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Incentive Insider Newsletter | July 2015

by | Jul 20, 2015 | Employee Engagement, Incentive Solutions, Online Technology

June, 2015

Happy 21st Birthday!

May marked Incentive Solutions’ 21st year in the business! To celebrate, we threw a festive Cinco de Mayo-themed party, complete with Mexican food, piñata-popping good times, and our own version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey: Pin the Tie on Romeo (our company mascot).
We’re proud to say that our hard work and serious playtime have kept us in the incentive game for over two decades. In that time, we’ve learned the importance of celebrating milestones together to remind employees that we all play a role in our organization’s success. Our upbeat, can-do company culture is what led us through exciting developments like the acquisition of Loyaltyworks in 2009, and challenging conditions like the recent recession. We’ve excelled and persevered because we are an innovative and motivated team. These are the qualities that led us to be recognized as Atlanta’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For three years in a row. As we move into the next, exciting stages of our organization’s development, we plan to spearhead innovations in text communication and gamification, making our incentive programs even more engaging!

The 2015 BthruB Summit Location Will Be… (Drumroll, Please)

… Barnsley Gardens in Adairsville, GA! The Barnsley Garden Resort is known for its verdant golf courses, clay shooting, spa services, fishing, and horseback riding, as well as fabulous dining made from local, farm-grazed cattle and produce grown in on-site gardens. The BthruB Summit will be held on October 4th-6th

Incentive Raconteur Steve Damerow Hosts His Own Radio Show—Be His Next Guest!

Steve Damerow is now hosting a regular talk radio podcasts on Business Radio X, the second-highest news radio show, after Bloomberg. Sit down with Steve and discuss perspectives on business, best industry practices, sales channel strategies, and incentives.
In the first podcast, Steve talked with three of our clients: Gary Childress, National Sales Manager at Honda Marine; Lawrence Constantine, Director of Sales & Marketing-Americas for Saint-Gobain Solar Gard; and Mike Smith, Senior Marketing Manager at Mitsubishi Electric. In their discussion, they covered topics like distributor relationships, how their companies go to market, how the financial meltdown impacted their industries, common challenges they face, influencing consumers and contractors, and creating and building thriving company cultures. Contact us if you would like to make an appearance on Steve’s next show. We love sharing industry ideas and helping you market your products and services!
Refer Us New Business and We’ll Reward You with a Free Mobile App!
Loyaltyworks and Incentive Solutions are offering a free Mobile App module($7,500 value) for referring new business! The Mobile App module is designed to increase participation in your incentive program by making the program even more convenient and fun to access, from a sales validation and product training standpoint as well as for instant reward fulfillment. You can help out your friends or B2B partners by encouraging them to sign up for an incentive program, then enjoy the benefits of your engaging new Mobile App, which includes:
  • Enrollment: new users can register onto your incentive program.
  • Push Notification: clients can keep up with goals, new promotions, and acquired points.
  • Saved Logins: participants don’t have to log into the system with every use.
  • Profile: users can access and update their personal information.
  • Contact Us: access instant technical support.
  • Quick Points: users can access their On-the-Spot awards, or input them instantly.
  • Performance Tracking: participants can keep up with their progress and achievements.
  • Shopping: a full catalog of all items, travel opportunities, and events users can redeem their points for.
Our business grows with the referrals you send our way and your business can benefit from the innovations (like the Mobile App module) we can offer to enhance your incentive program. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about the giveaway or if you’d like to refer new business!* The Mobile App Giveaway will cover the module set-up cost, of $7,500 value. Monthly maintenance fees will still apply. Referrals must lead to closed accounts for the module giveaway to be valid. Referrals can come from within your company, your distribution channel partners, or any other acquaintance whose business could benefit from an incentive reward program.
Passport Points Now Available Through Our Mobile App!
In order to continue improving your experience with us and make your reward programs easier to access, we’re happy to announce that Passport Points is now available through a mobile app! Using the app, you can:

  • Input Quick Points
  • Shop the rewards mall
  • View your point history
Leader Board – Are You Ready for Great New Features?

Get ready for phase two of our Leader Board module enhancement! The Leader Board module ranks participants based on their reward point accumulation, allowing for friendly contests among salespeople. During phase one, the Leader Board was a static module in which administrators could build tables with ranking information. It was necessary to manually update all point and ranking information. Thanks to a few simple enhancements, now the Leader Board can automatically update participants’ points-based ranking. Administrators can customize the ranking display based on these four criteria: timeframes, how frequently the table updates, point awards, rank by (largest total points, largest average, etc.). Displayed columns include:

1. Score7. Invitation ID
2. Full name8. Organization code
3. First name9. Organization name
4. Last name10. Email
5. Job title11. Company name
6. Ranking12. Avatar
Administrators can still manually update the Leader Board so that the ranking is based on factors other than points (bonuses, amount of new business sold, etc.). Contact your Account Manager today to learn more.
Star Employee of The Quarter – Alexis Oubre
Alexis Oubre is starting the year’s second quarter with a bang. She was just promoted to Associate Account Manager and she was voted our Star Employee of the Quarter! When Alexis joined our company in September 2014, it was her first real “big girl” job coming out of college, and she has already made an outstanding name for herself.
Along with her day-to-day customer service duties, Alexis has worked with accounts and clients to ensure their incentive programs are running effectively. She also worked with our Account Managers in presenting ideas to clients to improve their programs. The Account Coordinator team was impressed with her aptitude in helping streamline processes to bump up efficiency. She has also demonstrated her skills and dedication in writing blogs for marketing, assisting with communication campaigns, and helping organize corporate events put on by the care committee. With her promotion, Alexis will move out of customer service and into managing her own clients’ reward programs. We are excited about her achievements and we’re positive that her future with us will be paved with even more success!
The Incentive Solutions Group of companies:
  • Established 1994
  • Group Travel Incentives
  • Online Reward Programs
  • Debit and Gift Card Reward Programs
  • Established 1976
  • Online Reward Programs
Mattie Logan – A Rising Star
Join us in a round of applause for Associate Account Manager, Mattie Logan! Mattie recently graced the cover of The Course, a publication by the College of Continuing and Professional Education (CCPE), and earned the coveted feature story: “Coordination Domination.” Mattie received her Meeting & Event Management certificate through Kennesaw State University’s CCPE program. Through the program, Logan was trained in writing proposals, creating websites, developing budgets, performing site inspections and booking transfers—all skills that she uses daily in her Associate Account Manager role. Now she is a seasoned meeting and event planner, well-versed in contract negotiations, with trips to Germany, Costa Rica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic under her belt. Congrats, Mattie, and thank you for being such a valuable asset to the company!
New Hires:
Ryan Horton We would like to welcome Ryan Horton back to the company! Ryan had to leave us in early 2014, unfortunately, but we are delighted to have him back on board in the position of Participant Services Coordinator. Ryan’s history with us goes back to 2007, when he started out as a Customer Service Representative. Shortly afterward, as our online reward technology gained popularity, Ryan moved into the position of Merchandise Specialist, and was soon promoted in 2013 to Redemption Supervisor. Ryan is now working with the Account Management team as a Participant Services Coordinator, allowing him to utilize his greatest professional strength: providing top-notch service. He’s returned renewed and rejuvenated, and it’s great to have him back!
Katie Renkes Our clients have spoken, and we have listened! In order to better serve you and help you create the marketing plans your incentive programs need in order to be more successful, we have created the Marketing Project Manager position. It has been quite a challenge finding someone experienced and versatile enough for this role, but as soon as Katie walked through our doors, she greatly impressed everyone in the office with her stellar attitude, previous experience, curiosity and preparedness. We have no doubt she will be a tremendous asset in helping you grow your incentive programs by improving client communications. Good luck to Katie in her exciting new position!
Promotions:
Carrie Kordys Participant Services Supervisor
Carrie demonstrated acute attention and care for customer service as our Account Coordinator Team Lead. The decision to promote her to Participant Services Supervisor was based on how the outstanding advice and guidance she’s given to our Account Coordinator team, proving how much she cares about customers receiving and enjoying their rewards. Her supervisor, Director of Account Management Mandy Freeman, says, “She’s a good leader, organized, with a great customer service vision. Her proactive, dedicated and caring approach to customer service made her an excellent fit for her new role.” Congratulations, Carrie! We know you will continue to shine bright in your new position.
Alexis Oubre Associate Account Manager
Alexis joined our group of companies in September 2014, as an Account Coordinator. In this short time, she has made an outstanding impression on everyone. She quickly gained a reputation for always giving 110%, demonstrating commitment, and seeking ways to do things better. Promoting her to Associate Account Manager was an easy decision. Mandy Freeman says, “She always blows her Service Level Agreement and quantitative goal measurements out of the water. She’s efficient and she’s a fast learner.” Great going, Alexis, and best of luck to you in your new role!
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<strong>About </strong>Nichole Gunn

About Nichole Gunn

Nichole Gunn is the VP of Marketing at Incentive Solutions, an Atlanta-based incentive company that delivers advanced, agile B2B customer loyalty and channel sales incentives programs.

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