When you own your own business it’s important to find ways to set yourself apart from your competitors. One great way to do this is to offer your clients a travel incentive . This is a very effective marketing strategy that works very well when planned and executed correctly. One of the reasons this marketing strategy can go south is because of the amount of planning that’s involved when offering it to your clients.
For this reason, many companies choose to outsource when offering a travel incentive. However, this comes with risks as well. If you hire the wrong company, it can lead to more issues.
A great example is Robert McCullum, the General Manager of Titan Automotive in Regina, SK who was unsatisfied with the first travel incentive company he hired. He let this company go and, after conducting some research, hired Odenza to help with his plans. The results after this then became positive. Odenza can help your company because of the success they’ve had with their past clients, such as Titan Automotive.
Titan Automotive benefited from hiring the right company to plan their travel incentive. Odenza can produce the same results for any company.
Travel Incentives: Pros
When planned correctly, travel incentives are a great marketing strategy as they’re beneficial for everyone involved. From a business perspective, travel incentives bring a lot of clients into a store, help a company to build great relationships with these clients and offer a great way to stand out from the competition.
From a customer’s perspective, travel incentives offer them a reward for buying something they already needed and provides them with an opportunity to create great memories with their loved ones.
Overall, it’s a great marketing strategy that everyone can benefit from.
The Prize
When travel incentives are done correctly, the benefits a company receives are astronomical. Studies show that companies that offer non-cash prizes, like travel incentives, have three times higher revenue increases than companies that don’t. This is because travel incentives are the number one prize choice among clients and employees, which makes sense. Who doesn’t love to go on vacation? On top of that, travel incentives offer clients complimentary vacations. Your clients will have a great time creating memories with their loved ones, and when looking back on these memories, they’ll be reminded of how they got there in the first place; because of your company’s special promotion.
Sales and Marketing
Offering a complimentary vacation is also an effective way to advertise your business. When this special promotion is featured on posters , billboards, the radio, etc., it’s sure to grab some attention. If anything, clients will become curious and eager to learn more about the special promotion, you and your store. This will excite your loyal clientele, as well as bring in new clients through the generated awareness of your company and your product.
Furthermore, word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising. People trust their friends and family more than they would that salesman trying to convince them to invest in that product. If their experience is a positive one, they’ll no doubt talk about it with their loved ones.
However, if your clients have a terrible time on their trip, this will hurt your company. This could happen for a couple of reasons. First, because there’s so much planning that goes into organizing a trip, it’s easy to make a mistake. Furthermore, if you decide to outsource because of the overwhelming nature of this marketing strategy, it’s very easy to choose the wrong company. This can hurt you.
While travel incentives are a great marketing strategy, if the trip goes horribly wrong, it can hurt your business, not help it. Additionally, a lot of planning does go into a travel incentive, which makes it easy for someone to make a mistake. To put it into perspective, think of how much planning goes into your own personal vacations and apply that to each one of your clients that earn that complimentary vacation. All that planning can be overwhelming.
Another possible risk is the people at the airlines, hotels, etc., making a mistake. If these issues arise, you have to fix them, even if the problem isn’t your fault. Since you planned the trip, your clients will turn to you for answers if there’s a problem. Planning a travel incentive for your special promotion is no part-time affair and the process can be exhausting.
There’s also other things to consider. For example, when traveling to other countries, things such as international and value-added taxes, currency conversion, language barriers, local laws and customs, and different methods of booking space are important to consider.
Furthermore, there’s the task of negotiating prices with various businesses and travel destinations. Security and contingency planning are both very important as well. If you assign your already busy employees, or yourself, with this responsibility, it might be too much for them, or you, to handle. This can result in mistakes being made, and worse, unsatisfied customers. This is why outsourcing with the right company is such a great idea. It can relieve some of the stress that comes with this sort of planning.
Outsourcing
If you decide to outsource, there’s another issue staring you in the face; which company do you hire? There’s always a risk when outsourcing. Usually, this is because no outside party can appreciate the values and traditions of a corporation and its employees as well as someone who works for that company. It’s a very important decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Therefore, it’s important to conduct thorough research before making this decision. Just ask Robert McCullum, the General Manager of Titan Automotive in Regina, SK.
Titan Automotive is an independent car company in Regina, Canada. As an auto promotion, Titan Automotive offers an annual travel incentive to their clients; as a reward for buying a car from them, their clients receive a complimentary trip to Vegas.
In order to carry out this auto promotion smoothly, McCullum outsourced. Unfortunately, he wasn’t satisfied with the service he received. First, when Titan’s clients were sent on these trips, their experience was far from satisfactory. McCullum constantly received complaints because of the incompetent planning. What made things worse was this company didn’t include flights leaving from Regina in the packages they offered. This auto promotion was a great marketing strategy, but was causing problems because of poor planning. A change needed to be made.
McCullum made an executive decision to drop the company he was working with and hire a new one. After conducting some research, McCullum came across Odenza. When speaking with them about the options he could choose for his auto promotion, he was very impressed. He was even more impressed with the results Odenza generated. The proof is in his testimony.
Working with Odenza
When McCullum was asked about his experience, he gave Odenza a 10/10 satisfaction rating as there were zero customer complaints, unlike the previous company he’d hired. Mccullum also stated that he found the overall process of planning and executing the trip was much easier. Finally, he felt he was getting a better product with better value.
The advertising method for the auto promotion was the same (in newspaper ads and on billboards), as well as the store location, but the difference was the company Titan was working with. The overall results of the auto promotion were positive as Odenza helped to organize a hassle-free vacation for all of Titan Automotive’s clients. Odenza worked with Titan Automotive on their auto promotion every step of the way, which resulted in some very happy customers. Mccullum knew he had a great marketing strategy, he’d just chose the wrong company to help him with it.
A Bit About Odenza
According to a survey conducted by Concordia University, Odenza is the number one travel incentive company in the market. Their sales department is a three-time recipient of Carnival Cruise Lines “Pinnacle Club” award for excellence in sales and their marketing department has been recognized three times by the International Association of Printing House Craftsmen (an independent network of graphic artists and printing professionals) for their superb printing. Furthermore, Odenza offers its clients complimentary marketing materials and support, as well as certified travel agents that work with their clients every step of the way. If McCullum’s positive experience isn’t enough to convince you that Odenza is the right choice, the awards they’ve received should.
Your Company
Travel Incentives are a great marketing strategy only if they’re planned out correctly. However, it’s easy to make a mistake when planning one, as a lot of work goes into executing this marketing strategy. This is why outsourcing is such a great idea. However, when outsourcing you need to do your research and make your choice carefully. Just ask Robert McCullum of Titan Automotive. He made the wrong choice, at first, and it hurt his business. However, when he made the right choice the second time around it really helped him out.
Your company will generate the same results if you choose to hire Odenza. We’re the number one travel incentive company in the market and we have the awards to prove it. Travel incentives can produce great sales results for any company if executed correctly. This is why we’ve put together award-winning sales and marketing teams and hired travel agents that understand how to put together a fun and relaxing vacation for your clients. Don’t make the wrong choice. If you do it yourself, it may hurt you. If you outsource with the wrong company, it will also hurt you. So, choose to work with an award-winning company. With a free consultation, what have you got to lose?
