From RFP development to contract negotiations to travel & transportation, Karen knows the ins and outs of event planning.

Karen Peterson
Incentive Trips & the Road to Recovery in a Quarantined World

In these COVID times we’re experiencing, traveling anywhere is hard right now. As challenging as the landscape may be now’s the time to put your energy into your company’s next unique travel incentive experience.

Incentive travel trips are not your average “exotic” get-a-way. They provide a much more luxurious experience that provides adventure, cultural experiences, unmatched cuisine and more. More important for direct sellers, incentive trips lead to stories that are told and retold to family and friends. At the very least, trips are good public relations and at their best, incentive trips become a powerful recruiting tool.

This article will be the first of many to get things rolling in the right direction. It’s doubtful that many companies will offer incentive trips in 2021 but many will gradually start testing the waters by opening up their meetings and conferences to see how many people will attend a live event. Surveys indicate that it will be until 2022 before 50 to 75% will feel comfortable traveling abroad.



There are many factors to consider before a company can announce a trip its sales force will work hard to earn. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

First Step ~ Review where you have already gone. Review your incentive travel spreadsheet; if you don’t have one you need to develop one. In my 35 years of planning I have always been glad that I kept a written record of my trips because I never would have remembered all the details. Here are some suggestions for your column headings:

* Year
* Location
* Dates
* Hotel
* Theme
* Attendance
* Budget
* Actual Costs

Think about three locations: Two international and one domestic. A domestic location maybe favorable in 2021. I would hope by 2022 everything is up and running and back to normal.

Second Step ~ If you decide on an international travel destination reach out to a Destination Management Company (DMC) as they know the areas well and have teas in the destinations that can assist. Even though you will most likely do a site inspection yourself the DMC knows what’s happening in each location and will recommend safe and fun options for consideration. Plus once you decide and get things rolling, the local guides are the absolute best to work with and will make sure the group has the best time ever. Specifically, they can help you decide what the trip will look like by providing you with a menus of proposed activities and costs; then create the initial budget.

Third Step ~ The budget is key as it will help determine what the qualifications need to be in order to make your incentive trip self-funding.  That means putting numbers to:

* Airline costs (Check out the current pricing and add 10%, as costs will most likely go up)
* Ground transportation
* Hotel costs
* Meals
* Tours & tour guides
* Gifts
* Anything else that’s traditionally included in your trips



Fourth Step ~ Prepare your presentation to the executive group that will decide on the trip. Include good photos of the proposed destinations and a preliminary budget

It sounds simple, but as you well know, each step is packed with details and decision-making that can overwhelm you pretty quickly.

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Motivation is crucial for success in direct selling. A well-thought rewarding mechanism boosts morale and motivates the field organization members towards further achievements. As obvious these might have sounded so far, there are a few critical issues that need to be addressed to benefit from recognition the most, that are  sometimes totally ignored.

As a starting point, recognition has to be taken strategically. That is, it must be an integral part of a direct selling company’s overall strategy. In this highly competitive environment, companies need to make the most out of their own resources. And the field organization by nature is the resource that is the most responsive to recognition.

In direct sales, there are many areas in where one can recognize better performers: Sales/month, recruits/month, sales of a newly launched product, reactivates/month, increase over previous month’s and year’s sales or recruits… not to mention qualifications for higher ranks according to the compensation plan.

Here are some important points to consider when structuring recognition programs:

The path to recognition must be predetermined.

The way to rewards must be clear and must be the same for everybody who are eligible to participate. This path should not be changed on the way unless there is a valid reason to it. Ignoring this can highly demotivate the field force, damage trust and consequently, hurt your business.

The rewards have to be meaningful.

They should represent a value to the individuals. Never think of a reward twice, if you have the slightest doubt about its perceived value. The first reward that comes to mind is not necessarily the best one. So, it is important to research and know in advance what really motivates the organization.

The positive effect of immediacy must not be underestimated.

The reward has to be presented as soon as possible following the achievement. It’s always “sooner the better”. As time passes, members of your organization will naturally forget what it was all about, an outcome that absolutely you would not want to see.

The recognition should be made in public.

As the circumstances allow, it should also involve that person’s downline organization whether this occurs on an offline or an online platform. What the individual had accomplished and what s/he received should be clearly mentioned, and out loud! The achievers should also appear on all relevant company publications (newsletter, website, social media platforms, etc.).

Last but not least: Cash or non-cash rewards

A reward in a recognition program does not need to be cash, and sometimes it should not be cash at all. Cash is known to bring little emotional engagement, to be spent quickly and it can easily be forgotten. Moreover, cash is not a cost-effective option because of the difference between the (higher) perceived value of a non-cash reward and its (lower) actual cost to the company.

Many people who join this industry are attracted by the comparably generous recognition involved and do stay because of it. So, it is vitally important to take advantage of this highly motivating factor.

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Hakki Ozmorali is the Principal of WDS Consultancy, a management consulting firm in Canada specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. WDS Consultancy is a proud Supplier Member of the Canada DSA. It is also the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication since 2010. Hakki is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals. You can contact Hakki here.

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