Building a non-travel incentive into your recovery plan for 2020

The word ‘uncertainty’ is probably one of the most used words after ‘Corona’ in 2020. With so much ‘uncertainty’ banded about it’s hard to imagine what life after the Coronavirus pandemic will look like. However, if you own a business you have to start to plan for whatever the future ‘might be’ now.

How will you ensure you hit the ground running to retain and attract customers, or engage and motivate employees when the light starts to shine at the end of the tunnel?

As events and loyalty scheme professionals, we know that many companies’ goals and objectives are reached with the aid of travel incentives. Incentive travel schemes are wildly successful in achieving employee engagement, creating longer client relationships, and driving sales.

Although ‘uncertainty’ rules over our future corporate travel plans, there are still a number of ways to continue these incentives virtually.

Driving sales

There are many ways to drive sales and, whilst we know travel incentives provide great results, we also understand why you may be very nervous about booking any for the next six months. If you have had to cancel or move a planned travel incentive from 2020 you may be worried about the impact it will have on your sales. A loyalty scheme may be the answer. It can help you to maintain the momentum in sales and retain participant satisfaction.

A non-travel reward can generate impressive spikes in sales if done right.

Loyalty schemes allow customers to choose their own reward for hitting targets. At this time, travel may not be at the forefront of your customers’ minds - but a larger TV, shopping vouchers, or even a heavier discount on your product or services might be.

Increasing employee engagement

Now, possibly more than ever, you need a united and engaged workforce that’s ready to take on new challenges with you and drive the company to achieve its goals.

Gathering employees under one roof is thought to be the best way to create shared experiences and engage employees. It’s a great way to not only incentivise but to ensure a clear cascade of a message that compels. Employee Engagement events can help you to hold effective team training sessions, create successful team-building exercises, and celebrate success.

But just because you can’t confidently plan to all be under one roof this year, doesn’t mean your event can’t engage your team. Virtual events come in a range of options that can engage, incentivise and even entertain your employees in their own home.

Virtual events can be both cheaper and more interactive than physical events, if you have the right team working for you. They can also help you to capture some valuable data in the engagement levels and therefore gauge the success/ROI of your event like never before.

Planning a calendar of virtual events with a professional team is possibly one of the wisest, lowest-risk options for a company to take right now.

You may also want to explore an employee incentive scheme. Again, by allowing employees to choose their own rewards for their efforts you create the best possible incentive for each individual. By setting up an online reward and recognition system you can ensure no one feels their efforts are overlooked and that they are motivated to achieve their objectives or to display the behaviours you value.

Building stronger client relationships

We know from experience that travel incentives are a great tool for B2B companies to build closer working relationships with top clients. Now, when your clients are used to being wined and dined at some of the world’s most spectacular locations as a reward for spending so much with you every year, a gift card isn’t going to cut it really!

You need a more spectacular gesture, so get creative. What could you offer that would show how much you appreciate their patronage, at least until ‘travel’ stops being a dirty word?

How about an online member’s only club with exclusive content, spot prizes, discounts and even online gala dinners?

Whatever your main objective from an online or virtual incentive we have the ability to work with you to create something bespoke that gets you results.

Contact us today for a no-obligation discussion on what your incentive could look like.