This trend may make your jobs more difficult--but it may also help you design incentive programs that will be effective into the 2000s, a new era with a new generation of qualifiers. The challenge: Make your group trip feel like an individual experience. Meet the new demand head on, while still realizing your company's most important goals: fostering company loyalty, building relationships between the home office and the field, getting top producers together for product education or other training, and creating the bonds between qualifiers (and their spouses or guests) that become part of the drive to win the trip again next time. Qualifiers, meanwhile, will find themselves in the midst of a completely new kind of trip, enjoying the camaraderie of the group along with itineraries built around their individual interests and preferences.
For example, bring everyone together for a reception and dinner on the first night, then accommodate the qualifier who prefers a quiet dinner with her spouse on the second night. Sponsor a golf tournament, then accommodate the qualifier who would prefer a rental car to spend the afternoon sightseeing with his family.
1. Caribbean/ Bahamas
2. Western Europe
3. Australia/New Zealand
4. Bermuda
5. Central Europe