Incentive - January/February 2010 - (Page 6)

HEADLINES Incentive’s Motivation Master PAGE 10 Aspen Marketing Services and Motorola take home our top award for their channel sales and training program for mobile phone sellers How to Run a Non-Sales Program PAGE 14 Today, non-sales activities work closely in support of the sales process. So design a non-sales program that ties into sales goals To Go or Not To Go Despite the Crisis in Haiti, Incentive Groups Remain Committed to the Dominican Republic BY DONNA M. AIROLDI I n the aftermath of the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti, some leisure tourists are pulling the plug on their vacation plans to neighboring Dominican Republic—which shares the eastern third of the island of Hispaniola with Haiti—even though the growing destination’s Ministry of Tourism released a statement announcing that “all transportation systems, communication systems, hotels, resorts, beaches, and natural environment suffered no damage [from the earthquake].” Incentive groups, however, are staying the course. “Even though we’re concerned about what is going on in Haiti, all programs to the Dominican Republic are operating as planned,” says Tim Bruins, account manager for Maritz Travel, based in Fenton, MO, which has three big client programs, one in three waves, heading to Punta Cana between February and April. The Punta Cana resort region is a desperately needed source of income for the Dominican Republic “We had a lot of participants calling in asking if we’re still planning on going,” adds Bruins. “We were concerned, as well, but we have good relationships with the local suppliers, who know what’s happening on the island, and the people in Punta Cana said they didn’t even feel [the earthquake].” ITAGroup also was running an incentive travel trip to Punta Cana for a client with hundreds of participants in late January. | incentivemag.com “At this point, no changes have been made to the program,” says Tanya Feldman, manager of group event management for the Des Moines, IAbased incentive house, at press time. “We are continuing to monitor the situation, but as it stands now, we will operate as originally planned. The only addition would be that we were already planning to do a community event by giving filled backpacks to local school chil- dren in the Dominican Republic, and while we will move forward with this, we are exploring options of providing items for the Haitian children as well.” While no participants have dropped out of the programs at press time, the companies are prepared to receive some. Communication is key to making sure program participants have all the answers they need for any concerns regarding attending an incentive travel program, regardless of its location. For this situation, ITAGroup set up a special note for its customer service representatives, provided a four-page update memo to the client, and sent an e-mail blast on behalf of the client directly to participants, noting “that it’s important we continue to support the local island economy there because it is fragile” and “that we will be donating to churches, schools, etc, while we’re there.” continued on page 7 6 | Incentive | January/February 2010 http://www.incentivemag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Incentive - January/February 2010

Incentive - January/February 2010
Contents
Editor’s Note: Shift Happens
Headlines
Cover Story: Incentive’s 2009 Grand Motivation Master Winner
7 Steps for Running a Non-Sales Program
Original Research: Incentive’s 2010 Reader Forecast Survey
Primer: 3 Tips for Getting Through Airport Security
Strategies: Calculations and Conversations
Travel News: Where to Go
CityCenter Opens, Aiming to Redefine Las Vegas(Again)
Bermuda Still Works
Potentials: Here and Now
Electronics: The Revolution Will Be Televised...in 3D!
Online Gift Cards Make It Easy

Incentive - January/February 2010