites in the fall. The interactive seminar is designed for key company decision-makers, managers, and customer service representatives and will help attendees polish their own customer service skills as well as equip them to train their staffs on how to provide effective customer service. Workshops will be held in Baltimore, MD (9/10), Covington, KY (9/11), and Irving, TX (10/21). For additional information and registration questions contact PPAI's Margie Lindley at (972) 258-3025 or MargieL@ppai.org.
2008 RPI Fall Summit Will Co-Locate with The Motivation Show
Recognition Professionals International (RPI) has announced that its 2008 RPI Fall Summit will be co-located with The Motivation Show on September 23, 2008, at Chicago's McCormick Place. The RPI event brings together recognition professionals from some of America's leading companies who are looking to enhance organizational performance through workforce recognition. The RPI Fall Summit program will include sessions on motivating millennials, maximizing reward program ROI, and creating reward programs that motivate and inspire. It will also feature best practice case studies from Wells Fargo, Wachovia, and Bank of America. For information on the RPI Fall Summit program or to register, visit the RPI Web site at www.recognition.org.
Research Sheds New Light on Employee Lifetime Value
Recent research sponsored by the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement and the Performance Improvement Council of the Incentive Marketing Association underscores the link between Employee Lifetime Value (ELTV) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV).
A recent white paper, Employee Lifetime Value: The Critical Companion to Customer Lifetime Value, distills a portion of a comprehensive 45-page research report which explains how to view ELTV through a CLTV lens via several key constructs, including, for example, 1) the benefits of linking ELTV metrics to decision-making processes such as HR systems for the allocation of training, specialized workplace opportunities and even bonuses and rewards, and 2) recognizing that ELTV is not always a given but can be influenced by proactive interventions (such as increased training and motivation programs).
By using CLTV as a guide to better understand and assess ELTV, business managers and HR personnel can glean ever deeper insights into the one true factor that determines ultimate organizational success: people. For a copy of the complete report, click here.
Look for upcoming white papers addressing additional elements pertaining to ELTV on the Forum's Web site: www.performanceforum.org.
PMA Summit Offers Lessons on Going Digital
On September 8, 2008, the Promotion Marketing Association (PMA) will be holding its "PMA Digital Marketing Summit: Putting Digital Marketing to Work" at the South Street Seaport in New York. The day-long event is for anyone involved in digital marketing development, management, or evaluation, and will include:
- Case studies and lessons learned from leading practitioners.
- Creative digital solutions presented by the creators and marketers.
- Analytics, metrics, and monetization detailed by experts in the field.
The cost is $695 for PMA members and $895 for non-members. For additional information visit the PMA Web site at www.pmalink.org.
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