Being Neutral

Getting the straight dope on producer opinions liberated OneAmerica's decision-making. “We used to assume and debate about what people wanted,” Lauber says. “Now we have hard data on which to base our decisions. I can go to the CEO with facts — I am now neutral. That's important in mergers where people may be stuck in traditional programs.”

Use of the tool is ongoing. “Right now the younger generation wants family-focused conferences while the older generation wants to go with their spouses to Europe and stay in a five-star hotel,” Lauber says. “We'll have to keep surveying them because things change. Information from the Travel Insight program will allow us to continually evaluate and make decisions on destinations and agendas.”

Decisions currently on the table include possibly shortening the qualification period for the company's two incentives, and including families more often.

An End in Itself

OneAmerica's most recent annual report opens with one page devoted to a single quotation: “A relationship is more than a means to an end. It's the whole point.” Meant as a reference to OneAmerica's relationships with its producers and customers, it's apt commentary on the concept of incentive conferences as well. “We want to build relationships with producers,” Lauber says. “An incentive program lets us get to know them, and we want them to know us.”

And more of them will get to know OneAmerica if, as seems likely, the number of qualifiers continues to increase. “We have seen record sales overall, which are driven, in part, by the top producers who qualify for our incentive programs,” Lauber notes. “Because these changes are so recent, we are still in the process of measuring the sales for attendees of our incentive programs. But what makes this success so remarkable is that we can look at raising the qualifying levels for our incentive programs to better meet the needs of the business and our producers, based on the data we have received.”

Producers Weigh In

A sample page from Maritz's Travel Insight survey: Respondents weigh different incentive program designs, giving senior management and meeting planners hard data to back up program decisions.

Tomorrow's Incentive: Are You Ready to Be This Family-Friendly?

“One conflict we see bubbling up in companies is the question of whether incentive conferences should be viewed as reward and recognition trips or family vacations,” says Chris Gaia, vice president, marketing, at Maritz Travel. “These are very different things. Folks under 40 really see these more as vacation opportunities.”

Gaia has two clients taking that trend seriously: Their qualifiers are happily booked into condos instead of hotel rooms. “These companies are saying, ‘If I can provide them a family vacation they can't do on their own and I'll get higher achievement from them, I might as well embrace it.”