Maritz and Synygy Team Up to Offer Comprehensive Cash/Noncash Programs November 18, 2009
By Donna M. Airoldi
In what seems to go against the wisdom of the incentive and reward industry—that noncash is always preferred to cash incentives for maximizing motivation—big players from each side, Maritz and Synygy, have partnered to develop total compensation solutions for their clients, from cash sales rewards to incentive programs and fulfillment of rewards and recognition programs.
“We always think we’re cash versus noncash, but it should be cash and noncash, with each serving a different role,” says Paula Godar, director of brand communications for Maritz. “We call cash compensation, and every sales force has commission and bonuses. No one in our industry has thought that should go away. But noncash grabs attention and emotions, and it helps people set goals and perform in ways they may not have done for just their cash compensation. Synygy is very aware that travel and merchandise really capture the imagination of sales people and are a key part of performance improvement.”
In fact, the St. Louis-based sales and marketing services provider has been working with Synygy, a sales performance management (SPM) software and services company based in Chester, Pa., on an informal basis since 2002.
“The relationship is now more formal,” says Ken Bjorkelo, Synygy’s regional vice president. “We’ve worked with Maritz on the underlying metrics of noncash payments being made, but handed off the results to them, and others to fulfill those noncash rewards. We’ve found that in general our clients are now looking for more of that integrated approach between cash and noncash compensation.”
Each companies’ sales teams will be educated on the others’ products and services, and will be more deliberate about offering the joint capabilities to clients, says Godar who added that a couple clients have used the joint services so far and have been happy with having the system that runs its cash compensation programs feed the noncash program.
“They’re very complimentary services,” says Godar. “We can share some of the same points tracking systems, and clients get the dual use of how they track sales compensation. Where [the partnership] really works is places where clients are already using Synygy software to track programs. We can connect and use the same system to give us data to know when to issue award points and who’s in the lead for travel program.”
Agrees Bjorkelo, “The cash and noncash rewards typically rely on the same data. In situations where Maritz may have gone in separately from us, the client has to provide the same sales data to us, having two sets of calculations working on the same data. We’re now able to bring efficiencies to the data and have a single points system and calculation of results. This can save money, create efficiencies and reduce errors in calculations.”
Both also agree that another big benefit for clients is the ability to offer more unified and strategic compensation solutions. “Account managers can now discuss whether a desired outcome is better served by cash compensation or if it needs a noncash highlight,” says Godar. “They’re getting the benefit of shared expertise.”
Incentive/IMRA Sales Excellence Awards Winners Announced Incentive magazine announced the winners of its 15th annual Sales Excellence Awards earlier this week, celebrating the best and most successful independent representative firms in the industry.
U.S. Travel Association Forms Meetings, Incentives, Trade Show Council The U.S. Travel Association has created a new board member council that will build a proactive meetings and incentives research, communications, government relations and promotion agenda, it announced yesterday.
President Signs Travel Promotion Act President Barack Obama today signed the Travel Promotion Act into law, creating the public-private Corporation for Travel Promotion tasked with marketing America as a tourism destination around the globe.
INCENTIVE HIGHLIGHTS
INCENTIVE NEWSLETTER
Get up-to-date coverage on the latest on industry news, travel, and merchandise!
RSS
