Travel incentive programs

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Travel Incentive Programs

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Click to edit Master title styleWhen it comes to corporate and incentive travel, the benefits are all about positive psychology. A sense of professional achievement, prestige, and comradery between co-workers can all come from group business travels. Studies have found that travel works very well as an incentive motivating teams to achieve company goals, such as higher sales numbers. Incentive travel also makes people feel more connected to their organization and co-workers.

In order to experience the benefits of incentive travel and arrange a trip, however, budgeting must be carefully thought out. It’s best to consult travel experts and agents to get a professional advice on cost-cutting, but which of the thousands of agencies should you choose? The decision doesn’t have to be difficult: you can condense your time and money by using the travel expertise of the same company overseeing your incentive program.

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Using travel and event management services, such

as those that Incentive Solutions offers, greatly

consolidates much of the time and money that must

be invested in an incentive travel experience. Travel

management teams understand the costs of travel,

as well as the tremendous value of the corporate

travel experience and, most importantly, how to trim

expenses and protect you from excessive fees. Here

are just a few examples:

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Contracts and Hidden Fees

If you aren’t familiar with contracts involved in group travel and event management, you can waste hours and extra expenses contending with hotel contracts and fees. Many hotels and cruise lines apply attrition clauses to their contracts, for instance, to penalize you for filling less accommodation space than contractually agreed upon. Cancellation fees are even more strictly enforced, should you need to adjust any of your plans. Of course, the more people involved, the less control you have over circumstances that change your itinerary.

By arranging your business trip through an event management company, you can avoid some of the punishing fees associated with group travel. Incentive Solutions, for example, offers free contract negotiation with their services. “We’ve built a network of relationships with parties we trust,” Rieling says. “So they’re willing to work with us to give clients the best outcome. Ultimately, free contract negotiation means you can first find out how much you can save before you commit to booking.”

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Click to edit Master title styleFor many corporate outings, it is necessary to hire staff for event registration, food service, audio/visual, or guide needs. Often, this staff works in close contact with your travel group. It will often be up to staff to fulfill or anticipate your group’s overarching and ongoing needs. A level of trust is crucial when other people are in charge of your event’s success. Comprehensive travel management services like Incentive Solutions’ eliminate the need to hire on staff when they can provide you their own. They can also synthesize the registration process with online technology that features a communication plan, automated roommate pairing, custom report generator, and post-program surveys.

Staffing and Registration

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Airfare and other transportation, naturally, comprise the

majority of expense involved in group travel. When it

comes to transportation expense, everyone is at the

mercy of airline and fuel prices, unfortunately. Although

you can’t really negotiate prices like airfare, you can work

with a travel management team that is well-versed in

how transportation pricing works and can ensure you pay

as little as possible. Justin Rieling, Associate Travel

Account Manager at Incentive Solutions, says that their

team understands the importance of time when it comes

to airfare. “Our department works quickly so we can

guarantee you get a lower rate.”

Ticket Prices

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Click to edit Master title styleThe booking process is time-consuming and uncertain, even for personal travel. When you’re managing the lodging and itinerary of multiple employees, all with different tastes and possibly different needs, the ordeal becomes even more convoluted. Companies like Incentive Solutions make the booking process easier by lending their expertise in location choices and event scheduling. According to Rieling, “We offer free site selection at the beginning of the booking process. That means you can come to us with an idea for a theme or type of destination, and we charge you nothing to select a venue and give you the pricing.”

Booking Process for Group Travel

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Click to edit Master title styleTravel, especially group travel, costs. That’s inevitable. But the value of travel is immense. It brings sales teams closer together to celebrate one another’s success, refreshes employees, stirs excited and positive feelings associated with employees’ organization, and rouses company loyalty. Working with a travel management service like Travel Solutions can help you trim down corporate travel costs so you can bask in its benefits.

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Salespeoples know their own strengths and

limitations better than anyone else. While the

goal of a sales incentives program is to push a

sales team beyond their normal performance

levels, Prograde advises, “Don’t assume you

know what will motivate your sales force.” Talk

with your sales team to come up with agreeable

individual and overarching goals. They may feel

that your goals are unrealistic, or not challenging

enough. Either way, the team will be more

responsive to incentive goals they helped to

establish.

Mistake #5: Implementing a Plan Without Sales Team Input

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Click to edit Master title styleStudies have shown that sales teams are more motivated by non-cash rewards. People tend to assign higher values to non-cash rewards than the items’ actual retail value, for various reasons:

1. Cash rewards are intrinsically linked to salary. Merchandise, event, and travel are separate, unique rewards that create memories rather than being lumped in with a paycheck.

2. Many have a hard time justifying spending—even when the extra money is hard-earned —on luxuries like travel and merchandise. Presenting these items or opportunities as gifts removes the associated guilt.

3. The visibility of travel and merchandise rewards creates “trophy value.” Trophies can be shown off to peers and become conversation-starters (Lorimer, S. E., Sinha, P., Zoltners, A.A., 2006).

Mistake #6: Offering Only Cash Rewards

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Click to edit Master title styleYear-end rewards can be big pay-offs, but it’s best to keep sales teams energized throughout the year with shorter-term goals, too. Prograde’s article addressed this as well: “sales people, by nature, don’t have the stamina to wait 12 months to achieve their reward. Keep them focused with routine program communication updates over a shorter period of time and they will stay engaged.”

Successful incentive programs allow administrators to begin and end promotions as needed. Whether through setting quarterly or monthly goals, salespeople excel when they always have a reward to look forward to.

Mistake #7: Promotions That Go on Too Long

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An incentive program can light a fire under your sales team, but it takes the right approach and preparation. By paying attention to your team’s needs and avoiding the common mistakes found in this piece, you and your sales team can share the benefits of an effective incentive program.

Conclusion

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