Travel Insider: Is Incentive Travel Planning Worth the Risk?
June 25, 2008
As an incentive travel planner, you have quite a dilemma on your hands. Whether you purchase, recommend and/or are the decision maker for your company's incentive travel, it's your responsibility to choose the destination and activities that will inspire employees to modify their behavior or increase sales. It's your responsibility to win.
By Brian Martenis
Win? Yes, win. Don't think for one moment that incentive travel planning isn't a contest, that you're not being judged, that your decisions won't make or break the outcome of the program's goals. Much like Steven Spielberg, you are producing and directing, and you're only as good as your last picture. One good "bomb" and your "boxoffice" could plummet. Pressure? You bet.
Picture this: You are deep in the Caribbean on a late January afternoon. The sun is bright, the air and water warm. All the homebound flights will depart for their connecting cities on time. But it's snowing back home and there are major delays and cancellations from Washington to Maine. The question is, will the final destinations be reached by your participants? You can't rebook the flights for the next day either—the airlines don't have room to accommodate your large group and another night in the already booked hotels will put you way over budget.
You are definitely SOL, my friend, and I have been there. You took a chance to run a program in the winter. You also took another chance by choosing a warm weather destination requiring flight connections from the northeast. As a planner, the very nature of your job involves chances such as these, and you must always take the responsibility for the job.
Planning for the Unplanned
It is your responsibility to make the right choices and eliminate as many of the "iffy" possibilities as possible. Here's how:
1. Always seek perfection but never expect it. You may occasionally almost obtain it, but true perfection is next to impossible. As in the Michelin five-star restaurant system in Europe, one star is sublime, two is awesome, three is beyond anything imagined on the "earthly plane." Four- and five-star restaurants simply do not exist. And so it is with your program. Try your best for five-star planning, but always remember, a well run two-star program is just as awesome.
2. Expect the unexpected. The message here is a tough one to master. To be a successful incentive travel planner, you must be able to "trouble shoot" as well as be clairvoyant. If you don't know where the possible "pitfalls" are, find another line of work. You can't make the right choices if you have no concept of what or how many there are. You need to be the type who loves to study the "what if" menu. You need to be the one with all the answers. You need to be the type that enjoys being in charge, in control.
3. Learn to take the credit and the blame. You will get both, so never be afraid to ask for assistance when you're in a jam. Unfortunately, even the most brilliant incentive travel planner does have to occasionally depend on others. It never fails to fascinate me how you can be so absolutely organized and the moment you have to depend on someone else everything falls apart. Better to learn right now in every "fairy tale" there are fire breathing dragons, evil witches and poisoned apples. Unfortunately you will have to slay the occasional dragon.
4. Remember: A planned trip is always appreciated. The really good news is that people generally like you to make their choices for them. With very few exceptions, most people welcome a planned menu. And those that do find faults were probably predisposed to finding them anyway. When problems do arise, you will be judged on how it is handled, not necessarily on the outcome.
For example, once when I was traveling from BWI to New Orleans (on Eastern Airlines), it was discovered that the airport would be closed indefinitely due to rain. Rerouted to Dallas, we sat with no good information for hours. What to do? Make it a party and a democracy of course. First, I got a private meeting room and stocked as many refreshments as possible. If your group has somewhere to congregate, they won't feel isolated. Second, get as much information as possible and tell it like it is. With the information now public, I set up a Democracy to decide how to proceed. Did we want to simply return to BWI? Have an adventure and see what happens (i.e. "ride it out" and let fate take over)?
A few took the opportunity to turn around. The remainder stayed, bonded and really got to know each other. When we were finally able to take off for NOLA, we had a really special and magical thing going.
The program was hugely successful because the participants had now experienced the unknown together. They had a personal experience, took a chance and succeeded. The participants spoke of that program for many years.
Risky Business
While you make all the choices and take all the chances, you also get the kudos and satisfaction. It's your choices, your chances, your successes. And i'’s the calculated chances you take that make each incentive travel program very much a living thing with its very own personality and the opportunity for unparalleled success. To me, that's totally worth the risk.
After 10 years as Sales Promotion Director for one company and 19 years as Sales Incentives Manager for another, INCENTIVE online columnist Brian Martenis is currently managing director of Boutique Incentive Travel, a division of Philidelphia-based Gil Travel. Brian brings to this company nearly 30 years of designing and implementing very successful incentive travel programs all over the world. Brian is passionate about every aspect of his programs and is often asked to write and speak about incentives, incentive travel and motivation.
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