Incentive - December 2007 - (Page 24)

By A.E. Smith Last year’s program was a great success. This year, you’ve got some big shoes to fill. Here are tips on how to top a top program ongratulations. Your program was a complete success—after months of planning, all your arrangements went off without a hitch, the service was flawless, the participants couldn’t have had a better time. Your client thinks you’re a genius and can’t wait to see what you’ll do next. Now you can sit back and relax, basking in the glow of your own accomplishment, right? Wrong. Here’s the problem: What are you going to do next time? You pulled out all the stops, you gave this program everything you had, so what happens when your client comes back—as they inevitably will—looking for something even better? It’s an anxiety many planners know all too well. The best feedback you can get, says veteran planner Arnold Light, “Is when you’re saying goodbye on the ferry and everyone stops you, and they give you a hug, and they say, ‘Nice trip.’ You realize that you hit a home run. And then you C think, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do next year to top that.” To get those creative juices flowing, Incentive tapped the brains of several veteran planners for their tips on where to begin when topping one’s own best efforts. Balance Your Budget The first step for most planners is to take a look at the resources they’ll have at their disposal—a challenge indeed when incentive budgets stay flat year after year. In the experience of Joy Hansen, account executive for MotivAction in Minneapolis, Minn., “The budgets don’t go up, but the expectations do.” You may have left your client wanting more, but that doesn’t mean they will have more to give you to work with the next time around. And factoring in the leaping rates for accommodation and transportation can mean that you actually may be working with fewer funds than you had previously. “Even if budgets increase year after year, they increase because of inflation rather than because [the client] wants to make the events more spectacular,” says Bill Boyd, president of Irving, Texas–based Sunbelt Motivation & Travel. One tactic that can help when money is tight is to use your client’s repeat business to leverage better rates from hotels and service providers. Doing so can be limiting, tying your client to a single destination for successive years, but it will free up more of your resources to focus on exclusive offerings. Next, focus your creative skills, and a chunk of your budget, on details, like gifts, communications and décor. Especially when funds are few, it’s tempting to skimp on what seem like nonessentials and throw more of your resources into the gala events, but often these seemingly minor distinctions have lasting impact. “People remember the small touches,” says Hansen. For a biopharmaceutical client 24 | Incentive | December 2007 | incentivemag.com http://incentivemag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Incentive - December 2007

Incentive - December 2007
Contents
Editor’s Note: Revved Up
In the News
Cover Story: Rolls-Royce Empowers Its Own
Case Study: Booz Allen Hamilton
Beating Your Best
Incentive Primer: Add Value to Your Event
Keeping Safety In Mind
Incentive Interview
Potentials Here and Now
Research: Corporate Gifts Facts Report
Tabletop
Awards: Travel Gift Cards
Travel News
Viva Puerto Vallarta
Indigenous Spas
Advertiser Index
Off the Cuff: Ambassador Christoph Bubb
Luxury Brands Special Supplement

Incentive - December 2007