Incentive travel rewards are the best ways to show your leadership team that you appreciate their hard work and dedication to your company's success.
However, many sales teams struggle with how to sell incentive travel programs to their leadership, especially when competing with other companies offering highly competitive perks like merchandise or cash bonuses.
Here are a few tips to help you successfully sell incentive travel to your leadership.
Making your sales reps travel across a country or a continent can be daunting, but it's also an effective way to drive business growth.
If you are considering incentive travel to push your salespeople over that revenue-growth hurdle, there are some things you should know first. What is incentive travel? Who travels on incentive trips? How do I make sure my sales team enjoys their rewards trip instead of dreading it? And how do I keep costs under control? We have answers to all these questions and more.
Let us dive in!
Why do we have incentive travel?
One of our clients once asked us why do we have incentive travel? That's a great question.
We might have a few ideas. The first is that people love rewards and recognition.
Even if you never get on a plane, just thinking about some fun activity—and all those business-related incentives—can be motivating.
When it comes time to sit down and work, your brain is excited by everything that awaits you at your destination.
And as anyone who has done an incentive trip knows, there are plenty of ways to make sure that everyone stays focused while away from home.
But even if there were no such thing as an incentive trip, it would still be essential to recognize top performers with something tangible.
A simple thank-you note can go a long way; so, can lunch with your boss or dinner out with colleagues.
What are our organization's priorities?
It's important to remember that incentive travel is a tool, like all rewards and recognition. If you don't have clear sales goals at your organization, it will be hard to argue why you should invest in an incentive trip or program.
So, before you start selling your ideas internally, make sure your top leadership understands what they want out of an incentive trip—is it better performance? Better business relationships? A more significant share of the wallet?
Have their support behind using incentive travel as a key part of getting there. Then show them how incentives align with those priorities and ask them if they think that might be something they want in their plan. Chances are, they will.
How can incentive travel align with our goals?
To determine whether incentive travel is a good fit, ask yourself how it aligns with your goals. If you're trying to bring a team together and encourage collaboration, incentive travel can be a great way to do that. Are you trying to help leadership become more aware of what's happening on their teams? That's a good reason for incentive travel, too. Does your organization have specific goals tied in with revenue or financial targets? You might find that making corporate-level leaders experience first-hand why hitting those goals is essential could be an effective strategy. The key is to make sure incentive travel complements your overall goals—if not, it may not be worth doing.
How will incentive travel benefit my business area?
Whether you're trying to grow sales or improve customer retention, incentive travel can drive positive change.
This is especially true if your business area has never used incentives before. Remember that it's in your company's best interest to sell your leadership on incentive travel.
It would help if you had their support—and, ultimately, their money—to pull off a successful event. Before approaching them with an incentive trip idea, explain how incentives benefit your business area and why it's worth investing in it now.
For example, say you have an underperforming sales team that makes up 20 percent of total revenue—incentives could be an excellent way to boost those numbers without spending much money.
Use these ideas as inspiration to help your leadership understand incentive travel benefits:
Understanding and Assessing Risk Section
The first thing you have to understand about incentive travel is that it's a significant expense, but it can reap huge rewards if executed correctly.
Assess your company's risk tolerance before making any decisions. Some companies don't allow incentive travel; others take advantage of it, implementing tighter controls on spending and documentation.
If your company doesn't enable incentive travel, keep an eye out: Policies change over time, and they may loosen up to keep employees engaged and committed.
If there's resistance from management, suggest an experimental project with a small number of employees first.
This will allow everyone involved to see how incentive travel impacts performance without risking too much money or too many resources.
It also gives you time to get feedback from participants to make changes ahead of larger projects. And remember: Everyone has their own opinion on incentive travel—but only yours matters when trying to sell them!
Be prepared with data and statistics showing why incentive travel helps productivity, retention rates, and other essential business metrics. Even better?
Show them how their employees feel about incentive trips—many managers are surprised by how much positive feedback they receive after sending their teams away for work!
The idea of individual travel incentives might sound overly complicated or, worse, impossible to implement in your company.
But in truth, it's pretty simple. It can be highly effective at creating engaged employees, which leads to positive outcomes for everyone involved: increased employee loyalty, decreased turnover rates, higher job satisfaction, lower stress levels, and more productive employees.
In this article, we'll go over how to use individual travel incentives to create engaged employees—which will make everyone happier in the long run!
For decades, US companies have given out gift cards and other rewards for employee recognition. However, recent data indicate that these incentives are losing their appeal among millennials.
According to a 2015 Towers Watson study, just 37% of millennials preferred cash or gift cards as a reward compared with 62% of employees overall.
Companies must adapt their programs to stay competitive in today's marketplace—especially among millennial workers who will soon make up 75% of most workplaces.
Individual travel incentives are one example of how firms can stay ahead by providing more meaningful awards to recognize employees' contributions and efforts.
A great place to start is to reward employee performance and offer greater flexibility when choosing rewards. More than ever before, rewards need to be personalized and customized.
Millennials are increasingly demanding greater levels of personalization from brands they interact with daily—from retail shopping experiences to mobile app design and marketing campaigns.
They want brands to understand them on an individual level to get what they always wanted.
One-way organizations do that through personalized rewards and recognition programs (which also help build stronger teams).
By giving employees access to online portals where they can see real-time information about themselves, including detailed reports on progress toward their goals, employers demonstrate that they value each person's individuality and care about meeting their needs and increasing employee engagement across the board.
Consider rewarding employees for even the smallest successes to get started with a rewards and recognition program.
For example, if an employee makes an extra effort on a project that increases revenue or decreases costs, reward them with a $10–$20 gift card.
These types of small rewards are what experts call micro rewards—small incentives that can go a long way toward creating engaged employees.
Acknowledge milestones: Reward employees for reaching major milestones in their careers—or at least provide some feedback about their progress on your yearly performance reviews.
This will help them feel recognized and give you insight into how they are doing.
It's also a good idea to reward employees who contribute to your company culture. This might be as simple as sending out thank-you cards or having lunch with each other once a month.
Recognize hard work: Even if you don't have enough budget for rewards, it's still important to recognize hard work when you see it. If someone goes beyond a project, let them know how much you appreciate it!
You could do so by having lunch together or taking some time out of your day to write up an email thanking them for their efforts.
Rewards and recognition programs are an effective way for employers to reinforce desirable behavior and offer incentives for employees who do a good job.
Reward employee achievements with individual travel incentives.
This can be free flights or upgrades, waived baggage fees, airport lounge passes, food vouchers, and similar perks.
Consider creative rewards: Some companies award non-traditional rewards - like discounts on rental cars or accommodation at holiday properties that their employees will value and appreciate – as much as more traditional gift certificates for fine dining or luxury shopping sprees.
Remember that it's often about what you want them to take away from your business trip that counts - The key is making sure there's a clear link between what they achieve on business trips and benefits they receive through company travel schemes.
Don't forget to thank them when they return - Make sure employees get a pat on the back when returning from an important trip.
A quick email thanking them for all their hard work goes a long way to reinforce how valuable they are to your organization.
It also helps keep everyone focused on delivering great results every time they go out of town.
These programs are great for creating an engaged and motivated workforce.
You can motivate employees through travel incentives: giving travel rewards or using trips as employee recognition tools.
Most companies use individual travel incentive programs for both purposes, but a few companies that want to emphasize rewards choose one approach over another.
When deciding which type of program is best for your company, consider Reward-based programs:
Reward-based programs offer rewards such as gift cards, cash bonuses, or extra time off to employees who reach specific goals related to sales volume, customer service scores, or other metrics.
A reward-based program may be beneficial if you have high turnover rates among entry-level workers—younger workers may appreciate rewards more than older workers do—or if you have lots of seasonal staff members who work only during peak seasons (for example, summer). An added benefit of reward-based travel incentive programs is that they help build loyalty among current employees—which means they're less likely to leave when someone else offers them a job.
Recognition-based programs: Recognition-based programs recognize employees reaching certain milestones with rewards such as gift cards, cash bonuses, or extra time off. For example, a company might reward employees who reach five years of employment with a trip to Hawaii.
If you decide on a recognition-based program, it aligns with your business goals and values. If possible, tie rewards to specific accomplishments so that every employee understands what it takes to earn them.
Many companies may see reward programs as a cost that they don't want to spend money on, especially in a down economy.
But your employees are key players in your company's success, and when you use them effectively, it will be reflected in the company's overall bottom line.
Using reward programs is an affordable way for employers to encourage employee engagement and personal development and improve performance.
A personal touch can go a long way toward achieving these goals. Asking employees for their opinions about how a program could be better tailored towards their needs is much more effective than simply implementing your thoughts on what would work best.
With input from your staff, you can create a program that encourages productivity and fosters camaraderie among coworkers.
This will help motivate everyone to do their best because they know that others have their back. And who doesn't like rewards?
Giving out small tokens of appreciation is another great way to show employees how important they are to your business. After all, happy employees' equal happy customers!
The all-inclusive resort is one of the most famous travel options, recognized for its beautiful locations, the convenience of planning, and all the services you can use. When it comes to organizing the travel incentive trip, businesses require all the facilities to ensure a memorable experience for their employees and clients. It also increases the return on investment. All-inclusive incentive resort trip plays a vital role in creating a long-lasting relationship with clients.
Let's look into this blog; we will discuss the benefits of an all-inclusive resort for Corporate & Incentive Travel.
Like other trends in today's culture, pricing and convenience had a significant influence on the advancement of the all-inclusive resort.
The idea of all-inclusive is first introduced in Europe pre-World War II. A company first offered the all-inclusive resort incentive in Majorca in 1950. The attraction of this incentive program was the upfront cost available to visitors before they even set foot on the resort.
It is cost-efficient and eventually associated with the airline and tourism industry. Furthermore, it transformed global travel support the development of Mexico, the Caribbean, and other bordering United States locations as the most prominent places of the all-inclusive resort.
The resorts were not focusing on increasing their product value and marketing strategy because they were targeting a single target market at a time. However, the advancement of the internet and social media rapidly created a boom in the travel industry, influencing travel enthusiasts in all demographics. Increased demand, along with budgetary limitations, competition, and convenience, reached a breaking point. These factors transformed today's image of all-inclusive with significantly different benefits we offer for everyone.
The basic, all-inclusive resorts offer three meals a day, lodging facility, variety of beverages, and privilege for these services. All-inclusive services have expanded to include quality dining, a variety of water sports activities, club and entertainment, fitness and spa access, and guided off-site trips as the need for personalization develops with a wide choice of resort options.
As the organizer of an incentive trip for an all-exclusive group, these key advantages are offered to you:
If you are thinking about organizing a travel incentive program or a corporate gathering, all-inclusive resorts can be a good option. We offer a range of all-inclusive programs that are ideal for your company's budget, objectives, and profile. We are a Travel Incentive Company with vast experience and knowledge as we are providing all-inclusive resorts service since its introduction to the industry. If your company is organizing a trip, an all-inclusive resort is ideal. It is budget-friendly, avoids hassle, and knows all of your expenses upfront. When compared to other types of properties and travel options, they offer the finest "value for money."
Many all-inclusive resorts give you the opportunity to make your private events memorable for a reasonable cost. It allows you to organize your events at the beach and private functions in a restaurant or poolside. Moreover, the other great benefit of the all-inclusive resort that made it an ideal option for groups is that individuals will not need to pay from their pockets. They have access to anything for free, including various activities and entertainment, land and water sports activities, accommodation facilities, unlimited food and beverages, and more.
- VIP check-in and welcome drink upon arrival for all the participants of the program
- Upgraded rooms for VIPs
- Complimentary upgrade to an amber room, per every 30 paid on a daily basis
- Special discount on SPA treatments (not applicable to product purchase)
- Hospitality desk with Wi-Fi internet access
-Complimentary use of non-motorized water sports
- Free airport shuttles
When it comes to accommodations and design, hotels have lifted the standard to new heights. From casitas and villas to breathtaking suites at the beach, lodging options fit every preference and budget. Booking at an all-inclusive resort allows the group members to get the benefit. They will be treated and taken care of with utmost satisfaction.
Butler service, private concierge, 24-hour room service, in-room minibars, local tours, and cultural events are all possible services that you can include. In addition, there are all-inclusive resorts programs to cater to the organization's different budget requirements. Furthermore, the top-level programs include memorable drinking and dining experiences.
All-inclusive resort programs are pretty famous for providing a wonderful dining experience.
The modern resorts offer the best dining experience at top-notch restaurants. The menu service comprises international dining with many themed restaurants options available, including Spanish, American, Mexican, French, Italian, Asian, and more. In addition, numerous resorts have begun to offer famous chefs and Michelin-rated dining services.
Barceló Hotel Group is Spain's second-largest chain and the world's 29th largest. Moreover, they currently have 250, 4, and 5-star vacation and urban hotels and over 55,000 rooms available in 22 countries that come under four brands.
The main objective of the all-inclusive resort program is to take a break from your everyday life and relax your mind. Explore new things by visiting beautiful locations and enjoying the things you have always desired. At Karisma Hotels & Resorts, you can have some quality and memorable time. State-of-the-art fitness centers, world-class spas, language lessons, cooking, and mixology classes. Organized programs for children. And a wide range of other services gives you a flavor of culture and history.
Just like the name suggests, a President's Club refers to one of the highest levels of ranks one can receive.
This achievement showcases the top-most salespeople in a particular organization.
The concept for President's Club, aka Achiever's Club or Winner's Circle, is not a new one. It was introduced to motivate the top-performing representatives and has spread out to the entire corporate world.
When the stakes are worthwhile to be administered into the Club, it can propel high performing and highly compensated representatives and allow them to go even further than their average performances.
Moreover, when these stakes are utilized well, they can significantly impact the organization's overall performance, providing all the representations, not just the high-performing ones, and an objective to achieve.
The question then arises: When and why should a President's Club be introduced? Well,
A short answer is that it depends on the company's environment and how much focus you want to place on the betterment of the sales team.
However, it is best not to introduce one unless the company has a sales team of at least 30 employees.
Developing a President's Club program for the sales teams will allow you to recognize the achievements of your employees, cultivate a healthy environment in your organization and establish a long-lasting tradition.
If this is your first time creating a President's Club Sales Incentive Program, here are the step-by-step instructions you should follow to develop and execute a program:
These programs are not one-size-fits-all; thus, specific ones are implemented to achieve any number of different goals: motivating the under-performing personnel, subjugating a more significant share of the market, and accelerating sales of particular products.
Such programs are beneficial. They
President's Club can motivate your high-achieving employees by recognizing them as such. They are your earning points, so buying a car or a new TV probably isn't enough to satisfy them. That is why an exciting incentive travel experience is most commonly used.
A President's club travel program does not create an elite crowd of unreachable performers if set up correctly. On the contrary, it encourages every employee to give their best output and perform even better.
Nothing feels better than celebrating your hard-earned break being whisked away to a relaxing, calming tropical island through Incentive Travel.
A sales incentive trip consists of the three 'R's – Relaxation, Recognition, and Reward. One must know that sales roles are incredibly strenuous and stressful, no matter the organization.
Sales employees have to prospect, build relationships, manage opportunities, and perform many other tasks to achieve both short-term and long-term revenue aims. The turnover rates for sale employees are enormous and replacing sales representatives cost companies tons of money each year.
To construct and manage successful sales logistics, companies need to perfect their infrastructure, hiring process, and compensation philosophy. There is a magnitude of reasons why a company can use sales incentive travels.
These reasons could be to stimulate sales of their products and services and recognize the top-performing sales representatives and motivate them and others further.
Many organizations have difficulty developing, promoting, and administering these programs to achieve desired results.
So, the primary question is: how do they work? And how can one set up an effective sales incentive travel program?
Well, This framework consists of five essential elements:
1. Alignment: Alignment refers to an opportunity to promote conjunction between the quota-bearing and non-quota-bearing employees in the functional groups that make up the revenue, perhaps by creating multiple versions of the incentive trips.
2. Transparency: Transparency can do this by creating a calendar with information about the trip, strict deadlines, next year's aims, evaluating and reviewing the previous year's incentive trip, and setting qualifications for the employees to go on next year's trip.
3. Accountability: Accountability can create a clear and concise ownership hierarchy and formal charter. The order can consist of executive leadership, sales, and non-sales stakeholders such as HR and the legal team.
4. Fairness: Fairness refers to setting up attainable sales targets. These targets should be achievable and quantifiable.
5. Connectivity: Connectivity refers to the marketing of the trip – presenting data on a monthly and a quarterly leaderboard and spreading posters around the office. Being part of an establishment that uses sales incentive trips can build teamwork and connections.
Sales incentive trips build such a relationship of friendship in which each employee participates in the celebration of every other employee's successes.
This teamwork leads to more efficient business dealings, which benefit the clients and ultimately benefit the owners, investors, and employees.
These sales incentive trips work. And for a myriad of reasons.
Successful salespeople are achievers and are motivated by winning. These non-monetary trips make you feel like a part of a particular elite group.
Achievers get the opportunity to connect. Being in the same space for some time builds camaraderie amongst the team.
We demonstrate a hallmark of our company. These trips show employees' commitment to the work-life balance and that the company cares about the employee – as an individual.
Create a personal connection with the top-sales performers. There is an intimate connection between the team members leading them to work better.
If we look at the psychological reasons why these sales incentive trips work, it is safe to say that they cover all four motivational factors.
In today's date, many organizations employ incentive travel programs because these programs motivate the employees and increase their productivity. In fact, according to research by the Incentive Travel Council and Site International Foundation, 96% of employees express travel incentives motivate them. Travel incentives motivate your employees to help achieve business objectives by increasing productivity, enhancing performance, increasing sales, and achieving targets. Moreover, these corporate incentives provide numerous other benefits as well. Generally, companies use travel incentives to motivate their sales force to achieve sales targets.
Let's look into this blog; we will discuss the significance of travel incentive and how it provides ROI for your organization.
Travel incentive is used to support and appreciate the employees. According to the studies, it is one of the significant incentives to motivate staff and increase their productivity to achieve objectives. Giving employees incentive trip work as a motivation for them. It gives the satisfaction to staff that their efforts are appreciated by their organization. Research conducted on 200,000 people, including employees and managers, showed that regarding the question "My company values high performance," the companies that achieve the lowest 25% return on investment of 2.4. However, those in the top 25% had an average return on investment three times high. It shows that the organizations that invest in incentive travel reach higher productivity.
In the United States, businesses suffer the loss of an estimated $11 billion yearly due to staff turnover, according to the stats. 79% of employees who resigned from their jobs mention that "lack of appreciation" is a primary reason for quitting. According to research, travel incentive programs can help to prevent employee turnover. Society for Human Resources Management has revealed in their report that the organizations with recognition programs such as travel incentives have played effectively in retention, engagement, and performance (SHRM/Globoforce, 2012). Furthermore, if employees feel that their company is giving them value and rewards, that will lead to workplace satisfaction. So, it will be a wise decision to invest in travel incentives to appreciate your staff and retain professional employees.
When staff sees that their organization respects and recognizes their efforts, they feel more motivated and become more loyal to the company. Moreover, 72% of staff awarded with travel incentives state they feel more loyal to their organization. In their study, Site International Foundation and the Incentive Travel Council revealed that loyal staff are like ambassadors for your company and will work efficiently to make sure that the organization achieves its objectives.
Travel incentive plays a vital role in relieving the stress of employees. Employees that receive travel incentives feel reduced stress, increased productivity, and more confidence. It will benefit the employees and your organization because your staff will return to work feeling motivated. Moreover, employees will work more efficiently and fulfill their tasks with higher productivity.
When employees go for an incentive trip in a group, it gives an excellent opportunity for teamwork and friendship. During their trip, employees will spend some quality time and memorable experiences together, providing them the opportunity to know each other. After the trip, the employees will have a stronger bond when they start their job responsibilities. Moreover, it will improve the workplace environment, and employees prefer to work as a team. Furthermore, a positive work environment also helps in retaining employees.
In a survey, on a scale of 1 to 10, managers rate the significance of a positive work environment at 8.5. Since the covid-19 pandemic, organizations are now allowing employees to work remotely. Travel incentive gives a chance for employees to meet up with their office colleagues that will help in team-building and bonding.
We have discussed how beneficial it is to provide travel incentives. It can help boost your employees' confidence, increase productivity, and help achieve business objectives. Furthermore, it can also help your organization set productivity standards and adjust strategy according to your business goal. For example, if John achieves the sales target by selling 20 items in a month and Watson only sold 12, John will be eligible for the travel incentive reward. However, now management knows that selling 20 items is an achievable sales target for a month, so it is better to identify John's best strategies and help Watson overcome his weaknesses.
Businesses have to compete with other market players in this challenging work environment. Therefore, it is essential to retain talented employees and increase sales and revenue. Therefore, travel incentive is highly beneficial for companies and worth to invest. Furthermore, travel incentives help you achieve your business objectives and give you a higher return on investment. Moreover, it will motivate employees to boost their confidence and retain skilled staff.
Organizations should make every attempt to retain capable employees and hire those who are proficient in their field as well. Promote a workplace culture that cares for the well-being of staff, and you will see your business flourishing. Moreover, it helps in competing with business rivals with more effective results. Furthermore, nobody wants to leave an organization that appreciates the efforts of its employees. Likewise, everyone wants to join a company that provides incentives to their employees and recognizes their efforts.
Travel Incentive Plans
We are offering travel incentive planning services. From the initial stages to the plan's implementation, we will guide you in every step to implement your desired travel incentive plan. Our travel incentive plans will motivate, engage, and uplift your employees' confidence and boost return on investment for your organization.
Our incentive trips will thrill, engage and inspire your employees and boost long-term ROI for your company. So get our help and opt for the customized incentive plan according to your employees.
We aim to provide the best travel incentive plans designed for the organizations. Contact us today or visit our website incentivetravelgroup.com to learn more about travel incentive programs.
