Why Unique Travel Packages Make the Best Direct Sales Incentives
No matter how much the business environment changes, every direct selling company still wants the same thing from their sales reps: performance. And the most reliable way to drive outstanding performance is to offer valuable incentives.
If you’re selecting direct sales incentives for your sales reps, you have many appealing options.
There’s any number of useful prizes you can make available. People like rewards cards and discount gift cards. And everyone can use cash.
But nothing motivates like a travel incentive.
We’re not talking about a mere travel voucher or “two free plane tickets anywhere in the continental U.S.” prize. We’re talking about a predetermined trip package. Just make sure you set up your travel incentive program in a way that truly motivates your distributors.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Travel Incentives
Before we dive into how to do travel incentives the right way, let’s talk about why travel is the king of all direct sales incentives.
As we mentioned, everyone can use more cash. But here’s the thing about cash incentives: people tend to spend the extra money buying stuff they need on Amazon, paying the kid’s orthodontist bill, and finally putting those new tires on the car.
Yeah, it’s great having the money to pay for these things, but they’re all boring. And once that money is gone, you have no memories, no stories, and nothing to brag about.
There’s another problem with cash: when you offer someone a chunk of money, they naturally tend to think they’re worth more than that. And if they want to, they can sit there and calculate exactly how much they earned for each extra hour they put in to win the incentive.
A travel voucher has similar problems. Offer someone a $1,000 travel credit, and you’ve put a specific dollar value on their hard work. And there’s a good chance they’ll save that voucher for when they have to go to a cousin’s wedding on the other end of the country—or to make a college campus visit with their high schooler. Again, practical but boring.
To do a travel incentive right, you need to offer a unique experience—something your sales reps can’t get anywhere else. Something with trophy value.
It could be a private cruise where you buy out the entire ship for your company’s top performers. It could be a trip to a unique destination that comes with value-added bonuses—special tours or “insider” access that the general public usually can’t get, no matter how much they spend.
The benefits of using travel-based direct sales incentives are numerous. For one thing, a unique trip has intangible value beyond just the cost of airfare, lodging, and food. If the trip is really offering a once-in-a-lifetime experience, then your sales reps won’t be able to put a dollar value on it. They’ll feel like they should do whatever it takes to win the competition.
There’s also a financial benefit to your company. Suppose you were ready to spend $5,000 on an incentive. You might find that a unique travel package has immense perceived value, but only costs $4,000. You’ll save $1,000 while making your winner feel truly rewarded.
Let’s get back to the trophy value. When a sales rep wins a $5,000 bonus, there’s nothing to post on Facebook. When a sales rep goes on an Alaskan cruise, he or she will be posting pictures for weeks to come—and making other sales reps want to work that much harder in next year’s competition.
Work with a Partner Who Really Knows Direct Sales Incentives
How can you get started setting up direct sales incentives that reward your top performers with unique travel experiences? Our recommendation is Landry & Kling.
Landry & Kling Global Cruise Events are experts at helping direct selling firms and other companies provide extraordinary rewards to their star performers. For over 35 years, Landry & Kling’s exclusive focus has been business cruise events, incentive travel, and meetings at sea. Not only do they know cruises, they’re long-time DSA members and their staff includes professionals certified to plan both meetings and incentives.
Remember, as you run your next direct sales incentives program, Thatcher Technology’s Prowess systems has the most robust and feature rich incentives module in the industry. Our system can help you run your incentive contests, track results, and coach participants in ways that drive stronger results for the dollar spent. More about Thatcher Prowess >
Contact Thatcher today to see how you can put the power of Prowess to work for you! Contact Us >