BASE FEES ON RESULTS
To the Editor,
The statement in your December editorial: “Incentives have never been considered a valid business tool — until now” is not accurate. Our company is paid based on the ROI of our incentive programs — and that has been our practice for the past 14 years. It's our mission to change the way incentive companies are paid. We support that they be paid for the incremental improvements they add, in measurable financial terms, for customers. Incentive firms that focus their efforts on just obtaining better prices offer no real value.
Bob Dawson, CITE, managing director
The Business Group Inc., Rocklin, Calif.
EMPIRICAL PROOF
To the Editor,
Thanks for your coverage of the People Performance Forum. I am more excited about the Forum than anything I've been involved in since the formation of SITE. It's invigorating to play a role in an initiative that has the potential to do so much good — not just for those of us in the industry, but for corporations around the world.
By proving direct connections between integrated, people-focused programs and bottom-line results, we can provide the scientific data that is needed to shape senior management attitudes about the return on human capital investment. As the years roll by, I expect that we will prove many of the things empirically that we now only feel intuitively.
Jim Dittman, president
Dittman Incentive Marketing, Edison, N.J.
NO COMPARISON
To the Editor,
Thanks for a good article showing that many users of incentive travel have not lost sight of its benefits (December CMI). I am concerned, however, that it suggests there may be a link between incentive marketing techniques and corporate excess. Incentive rewards are earned by those who make a major contribution to their company. That's not even remotely in the same category as hosting a multimillion-dollar birthday party for the boss' wife or paying for exorbitant perks for CEOs of dying companies.
Bob Vitagliano, CITE V Associates
Wilmington, N.C.
