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Five Big Mistakes When Running An Incentive Program
by Mark Hess, President of Cruise Central
markh@cruisecentral.com

Successful incentive programs avoid these common big mistakes. I have offered a few solutions and food for thought regarding these key elements in incentive campaigns.

Minimum promotion of the incentive program and reward - Once is not enough.

Solution: Participants need to be reminded with fresh messages. You need to hold their attention for the duration of the campaign. They need to be able to see, touch, hear, and smell the reward. For a 3 month incentive campaign your messages should be given at least 2 to 3 times a month. A customized message demonstrates that you care about their performance. Send attractive and humorous travel post cards to their home. Leave a short foreign accented voice mail message with background music. Send them a food item related to the trip. Have fun and be creative.

Unobtainable goals - Why try if an improbable objective is created.

Solution: Create a goal using realistic business conditions and growth patterns. If your business is expected to grow 10%, implementing an incentive program based on 12% growth may be more realistic. Every industry is different. Participants must perceive the goals as realistic. This is also true if your goal is to improve customer service. If you are not sure what is realistic for improving customer service run a pilot program or seek a consultant to assist you.

Unattractive reward - The reward needs to match the needs and lifestyles of the participants.

Solution: Interview employees to uncover their hobbies and interests. Find out what they do for vacation. In what type of hotels do they stay? What are their dream vacations? What do they read? This information will make the reward special. Be careful using money as a reward. Money is hard to promote and can be a dis-incentive. Employees think of cash as an entitlement. This is contrary to incentives. A study conducted by the Houston-based American Compensation Association surveyed 1600 companies. The findings of the study revealed that non-cash awards offered a 3:1 return on investment when compared to cash. It only takes 40 cents of a non-cash reward (travel or merchandise) to increase sales or performance by $10. It takes $1.20 of cash to obtain the same increase. Also, studies in the workplace have demonstrated that non-cash rewards produce higher sales than cash.

Complicated or slow performance measuring system - If participants can not easily see their progress and there is lack of feedback, they become psychologically removed and frustrated.

Solution: Post the results immediately. Immediate feedback reinforces the importance of the incentive program and the value you place in your employees. The culture of your office and employees will determine whether the daily results are public or private for each participant. A point system is an excellent method of simplifying a program which requires a percent increase in sales. Using averages or a percent change in performance is indirect and does not show progress towards a goal. A point system gives your program flexibility and shows movement towards a goal.

Promoting a bad product or service - People will not put their careers on the line for a faulty product or service. This type of promotion will come back to haunt you.

Solution: Instead of selecting a bad product for an incentive program, base your campaign on introducing a product, increasing market share, improving customer service, or selling new accounts. These are excellent ways of increasing your profits. Sometimes representatives are reluctant to sell higher priced services or goods because they are in the habit of selling less expensive items. An incentive based on the higher ticketed items will help break this pattern.

Incentive campaigns are your opportunity to put your best foot forward for your employees. These solutions will keep your program on track and build better relationships with your employees.

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1. What's included?
2. Ships v. Land-based Resorts -- A Price/Value Comparison
3. How long are cruises?
4. Where can we go?
5. What types of ships are available?
6. Who are your cruise partners?
7. Meeting Facilities & Audio-visual Equipment
8. Cuisine, Special Diets & Dining
9. Are there medical facilities?
10. Ship & Destination Activities
11. Entertainment & Enrichment
12. Cruises with Kids
13. How do we stay in touch with the outside world?
14. Tipping
15. Is motion discomfort a problem?
16. Tax Issues
    

(1) What's included?

Cruises include more value for your money than land based resorts. A cruise is one convenient, all-inclusive package. Your dollar goes a long way. It's a smart business decision.

A typical cruise package will include at no extra cost:

Staterooms with private bathrooms Personal room steward or butler Health and fitness club Full use of meeting and conference rooms State of the art audio-visual equipment Security on site Daily schedule of ship's activities Meals and snacks on the ship Sports and recreational facilities

Room service Spouse, children, teen activities Duty free shopping First run movies Ship orientation guides City destination guide Broadway and Las Vegas style shows, comedians, and magicians

(2) Ships v. Land-based Resorts -- A Price/Value Comparison

Cruise Ship v. 5-star accommodations Hotel or resort in Hawaii -- based on 200 people

(3) How long are cruises and (4) Where can we go?

There are over 1800 destinations worldwide accessible by water. Cruise itineraries start at 3 days. Depending on the itinerary they can go as long as 3 months. Or if you charter a cruise you can determine the number of days and destinations.

Partial listing of destinations:

Alaska Australia & New Zealand Bermuda British Isles & Ireland California wine country Caribbean France's wine country Hawaii

Mediterranean Mexico Mississippi River New England States Pacific Northwest Scandinavia South America Tahiti

(5) What Types of Ships Are Available?
(6) Who Are Your Cruise Partners?

There is a wide variety of ships for you to choose. You can choose a classic propeller driven ship, the romance of winds guiding your ship, or a paddle wheel gliding you to your destination. Ships range from under 200 feet to over 1,000 feet long. 100 to over 3000 guests can join you on these resorts at sea. The environments on board range from casual to formal and simple to ultra-deluxe.

Our cruise partners are:

(7) Meeting Facilities & Audio-visual Equipment

Additional equipment and facilities are also available.

(8) Cuisine, Special Diets & Dining

You'll find a wide selection of entrees, appetizers, salads, soups, vegetables and desserts at every meal. Vegetarian and kids menus are also available. There's no limit on what or how much you can order.

With advance notice most ships can accommodate salt-free, low carbohydrate, Kosher or other dietary preferences.

Depending on the ship you choose there is a variety of dining and beverage options

Here is a sample:

(9) Are there medical facilities?

Virtually every cruise ship has a fully-equipped medical facility and staff to handle almost any emergency. The exceptions are ships operating in coastal waters.

(10) Ship & Destination Activities

(11) Entertainment & Enrichment
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(12) Cruises with Kids -- Toddlers to Teens

Kids love ships because they are self-contained and easy to navigate quickly on their own. Cruise ships are noted for their wide variety of entertainment and activity options for kids and teenagers. Ships are also perfect for finicky eaters. There are always dining options, pizza parties, ice cream socials, and barbecues geared for youth.

Most ships have supervised children's programs for specific ages and maturity. Specially trained counselors will keep them busy and entertained every minute. Many cruise lines are now offering special optional shore excursions targeted just for younger travelers. Think of it as day camp for your kids which is included at no extra cost.

Want to steal away to enjoy the night life on board ship? Some cruise lines have sitting services available at an additional fee.

(13) How do we stay in touch with the outside world?

Many ships offer internet access and e-mail services so that you can surf the web on the ocean and stay connected by e-mail.

Most ships have a daily newsletter with selected news, headlines, stock quotes and sports scores. On many ships, you will find televisions in your staterooms to keep up on the changing world. Also, sports bars and other locations on ships show live broadcasts of sports events.

Although you can contact someone on shore through the ship's radio operation most ships have telephones and voice mail in passengers cabins. In addition, most ships have fax capabilities.

(14) Tipping

Tipping varies from ship to ship. Some ships have a no tip solicitation policy or no tipping required. Tips can also be prepaid as part of your cruise package. Most ships add a gratuity for anything ordered from the bar.

When tipping is the custom, envelopes will magically appear the night before your departure. A general rule of thumb is to place $2.50 to $3.50 per person per day for your room steward and dining room waiter. For your busboy it is $1.00 to $1.50 per day.

For youth counselors it is $2.50 to $3.50 per child per day. If several youth counselors are working with the same child, they will usually pool their tips.

(15) Is motion discomfort a problem?

Rarely. Cruise itineraries are in the calmest waters in the world. In addition, on modern ships stabilizers counteract ocean waves. Advanced availability of accurate weather information helps to avoid rough weather. Cruise Central will help you select a cruise to reduce the likelihood of motion discomfort.

If you are still concerned about motion discomfort talk to your physician regarding her or his recommendation of the following:

• Sea Band or Travel Garde bracelet for acupressure
• Ginger root capsules
• Nonprescription antihistamine remedies
• Dramamine

(16) Tax issues

Thousands of corporations and organizations, large and small, are holding business events at sea and enjoying the financial benefits for cruises. We will guide you to determine the total financial package.