What is the value of including incentive travel in your corporate sales strategy? Is it just another cost of doing business? A headache to plan, organize and operate? Or is it a strategic investment in growing talent and profits? Depending upon your perspective, it could be all of these things.
Travel has been and continues to be the ultimate incentive. Since the 1980s, incentive travel programs have been inspiring teams and increasing sales productivity. Working towards winning a fabulous travel experience motivates, increases morale and inspires innovation in the workplace. These things combined increase sales and improve productivity.
Well-designed and well-executed incentive travel programs can increase sales productivity by 18 percent and produce an ROI of up to 112 percent.
Travel creates global experiences and memories that will last a lifetime, and that has a double impact – the actual experience and later, the memory of time away. Other incentives, such as cash, only motivate the employee in the short term. Travel and experiences tap directly into the human instinct to escape from everyday life and explore new places.
Here are a few more reasons why incentive travel programs should be a part of an employee recognition program:
EMPLOYEES LOOK FORWARD TO IT
Travel incentives are something that employees can get excited about. When a group of top performers are selected to visit a dream destination, they leave the office boundaries and build relationships with colleagues through shared experiences.
EXPERIENCES OVER MATERIALISM
Incentive travel programs create memories that will last for a lifetime. Research shows that pleasurable experiences are a bigger part of identity than possessions in creating happiness. In addition, traveling to a unique destination with fellow colleagues reinforces how deeply a company appreciates the achievements of its top performers.
PEOPLE VALUE CONNECTIVITY MORE
Considering the amount of time people have spent in their homes due to the pandemic, connectivity is something that people are craving. Face-to-face interactions between colleagues through shared experiences strengthens bonds and opens lines of communication.
For more than 20 years, Ascent Performance Group has designed and delivered once-in-a-lifetime group travel experiences and highly engaging events to a wide variety of corporate clients and sponsoring organizations. Let’s talk about how incentives can motivate your team today.