Promo - April 2008 - (Page S5) Bling Power Employees and clients want brand merchandise—not commodities Sizing Up the Goods <Nearly E MPLOYEES…CHANNEL PARTNERS…BUSINESS CUSTOMERS. What do they have in common? half of the large companies surveyed last year by the Incentive Foundation used merchandise incentives during 2006. So did 30% of the smaller firms. <Over They’re consumers as well as business people. They want high-end merchandise, whether it’s home products, apparel, food or beverages. Luxury items like these telegraph value and status. That’s why merchandise continues to be one of the most popular incentives. More than three-quarters of companies view it as an investment tool rather than a cost, according to research from the Incentive Federation. “Trophy value is the name of the game in motivation,” sums up Jimmy Beyer, national sales manager for Sony Electronics Inc. and secretary, Incentive Marketing Association (IMA). “Employees are going to be more motivated and work harder to get well-known or luxury brand names, as opposed to generic items or brands that they’ve never heard of. And companies need to show employees how important they are by rewarding them with something they’re proud of and happy to show their friends and families.” He adds: “People want something that they can point to and say, ‘Look what I got from my company’ for achieving a sales goal or some other accomplishment.” “People want what they see in stores,” agrees Mike Landry, national sales manager, special markets, Tumi and an IMA board director. Giving then commodity-type items “sends them the wrong message,” he adds. Among corporate employees polled by Maritz, 55% agreed that the quality of their recognition affects their job performance. Other studies have documented that the perceived value of merchandise is often greater than its actual price tag. But performance-improvement professionals stress that companies must offer a range of rewards that match the preferences of the recipient groups and support a program’s goals. They also agree that branded or luxury merchandise, whether tied to earning performance points on an ongoing basis or rewarded for meeting a specific goal, should be part of the mix, along with travel. Many merchandise programs utilize gift cards. But others are based on merchandise chosen with the recipient’s preferences in mind. SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT three quarters of the managers viewed incentive merchandise as an investment rather than a cost. <On average, companies run nine sales incentive programs and six dealer/trade incentive programs per year. More than half of the managers who use rewards/recognition who were surveyed in ‘05 by the Forum For People Performance Management and Measurement reported using merchandise for some programs. <Nearly < a third of the executives surveyed by the Forum ranked merchandise/gift certificates as the best tactic for improving customer acquisition/referrals. Almost a quarter rated these as the best way to increase customer satisfaction, and over a fifth described them as the best tactic for achieving quality. <One-quarter of companies surveyed by American Express about 2007 holiday business gifting said that they would be giving their employees merchandise. S5
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