THE CHALLENGE
A couple of months ago, we were approached by a client who runs a sales incentive every year. Typically it is a 3 night, 4 day program with 80 attendees from around Europe. The qualifying period runs the year prior and the trip happens the following June. So far, so normal.
Except this year, as we know has been anything but normal. The least normal of normal.
However the challenge remains. The 80 people who worked so hard in 2019 that they won a place on the 2020 trip still worked incredibly hard. They still deserve to be rewarded. They still succeeded where others did not. A company is nothing without its integrity and if it removes a reward for results, then employees begin to lose faith and trust in the leaders of that business. Therefore our client knew that a type of incentive trip was essential even if it is nothing like ‘normal’.
So we thought about it and realised that the issue wasn’t that people couldn’t have experiences. It was that they couldn’t travel internationally to have these experiences. Almost every country was able to do an activity locally, and the winners were desperate to get out and do something (anything other than look at the four walls of their spare room any longer!)
And so, we shared an alternative suggestion on how to ensure the winners of the sales challenge could still be rewarded for their efforts and have a memorable experience.
TOGETHER. SEPARATELY.
We wanted to come up with an option that includes some of the elements from the initial programme, without needing to travel far. This option will take place over one day and includes a business update, the activity and an evening meal.
The day would start with a business update. Think short sessions, punchy content. TED talk length. This business update needs to feel special to the winners. News, only they will hear. Or a keynote with an inspirational message to start the day off. Remember to incorporate icebreakers, games, quizzes or a scavenger hunt so the winners are excited and bonded together for the day.
When business is over, a car service is waiting for the winner and their guest. The great thing about the “Together. Separately” concept is that partners can join and share in this reward, and so not only do the winners feel part of the bigger group they are also get to share the experience with their family. If they have kids, why not hire them a babysitter to make it really special. Once in the car, they will find out the activity they are about to do. To ensure a shared experience, each winner will be doing the same experience but in their local area. Whether this is a hot air balloon ride, a spa retreat, a helicopter ride, it doesn’t matter, the key is that they are all doing the same activity, together, but separately.
Once the winners and their guest have returned from their activity in the afternoon, a hamper will be delivered for their dinner and drinks that evening. During the evening, the winners and partners can drink, dine and celebrate together via the digital platform. To make the evening more interesting (and ensure engagement is reached), we bring in some evening entertainment such as another inspirational keynote speaker, digital magicians, music, comedy. For this element in the evening, we would suggest going ‘live’ and we can manage the video feeds to ensure a seamless evening and encourage interaction. It is a great opportunity to bring the group together.
An enhancement to this special event would be that the winners are given a multi-day experience with a hotel stay and an itinerary that matches the other participants, with award dinners, functions and updates together, but experiences and hotels apart. There really is no limit to how special we can make this event.
FINALLY…
Now, of course this approach takes more work, more preparation and involves more moving parts, but here at Lemon Lane we love this type of challenge, and thrive on the idea of doing something differently. And maybe it isn’t climbing a glacier in Alaska or yachting in Croatia but we guarantee that these winners will appreciate the effort and the experience just as much.
After all, this pandemic is not going away quickly, and so kick-starting our business by rewarding our people is how we ensure that we come out stronger from the other side of the pandemic.
If you want to incentivise and reward your staff then contact the team who would be happy to come up with a bespoke and new approach to running your event, in this least normal of normal times.
