Incentive - April 2008 - (Page 60) THE INCENTIVE MERCHANDISE BUYER’S HANDBOOK CHAPTER 5 Findng the Right Partner back to dealing directly with manufacturers is that award options are often limited to their specific brands and products. Manufacturer’s representatives Individuals working for companies that promote multiple, noncompetitive product lines on behalf of their manufacturer partners are the most popular source for securing merchandise for incentive, recognition, and premium programs. In addition to corporate end-users, manufacturer’s representatives also provide merchandise solutions to third parties such as full-service incentive houses and advertising agencies. Manufacturer’s representatives tend to possess extensive product knowledge because they are often required to attend the same training, educational seminars, meetings, and industry trade shows that are required of their colleagues on the manufacturer’s sales team. In fact, within the industry, manufacturer’s reps are often perceived as part of a manufacturer’s extended sales force. Advanced knowledge and training enable manufacturer’s representatives to stay on top of trends, provide clients with CASE STUDY Smart Bank needed to encourage 11,350 employees at nearly 750 Investment When Sovereign branches to increase their referral activity, the Boston-based financial institution turned to Dittman Incentive Marketing to develop a multi-faceted, online incentive program platform called “Sovereign Referrals and Rewards.” Dittman Incentive Marketing, a full-service incentive company based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was tasked to help Sovereign Bank realize the three primary objectives of increasing the average number of bank products each customer has with Sovereign, doubling the number of referrals between lines of businesses, and working all submitted referrals. Launched in July 2006, the Sovereign Referrals program, or “SovReferral,” provided the bank with a real-time tracking system of referral results, identified areas of opportunity, and recognized strong performers. Through this system team members could refer customers or prospects by submitting qualified referrals to another line of business. The Sovereign Rewards Web-based awards application motivates bank team members to make more referrals with the chance to earn points on various products and services, and redeem those points for thousands of incentive reward options including brand-name merchandise, individual travel experiences, and gift cards. As a result of the Sovereign Rewards and Referrals program, 55 percent of eligible team members have either submitted or were assigned a referral; average referrals have increased 400 percent from 1,000 per week to 5,000 per week; and 76 percent of all qualified leads submitted were closed. The incentive program caught the attention of the industry, earning a Circle of Excellence Award in the Employee Incentive/Recognition category from the Incentive Marketing Association. informed merchandise recommendations, and more. Similar to a special markets division, manufacturer’s representatives can negotiate factory-direct pricing, as well as provide collateral material such as high-quality images and brochures to clients. Manufacturer’s representatives differ from special markets in that they can offer a variety of product solutions— sporting goods, housewares, electronics, luggage, leather goods, jewelry, and other items—at many price points for different demographic audiences. The wide national network of manufacturer’s representatives also offers corporate buyers convenience and choice. The Incentive Manufacturers and Representatives Alliance (IMRA), a strategic industry group of the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) in Naperville, Illinois, offers end-users another useful resource with its free Rep Link service. Users of Rep Link simply type in their area code and the desired merchandise brand, and within seconds a local manufacturer’s representative’s contact information is provided. In addition, Rep Link also features a comprehensive product search by brand, budget, and price point. In recent years, some manufacturer’s representatives have emerged as total providers—offering services similar to that of a full-service incentive company such as help with program design and generating return-on-investment reports, among other functions. While manufacturer’s representatives can provide a variety of services, keep in mind that the merchandise solutions they recommend are limited to their partner manufacturers’ products and brands. Full-service incentive companies Also known as incentive houses or performance improvement companies, organizations such as BI, Carlson Marketing, Maritz, USMotivation, among others, offer the convenience of one-stop shopping—from conceptualization to program execution and everything in between. In the same way that a telecommunications firm, oil company, and auto manufacturer are experts in their respective fields, the professionals who work at an incentive company spend their days devoted to developing and designing creative programs to achieve better results for their clients, large or small. While incentive company executives can easily recommend merchandise, travel, and gift card solutions that would be suitable for a client’s program, most are “award-neutral” and are more focused on the underlying strategy for defining and driving the behavior that will ultimately generate results. Their forte is sitting down with clients to define the objectives and then design the program. So for companies that require a full-service 60 | April 2008 SPECIAL SECTION
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