Incentive - September 2008 - (Page 39) CASE STUDY to reach for the incentive. Sales staff must meet a sales quota by a certain date. Service employees have a combination of “production” (how many homes visited), a grade on how many customers they retain, as well as a certain number of sales (though fewer than for those working solely in sales). For example, a service technician might offer the Orkin mosquito treatment to a current customer. “The opportunity is there to sell to existing customers or someone such as the next-door neighbor encountered while on a route,” says Martha Craft, the event organizer and Orkin’s assistant vice president of public relations and corporate communications. Branch managers are evaluated on the basis of sales, overall branch productivity, and customer and employee retention. The idea is not only to sell as much as possible, but to keep the customers they already have happy too—in addition to their employees. This all makes for better business, and better relationships with customers and employees. Reports of progress are published each month, so employees can tell how close they are to achieving the goal of President’s Club for that year. The annual four-night trip involves a different venue each year, with only a couple of location repeats over the years. Getting everything set up and everyone to the city is quite a logistical feat for Craft, who has organized the event for Orkin during the eight years she’s been with the company. Assisting Craft are her team—which includes two more planners, one media services director and two additional photographers—who also go along on the trips and are critical to pulling off a smooth event. Attendees come together from all over the U.S. and Canada, and Craft serves as the master of ceremonies at the gala awards presentation. Boston branch manager Bill Siegel finds the incentive Top: Orkin employees show off their costumes for Hippie Night Above: A group of winners on stage for Awards Night trip especially innovative. He’s been to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. “This is a great plus,” says Siegel. “Aside from the personal pleasure derived, it’s also such a terrific benefit for your spouse or significant other. My wife often enjoys the trip as much if not more than I do. They like to be part of all the hard work that has involved them as well.” The goal is to make each trip unique and even better than the last year’s, as about 60 percent of those attending each year are repeat winners. “Those who go want to go again,” says Craft. “And those attending come back and tell their coworkers about it, and they get excited and want to go as well.” For this year’s New York trip, participants will get a taste of New York, with a welcome reception and dinner with New York City firefighters, policemen and some of the Rockettes. Later, they’ll choose activities from a preselected list, including bus and boat tours of the city, a combination tour of NBC Studios and Radio City, a behind-the-scenes tour of Yankee Stadium and more. On the final night, everyone will come together for a group dinner and a Broadway show. Even with a lineup as enticing as this, Craft expects the awards night to be the most popular event, as surveys show it always is. It will be complete with a cocktail reception, dinner, a band and dancing. “Despite being one of the most rewarding things I do, this also is really one of the biggest jobs you could imagine,” says Craft. “Being detail-oriented and flexible are two of the most important things for this project.” The ultimate goal is for every single person attending to have the best possible experience. “Those people are working their tails off for Orkin the rest of the year; the least we can do is give them four days of the best experience they can have,” says Craft. “Even though we’re a fairly large company, there’s a bond I’ve never seen anywhere else.” s Send comments to feedback@incentivemag.com been made. During the event, a collection of some $20,000 was taken up for Orkin employees in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast who had been displaced by Katrina. “The Katrina incident brought out all kinds of offerings from our employees, with people standing in line to volunteer and drive down whatever people needed. It’s the same way with President’s Club, just like a great big family reunion each year,” says Craft. —PH When There’s Trouble with the Plan lthough Orkin has been to St. Thomas and Bermuda, the company has started avoiding Caribbean destinations due to its September trip dates and that being the height of hurricane season. New Orleans was the Orkin destination two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Airline tickets were mailed out on the Friday before the Sunday that Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The group had been A scheduled to stay at the downtown New Orleans Hyatt Hotel, which sustained considerable damage. When Katrina hit, the planning staff, led by Martha Craft, assistant vice president of public relations and corporate communications, had to do some quick itinerary rearranging. Ticket refunds from the airlines were worked out, and the event was moved to Scottsdale, Ariz. Attendees were very impressed with how easily the change appeared to have incentivemag.com | September 2008 | Incentive | 39 http://incentivemag.com
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