Boost ROI & Drive Sales For Your Business Without Reducing Your Prices

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Do you want to grow sales for your business without throwing your money away? Incentive Solutions CEO Steve Damerow explains why a sales incentive program is a smart way to increase sales for your business. Boost ROI and drive sales with a sales incentive program by Incentive Solutions today.

Increase Sales and Market Share with Incentive Best Practices

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Follow These Best Practices to Increase Sales & Market Share With CEO Steve Damerow from The Incentive Solutions Group on Vimeo.

Do you know how to increase sales without lowering your product cost? Incentive Solutions CEO, Steve Damerow, lists the benefits a sales incentive program can provide for your company’s bottom line. Put your money to work with a custom sales incentive policy and strategy, by Incentive Solutions, that will help you reach your goals today.

Incentive Travel Bounces Back

​The public backlash reached a boiling point in October 2008 when executives at insurance giant AIG spent more than $400,000 for a trip to the luxurious St. Regis in Monarch Beach, Calif., a week after the firm received an $85 billion bailout from taxpayers.

"The reality is, [travel incentives are] back because these programs work, especially in decentralized organizations," says Melissa Van Dyke, president of the Incentive Research Foundation.

At Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, group sales are about 20% higher than a year ago, and incentive meetings comprise about 65% of all group sales at the resort. Sales will increase again in 2012, says Mark Benson, the resort's vice president of group sales. "Incentive travel is showing the fastest rate of growth in all group business," Benson says, adding that the resort sold about 200,000 group room nights this year vs. 146,000 a year ago.

The Incentive Research Foundation has found that spending now averages about $2,500 a person, and 67% of trips include some type of meeting or business aspect.

The backlash has eased, and industries have started to take the clamps off incentive travel. "If we had to put a score on it, it's probably 85% to 90% back," says David Peckinpaugh, president of Maritz Travel, a meeting management company.

http://www.incentivesolutions.com/2016/01/07/resea...

Enhance Your Online Rewards Program.

We offer a full suite of pre-programmed modules you can combine with the “basic package” to customize your online rewards program to meet your incentive plans. You can add and delete any of our modules at any time to adapt to your ever changing market conditions. Modules can be turned on or off at the click of a mouse!

Click any of the modules below to learn more.

	Performance Tracking. Keep track of sales, audit those sales based on thresholds you set, and run multiple promotions simultaneously.
	Mobile App. Give your participants easy, on-the-go access to your reward program with a program-branded mobile app.
	Learn and Earn. Host quizzes and surveys, and upload full online training curriculums and classes.
	Org. Structure & Advanced Reporting. Organize your data flow and allow structured access and responsibilities to various tiers of your rewards program.

	Leader Board. Showcase the top participants from any promotion within your online rewards program.
	Integrated Service. Allow your participants to log into your reward program directly from your company’s internal intranet site or corporate website.
	Quick Points. Give managers the ability to issue fixed-value reward program certificates on the spot.
	Open Enrollment. Allow uninvited participants to sign up for your program.
	Total Recognition Suite. Provide a social wall for HR recognition functions, including peer–to-peer and manager point banks.

Website
http://www.incentivesolutions.com/online-rewards/

How Incentive Travel Motivates Millennials to Reach Your Goals

​If it’s true that the generation mix has significantly varied expectations, preferences and tastes, it could certainly have an impact on a company’s sales performance reward tactics, including incentive travel plans. Do Baby Boomer salespeople prefer incentive trips to Florida where they can lay on the beach and read Tom Clancy? Do Millennial salespeople just want to go somewhere exotic and Instagram every meal? We’ll attempt to answer these questions and more with a series of articles on incentive group travel and the generation mix. Our goal is to help event planners and sales leaders understand and leverage the ways incentive travel rewards uniquely motivate team members from each generation to achieve business and sales goals.

Let’s start with the youngest and fastest growing group in the generation mix: Millennials. Cynics define Millennials by their absorption in social media and selfies, but there’s a lot more to them than that. They’re the least prejudiced and most culturally aware generation today. They suffered through joining the workforce at a difficult time, during the economic downturn of the late 2000s. And their social media “obsession” can be reinterpreted as a love of communication, curiosity and a sense of connectedness with about the world around them.

What does this mean for sales incentive travel rewards and corporate event planning? It means that incentive group travel programs are extremely motivating to Millennials for the following reasons:

Sharing the Experience

It’s true that Millennials love social media and smartphones. Less valid is the belief that Millennials aren’t enjoying or paying attention to their life experiences due to their constant connectedness. According to a survey of Millennials and experiences:

78% would rather spend money on an experience than a thing

77% say their best memories come from experiences

72% want to increase their spending on experiences

69% say experiences make them feel more connected to the world

If you’re interested in hearing more about how Incentive Solutions can help motivate Millennials in your workforce, call us at 866-567-7432 or use our contact form.

Incentive Solutions

Loyaltyworks

Direct Contact: 678-514-0248

Sales Hotline: (800)-844-5000

incentive travel and event management experience.

​Leverage our extensive network of travel agent, cruise line and hotel partners.

Elite group travel is considered the ultimate motivator and can drive powerful performances among sales teams and sales channel partners, delivering significant returns on program investment. It’s the perfect business incentive!
Our knowledgeable team of travel and program administration experts will work with you directly to deliver all of the cultural, financial and logistical services and support necessary to create a memorable corporate travel incentive—including meticulous program design, planning and budgeting. Our people are the among the best in the industry and know how to manage all the important contractual details for hotel, group airfare and transportation, then offer proven methods for effective event management, itinerary planning, promotional communications, on-site operations and logistics management, as well as post-trip program effectiveness measurement. 

Our specialized approach to travel planning is leaps and bounds ahead of traditional incentive travel planner methods. We give you the flexibility to choose all of the time and cost savings services you need without incurring extra expense. What a luxury! We are an experienced team with deep understanding of the incentive travel business.

To receive more information on our reward program options, schedule a tour of the entire collection of rewards, or see a demo of the online rewards technology platform, please call 1.866.567.7432 or send us a message. ​

How Event Planners Can Help You Negotiate Group Travel Contracts

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One of the major challenges of corporate events and group travel is contract negotiation. With large groups come large responsibilities, so hotels and resorts want to secure their profits and liabilities with contracts. If you’re part of an organization that hosts one group travel event a year, you might be able to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with one hotel or resort after patronizing it year after year, building up a reputation as a reliable, safe client. Consider another option, though: a group travel service can negotiates thorny contracts on your behalf, because they have experience and deal with travel contracts all the time. They can use their large network of hotels, resorts, agents, and cruise lines to your advantage. With group travel planners’ expertise, they can be on the lookout for clauses that can be renegotiated in your favor.

Some incentive providers, such as Incentive Solutions in Atlanta, GA, can provide travel planning services along with their travel rewards. Because Incentive Solutions offers hotels the promise of repeat business, they have more influence and can often negotiate much more favorable contracts. Here are just a few of the tricky, group travel contract clauses, listed by the Global Business Travel Association, that event planners can help you with:

• Cancellation

Cancellation fees and clauses are in place to protect establishments from losing money should you cancel your trip. That’s understandable—hotels and resorts lose quite a bit of money if you cancel a large block of rooms and they don’t have time to rebook them. Beware of other cancellation policies in your contract, however.

Travel and event planning services can help you avoid clauses and policies that could disrupt your trip. If the above example should happen when you’re planning a group outing, experienced travel planners know how to quantify what the hotel will pay you if they cancel your event. They also know it’s best to centralize and automate the room reservation process through an online registration system. That way, you can ensure that wait-listed attendees will fill in any reservations that are cancelled, keeping your room block booked and fulfilling your contract commitment.

Cancellation clauses and fees are usually unavoidable, but event management experts can help with registration and contract negotiation so that you can reduce potential losses.

http://www.slideshare.net/TheISIGroup/how-event-pl...

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Incentive Travel Planning Means that, Rain or Shine, We Still Dine!

​This is a throwback story of a time my whole incentive travel team as well as the hotel banquet staff worked so in sync together it was almost too smooth.

Picture it – Early December on the beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, right in front of the Nao’s restaurant of the Paradisus Palma Real. The sand is still warm from the hot day, the air is crisp, and the moon is shining bright without a cloud in sight. The décor company had just finished setting the beach, and the banquet staff had set the final water glass down on the table. The party was ready to start. This all came together 15 minutes before guests were to set to arrive to an open-air beach party complete with a live band.

As we began to put our final check lists away into our bags, we were all hit with some water. Being close to the beach, we all assumed it was just some sea wash that caught the right gust of wind until, out of nowhere, this little cloud of doom appeared and torrential downpour ensued. My colleague Mattie and I pressed ourselves against a wall with a small awning just big enough to keep us mostly dry while we stared out at the table settings that were just placed so perfectly. If you have ever been to the Caribbean, you are well aware that it may rain even though every meteorologist said you had 0% chance of rain all day. For the 15 minutes before everyone was supposed to be there, it rained so hard that the wine and water glasses had begun to overflow. Sheer panic was the only emotion you could read from the face of the travel and event planning team. As soon as it stopped, we all ran out to assess exactly how bad the rain was.

It was bad.

Without skipping a beat, the banquet manager assures us that it’s no problem and begins giving commands to his team and whistling. We all stood there in awe as we watched our soaking wet party get transformed into a dry again dinner beach party. Within 45 minutes of the last rain drop, the team at the Paradisus Palma Real had flipped everything around as if nothing happened. All while guests enjoyed the bar in the sand.

Morale of the story is that, as corporate event and meeting planners, we think we can prepare for everything. This is not always the case and, instead of getting angry about what’s going or gone wrong, we have to try to find a way to make it a positive. I doubt that team at the hotel would have been very receptive if we all just screamed and blamed them for the rain. Just take a deep breath, analyze what is going on, and move towards the most positive result as efficiently as you can with a smile. You might surprise yourself and I guarantee your client will look beyond the disaster if you handle it with confidence and a grin.

http://www.incentivesolutions.com/2015/12/23/great-incentive-travel-planning-means-that-rain-or-shine-we-still-dine/

Footage from Our 2015 BThruB Leadership Summit Is Here!

​We’re still reeling from the fantastic success of our 2015 BthruB Leadership Summit. We initiated the conference last year to share incentive ideas, B2B marketing strategies with our clients and other incentive industry experts. The summit was hosted at Barnsley Resort in October, was an excellent opportunity for us to spend quality facetime with clients in a beautiful, relaxing setting. Peer-led discussions and incentive program ROI presentations stole the show this year, with an overwhelming majority of attendees citing it as their favorite aspect of the weekend.

Notable guest speakers included Todd Hanson, President and founder of The ROI of Engagement and Rodger Stotz, Chief Research Officer of the Incentive Research Foundation. Between events, attendees enjoyed spa massages, golf, horseback riding, a clay shooting tournament, Barnsley Resort’s fine dining and karaoke.

Check out the video below to view newly-released highlight footage from our 2015 BthruB Leadership Summit!

Tags: b2b marketing strategies, bthrub, bthrub leadership summit, corporate events

Great Incentive Travel Planning Means that, Rain or Shine, We Still Dine!

​This is a throwback story of a time my whole incentive travel team as well as the hotel banquet staff worked so in sync together it was almost too smooth.

Picture it – Early December on the beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, right in front of the Nao’s restaurant of the Paradisus Palma Real. The sand is still warm from the hot day, the air is crisp, and the moon is shining bright without a cloud in sight. The décor company had just finished setting the beach, and the banquet staff had set the final water glass down on the table. The party was ready to start. This all came together 15 minutes before guests were to set to arrive to an open-air beach party complete with a live band.

As we began to put our final check lists away into our bags, we were all hit with some water. Being close to the beach, we all assumed it was just some sea wash that caught the right gust of wind until, out of nowhere, this little cloud of doom appeared and torrential downpour ensued. My colleague Mattie and I pressed ourselves against a wall with a small awning just big enough to keep us mostly dry while we stared out at the table settings that were just placed so perfectly. If you have ever been to the Caribbean, you are well aware that it may rain even though every meteorologist said you had 0% chance of rain all day. For the 15 minutes before everyone was supposed to be there, it rained so hard that the wine and water glasses had begun to overflow. Sheer panic was the only emotion you could read from the face of the travel and event planning team. As soon as it stopped, we all ran out to assess exactly how bad the rain was.

It was bad.

Without skipping a beat, the banquet manager assures us that it’s no problem and begins giving commands to his team and whistling. We all stood there in awe as we watched our soaking wet party get transformed into a dry again dinner beach party. Within 45 minutes of the last rain drop, the team at the Paradisus Palma Real had flipped everything around as if nothing happened. All while guests enjoyed the bar in the sand.

Morale of the story is that, as corporate event and meeting planners, we think we can prepare for everything. This is not always the case and, instead of getting angry about what’s going or gone wrong, we have to try to find a way to make it a positive. I doubt that team at the hotel would have been very receptive if we all just screamed and blamed them for the rain. Just take a deep breath, analyze what is going on, and move towards the most positive result as efficiently as you can with a smile. You might surprise yourself and I guarantee your client will look beyond the disaster if you handle it with confidence and a grin.

Justin

Justin Rieling

Associate Account Manager at The Incentive Solutions Group of Companies, consisting of:

    Incentive Solutions

    Loyaltyworks

    Travel Solutions

678-514-0213

jrieling@isicorporate.com

http://www.incentivesolutions.com/2015/12/23/great-incentive-travel-planning-means-that-rain-or-shine-we-still-dine/

Benefit from our incentive travel and event management experience.

​Leverage our extensive network of travel agent, cruise line and hotel partners.

Elite group travel is considered the ultimate motivator and can drive powerful performances among sales teams and sales channel partners, delivering significant returns on program investment. It’s the perfect business incentive!

Our knowledgeable team of travel and program administration experts will work with you directly to deliver all of the cultural, financial and logistical services and support necessary to create a memorable corporate travel incentive—including meticulous program design, planning and budgeting. Our people are the among the best in the industry and know how to manage all the important contractual details for hotel, group airfare and transportation, then offer proven methods for effective event management, itinerary planning, promotional communications, on-site operations and logistics management, as well as post-trip program effectiveness measurement.

Our specialized approach to travel planning is leaps and bounds ahead of traditional incentive travel planner methods. We give you the flexibility to choose all of the time and cost savings services you need without incurring extra expense. What a luxury! We are an experienced team with deep understanding of the incentive travel business.

To receive more information on our reward program options, schedule a tour of the entire collection of rewards, or see a demo of the online rewards technology platform, please call 1.866.567.7432 or send us a message.

http://www.incentivesolutions.com/group-travel-rewards/

Studies on How Event Planners Help Negotiate Group Travel Contracts

​Hotel Contract Strategies

1. Everything is negotiable. Not only are room rates and food beverage costs negotiable, but other items that may not be obvious are on the table, as well, including phone/Internet access charges, fax send/receipt feeds, overnight mail surcharges for sending/receiving packages through the hotel, bellhop and housekeeper gratuities, resort fees, established banquet menus/pricing and more.

2. Beware: hotels can cancel your meeting. If a better piece of business comes along, a hotel can cancel your meeting or event.

3. Keep hotel profit margins in mind when negotiating. If agreeing to attrition or cancellation, don’t pay full price for unused rooms or uneaten food. Profit margins for sleeping rooms and group food/beverage are high, so there is plenty of room for negotiation.

4. Require post-event reports. Use historical spend data to leverage better deals for future meetings with hotels and other suppliers.

A Look at Partial Force Majeure Strategies

1. While force majeure clauses are probably raised most often when a meeting has to be entirely canceled, meeting planners should not assume that cancellation of a meeting is the only time the clause can come into play. Instead, given the right circumstances, it is possible for a properly drafted force majeure clause to also save an organization from having to pay attrition and other types of contract damages.The concept is sometimes referred to as “partial force majeure,” and the idea is that a party should be excused from paying damages not only when there is the complete cancellation of the event, but also if any portion of a contract cannot be complied with due to circumstances beyond that party’s control.

5 Tips for Creating a Bulletproof Hotel Contract

1. Last year, the average hotel daily room rate and revenue per available room (RevPAR) was the highest ever recorded by STR, a global provider of competitive benchmarking, information services, and research to the hotel industry. Occupancy for the first quarter of 2015 was also the highest ever recorded by STR for hotels worldwide.

2. According to Freitag, a 66.8 percent occupancy rate in the U.S. is the highest STR has ever recorded for March. The industry also set a record with more than 100 million rooms sold worldwide, and RevPAR increased in the U.S. for the 61st consecutive month.

3. “Hotels are no longer bending over backwards to win your business,” explains Brooklyn, NY-based Roxane Kramer, a global account executive at ConferenceDirect, a full-service meetings solution company. “Plus, they are tightening their contract terms. Distinctly less flexibile, hotels are writing their contracts in their best interests.”

4. “When the hotel issues the contract, it is typically one-sided and missing key cost savings and risk-reduction clauses,” she adds. Clauses that are missing in hotel issued contracts according to Woodin include resell, so in the event of cancellation, the group and the hotel shall negotiate to establish mutually acceptable dates for a subsequent meeting to be held no later than twelve months after the original meeting dates and the hotel shall credit 50 percent of any cancellation paid against the subsequent meeting.

Tags: event planners, Event Planning, incentive travel, research, studies, Travel Incentives​

Negotiate Group Travel Contracts

​One of the major challenges of corporate events and group travel is contract negotiation. With large groups come large responsibilities, so hotels and resorts want to secure their profits and liabilities with contracts.

 If you’re part of an organization that hosts one group travel event a year, you might be able to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with one hotel or resort after patronizing it year after year, building up a reputation as a reliable, safe client. 

Consider another option, though: a group travel service can negotiates thorny contracts on your behalf, because they have experience and deal with travel contracts all the time. They can use their large network of hotels, resorts, agents, and cruise lines to your advantage. 

http://www.incentivesolutions.com/2015/12/15/5883/

How Can an Event Planner Help You Negotiate Group Travel Contracts?

​One of the major challenges of corporate events and group travel is contract negotiation. With large groups come large responsibilities, so hotels and resorts want to secure their profits and liabilities with contracts. If you’re part of an organization that hosts one group travel event a year, you might be able to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with one hotel or resort after patronizing it year after year, building up a reputation as a reliable, safe client. Consider another option, though: a group travel service can negotiates thorny contracts on your behalf, because they have experience and deal with travel contracts all the time. They can use their large network of hotels, resorts, agents, and cruise lines to your advantage. With group travel planners’ expertise, they can be on the lookout for clauses that can be renegotiated in your favor.

Some incentive providers, such as Incentive Solutions in Atlanta, GA, can provide travel planning services along with their travel rewards. Because Incentive Solutions offers hotels the promise of repeat business, they have more influence and can often negotiate much more favorable contracts. Here are just a few of the tricky, group travel contract clauses, listed by the Global Business Travel Association, that event planners can help you with:

• Cancellation Cancellation fees and clauses are in place to protect establishments from losing money should you cancel your trip. That’s understandable—hotels and resorts lose quite a bit of money if you cancel a large block of rooms and they don’t have time to rebook them. Beware of other cancellation policies in your contract, however.Travel and event planning services can help you avoid clauses and policies that could disrupt your trip. If the above example should happen when you’re planning a group outing, experienced travel planners know how to quantify what the hotel will pay you if they cancel your event. They also know it’s best to centralize and automate the room reservation process through an online registration system. That way, you can ensure that wait-listed attendees will fill in any reservations that are cancelled, keeping your room block booked and fulfilling your contract commitment.Cancellation clauses and fees are usually unavoidable, but event management experts can help with registration and contract negotiation so that you can reduce potential losses.
• Attrition Attrition is very closely related to cancellation. Specifically, it’s the term used for the compensation establishments receive for rooms or cabins that are removed from the market when your group reserves them. Attrition clauses, like all things in a group travel contract, are negotiable. Establishments may be open to the idea of removing an attrition clause, especially if they are dealing with a trusted, repeat client such as an incentive travel planner. Even better than no attrition clause, you may be able to include a clause stating there will be no attrition penalty.If you do pay attrition, an event planner can help you make compromises such as paying it on a cumulative basis, rather than per-night. This way, you can avoid paying full price for any rooms you don’t use or food and beverages you don’t consume.
• Force majeure A force majeure (French term meaning “superior force” or “great force”) clause is meant to absolve both parties (hotel and attendee) of liabilities in the event of an emergency beyond their control. Extreme weather, government regulations, and disease threats are all considered force majeure events. If hotels, resorts, cruise lines, etc. are prevented from fulfilling their duties by force majeure events, they rarely offer a refund provision.Force majeure clauses typically come into play when an event or trip has to be cancelled in its entirety. However, an event planner can help you establish policies such as “partial force majeure” in which you can protect yourself from paying extra attrition fees if an event out of your control disrupts—but doesn’t entirely cancel—your trip. For instance, you may be hosting an event in Florida in February, a trip most attendees can make without disruption. A blizzard in the northeastern U.S. may detain attendees from that part of the country, however, forcing you to cancel 25% of your reservations. It may not be sensible to cancel the entire event, so you can rely on a partial force majeure agreement to avoid being penalized with attrition fees.
• IndemnificationIndemnification clauses exist to protect one or both parties from financial loss, and to place responsibility of damage or neglect on the party most capable of preventing it. Most contracts include provisions requiring you to indemnify the hotel for any claims or liabilities they incur as a result of negligence or omission by your organization or people associated with it.Travel planners can help you tweak and negotiate this clause so that, for instance, you can specify whether the hotel will be indemnified for negligence or gross negligence. Event planners can help you push back against strict indemnification clauses as, ultimately, you can’t control your attendees’ actions. You may also be able to require the hotel to indemnify your organization against claims asserted against you that result from the hotel’s acts of omissions or negligence.

Cancellation, attrition, force majeure, and indemnification are just a few clauses typical in group travel contracts. While many of the basic clauses themselves are unavoidable, there are still ways to protect yourself and avoid being subjected to biased provisions and preventable fees. Incentive group travel and corporate events should be about learning, networking, getting to know colleagues, and having a great time. An event planner’s expertise can help negotiate a contract that works out best for you, in the end, so you can focus on hosting the best event possible.

Savannah Bobo
Copywriter at The Incentive Solutions Group of companies, consisting of:

• Incentive Solutions, Inc.
• Loyaltyworks
• Travel Solutions

Direct Contact: 678-514-0248
Sales Hotline: (800)-844-5000

Tags: corporate events, Event Planning, Group Travel, incentive travel, Travel Incentives

INCENTIVE SOLUTIONS: AN ATLANTA INCENTIVE PROGRAM COMPANY

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WHY SHOULD YOU DO BUSINESS WITH AN ATLANTA INCENTIVE COMPANY?

Based in Atlanta, Incentive Solutions is dedicated to helping our local economy flourish. With our online reward technology, prepaid debit card programs and travel incentives, we’re able to bring a world of rewards to the doorsteps of Atlanta businesses. Whether you’re a small Atlanta startup or a well-established company interested in expanding your market share, we can provide you the expertise and technology to execute effective incentive ideas that help you motivate employees, increase sales,  secure customer loyalty and cultivate lucrative sales channel partnerships.

When your incentive program is up and running, our in-house team of account managers, programmers, and ROI experts can help you measure your program’s performance, using a tailored ROI formula to ensure your program reaches your goals. Why tolerate the hassle of working with an incentive company across the country when you can have a local team of next-door experts who understand your industry and organizational needs?  

The Benefits an Incentive Program has to Offer Your Business

​Discover the Benefits an Incentive Program has to Offer for Your Business with CEO Steve Damerow. from The Incentive Solutions Group on Vimeo.

Are incentive programs worth it? Incentive Solutions CEO, Steve Damerow, talks ROI and what you can expect to gain from a properly implemented incentive program. Drive sales and put your money to work with an incentive program by Incentive Solutions today.

Tags: incentive solutions, ROI, sales motivation, Steve Damerow

http://www.incentivesolutions.com/2015/12/07/the-benefits-an-incentive-program-has-to-offer-your-business/

Mattie Logan’s Incentive Travel and Event Planning Blog is Here: AhoyMattie.com

Peter Island

Have you heard of Peter Island? The place dreams dream of, that not even story books could give justice to? Neither had I. The luxury of my job is sometimes being able to visit the tiniest corners of the Earth that I might not have ever even imagined before. Peter Island is one of them and personally now my favorite place on this planet. The island is 1800-acres of pure paradise, in the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by British Virgin Island oasis’s and a hop, skip and jump away from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Arriving on a private ferry is truly an experience in itself, as not many places can only be accessed by small boat, or helicopter. The palm tree and hammock flanked beaches and crystal clear turquoise waters surrounding Peter Island only add to the splendor of this Caribbean gem. Hidden away on this slice of private island bliss, is the Peter Island Resort & Spa.

A luxury haven getaway that gives true meaning to the words unbelievable, astonishing and splendid. As a guest of the resort, you can take in the surrounding wonder on any one of the five pristine white sand beaches, including a spot on the coveted Honeymoon Beach which allows only one couple a day access, or while exploring the breathtaking views atop a mountain and the sunset along the five-mile loop. The food is absolute perfection and the drinks are to die for.

 I don’t know if it was the love put into making my Pain Killers or the fresh nutmeg topping that kept me coming back for more but I would gladly fly back to Peter Island for that refreshing island concoction alone. Opt for a luxury private villa, such as the Falcons Nest. This sprawling mansion on the tip top of Peter Island, which could possibly be the most jaw dropping property I’ve ever seen, has six bedroom suites, a three story waterfall grotto and an infinity edge pool overlooking the surrounding Caribbean Islands. For a mere several thousand dollars a night you could live like a true king! Every single guest room at the Peter Island Resort is truly remarkable! Whether in an ocean view room or beach front suite,

 the comfort and furnishings will leave you relaxed and rejuvenated like never before. The only thing that could rival Peter Island’s accommodations, dining, and setting is the service. I have been to countless destinations and worked with hundreds of vendors, hoteliers and suppliers all over the world but nothing compares to the genuine compassion Peter Island employees show each and every guest of the island. It is truly one of a kind and makes you leave the island a better person for ever even meeting the lovely people of Peter Island Resort & Spa.

I know a woman that once told me she wanted her ashes strewn at Peter Island. I thought it to be such an odd statement until I visited that sacred place. I get it. I believe it.

I stand by Peter Island, the people, the resort and all the memories made there. Now it’s your turn. Get out there and start planning your own Peter Island adventure…just don’t forget to pack me in your suitcase when you go!
To learn more about the Peter Island Resort & Spa, CLICK HERE

Help Our Company President Raise Money for Children’s Healthcare of Atlant

At Incentive Solutions, we are always looking for ways to give back to the community and help make Atlanta a greater city. This year, we’ve participated in Agape Atlanta’s Great Backpack Giveaway, as well as Agape’s Thanksgiving Basket Giveaway. We also joined The Bert Show’s Big Thank You in writing Thanksgiving letters to our troops overseas. On December 5th, we will be partnering with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) to raise money for local children’s health service, and we invite you to join us.

Each holiday season, our company President and COO, Mark Herbert dons his rainbow wig, red nose, and big shoes along with the rest of Atlanta’s Distinguished Clown Corps. Consisting namely of local business owners and leaders, the Clown Corps donate their time and funds from their own companies to help raise money for CHOA.

“This is my fifth year as a Distinguished Clown,” Herbert says. “It’s a really fun opportunity, to dress up, join the parade and make kids smile.”

After the Distinguished Clowns greet children at CHOA with laughter, they join CHOA’s televised Children’s Parade to give out treats along the route.

Since its establishment in 1991, the Distinguished Clown Corps has raised over one million dollars for local children’s healthcare. This year, all money raised will go toward CHOA’s 2015-2016 Friends fundraising goals. These goals include three new critical care fellows at Egleston hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) as well as new staff members at the Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children.

The main goal of the Clown Corps is to raise money that helps elevate the quality of healthcare Atlanta’s children receive. Also important is the enthusiasm, positivity and holiday cheer that Distinguished Clowns offer CHOA patients when they meet and interact with the children in person. Joy and laughter can be healing, which is exactly why Mark Herbert plans to participate in the Distinguished Clown Corps for the rest of the foreseeable future.

Those who are unable to join the Distinguished Clown Corps can pitch in by donating here to help Herbert and the other Distinguished Clowns reach their fundraising goals.

Category : News
Tags: Charity, company culture
http://www.incentivesolutions.com/2015/11/23/help-our-company-president-raise-money-for-childrens-healthcare-of-atlanta-choa/

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What Makes Incentive Solutions Stand Out Among Incentive Program Companies?

What Makes Incentive Solutions Stand Out Among Incentive Program Companies?

Because we’re often asked who we are, what we do, and how we’re so good at it, we thought it would be a great idea if this week’s article answered some of those questions extensively. Incentive Solutions CEO Steve Damerow sat down for an enlightening Q&A session.

Who is Incentive Solutions?

Technology making incentive rewards easy. Incentive Solutions is a 20-year-old, debt free, employee-managed incentive marketing agency that uses the cloud and Mobile Apps to manage and communicate sales incentives to in-house employees, distributor/dealer/value added resellers (VAR) utilizing three primary reward vehicles:

1. Group incentive travel and corporate meetings and events
2. Online rewards
3. Choice of 155 retail gift cards or prepaid VISA debit cards

Incentive Solutions is Inc 5000, voted Best & Brightest Place to Work Atlanta two consecutive years and BBB++ rated.

What does Incentive Solutions sell?

Our clients try to gain sales from their distribution channel or gain productivity from their employees. We started off providing debit card rewards in 1993, then built our own technology system in 2006.

What makes Incentive Solutions different from competitors?

1. We develop all of our technology in-house. That means no third-party IT suppliers, which allows us to offer clients better set-up pricing.
2. Our modular system allows clients to start with a basic set-up, with the opportunity to activate any of our add-on modules to make a custom rewards program for the best ROI.
3. We have direct relationships with our reward vendors. Because we don’t use a middleman, like Bridge2Solutions, we can offer better prices on rewards.

How does the company do that?

1. Our people!
2. We are debt-free, employee owned and operated
3. We practice the same employee recognition that we sell to our clients. If you take out our new hires, our average tenure is over 10 years, because we use the system for manager-peer recognition, peer-to-peer recognition, On the Spot rewards, and Leader Boards. We pay 100% health insurance, 401K match, tenure, achievement points, profit sharing and quarterly bonuses. You can be confident your account manager will be here for the duration because they have all been here many years.
4. We have been able to transform from 200 inefficient employees to 40 highly skilled, motivated employees that are aware of our corporate goals and how achieving those goals will benefit them personally. We’re highly efficient, and we pass that cost savings on to our clients.
5. Our employees developed the finest cloud-based motivational reward tool on the market in ¼th the time, for ½ of what competitors charge.

What does Incentive Solutions online reward technology do?

Amazon was our initial inspiration and our online catalog was designed to replace obsolete, warehouse-based rewards catalogues with the purchasing power of the internet. Remember Green Stamps? In essence, we revolutionized the industry by going from award and tenure catalogues with 1,000 items to duplicating the supplier and user experience of Amazon, Travelocity and Ticketmaster all rolled into one.

How has Incentive Solutions’ platform evolved?

First, we conquered the rewards mall. With our system, you can even have immediate pickup at Best Buy, Sears, and soon BassPro Shop. Then we focused on creating a marketing platform that addresses the questions of “why you do incentives?” and “how you evaluate its effectiveness?” Now we make it all available instantly on smartphones.

How does that work?

First: Imagine using a single platform to manage all the desperate marketing/HR initiatives, such as:

• Host-triggered and programmed e-mail and text communication campaigns
• Sales incentives: direct and dealer, distributor, channel VAR
• Employee recognition
  • Tenure
  • Strategic performance enhancement
• International incentives, VARs, dealers
• Tutorials, testing, certifications, surveys
• Health and wellness
• Safety
• Warranty registrations
• Performance tracking

Second: We use the platform to announce and track the incentives, then evaluate over 60 real-time reports for establishing and monitoring KPI’s and ROI.

Third: Imagine being able to track a product through the distribution chain and training and awarding those that effect the sale immediately right on the spot. What used to take weeks to months, with a bunch of paper work for both administrators and participants, can now be claimed and awarded immediately!

What does this cost?

In the old days, this was all custom-designed and took many months and man hours. The cost for such a program was between $50K and $100K. Now, instead of four months, we can create a program in weeks for approximately $5K-$15K.

Who are some of Incentive Solutions’ clients?

We have over 220 clients on the system. Our larger accounts include Georgia Pacific, Mitsubishi, Lexmark and Siemens. Our smaller—but just as important—accounts range from mom & pop organizations with 50 participants to 100,000. We are now working on a pre-programed reward technology model for very small accounts.

What does the future look like?

We are already 100% mobile compatible and we have two new apps coming out with SalesForce.com and Microsoft Dynamics, which will make us fully integrated with companies’ CRM and their social media accounts. I see the instant data from the apps as being an added benefit and boom for marketers and sales managers.

Having begun as a group travel incentive company, does Incentive Solutions still offer those services?

Everyone loves group travel recognition, such as President’s Club trip to Cabo, Hawaii, Punta Cana. They are high-profile. The great “recession” of 2008-2013 made them “pariahs”…now they are back; strong, but different. The internet has made part of our job irrelevant, so in keeping with the times, we sell everything on an itemized, á la carte basis—meaning you only pay for the expertise you need.

What are the new hot destinations?

The US dollar is up approximately 30% to the Euro in the past 12 months. In the same time, jet fuel has come down, also making travel to Europe an amazing, if short-termed, bargain. Snap it up while you can. I particularly like Ireland. The Irish people love us, there is something for everyone, and their average winter temps are higher than Atlanta’s*!

(*Atlanta is Incentive Solutions’ headquarters.)

Savannah Bobo
Copywriter for The Incentive Solutions Group of companies, consisting of:

• Incentive Solutions, Inc.
• Loyaltyworks
• Travel SolutionsDirect Contact: 678-514-0248
  Sales Hotline: (800)-844-5000

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Category : Incentive programs , Incentive Solutions , Sales Incentives

Tags: incentive companies, Incentive programs, incentive solutions, Sales Incentives