Incentives & Logistics

By Enrique Burgos

After many years in the incentives and relationship marketing industry, one idea is fixed in my mind: It doesn't matter what the goal/strategy/rewards of your campaign or program is if you haven’t arranged and really organized all the logistics related to it.

I have been managing incentives campaigns since 2002 for international companies such as Toyota, GE, BP, Nestle, Kodak and Fujitsu-Siemens. The main obstacle in all these projects was logistics. You can prepare extraordinary strategies, new ways to communicate the program (e-mailing, SMS messages, newsletters), and the newest rewards at the incentive scheme, but ultimately the customer, employee or the participant in the program has to receive the reward. Finding the proper logistics partner is probably one of the most important decisions in any marketing action.

I have worked with several partners: logistics companies, marketing agencies with integrated logistics services, purchasing agents, and my conclusion is that there is one solution for each kind of project/company. You have to detect what will be your logistical needs for the related development, and after this analysis, you can select the appropriate partner. Sending gift cards to your sales force in several locations is not the same as managing reference gift catalogue for 150 participants located all over the country.

Finding the proper logistics partner is probably one of the most important decisions in any marketing action. I have worked with several partners: logistics companies, marketing agencies with integrated logistics services, purchasing agents, and my conclusion is that there is one solution for each kind of project/company. You have to detect what will be your logistical needs for the related development, and after this analysis, you can select the appropriate partner. Sending gift cards to your sales force in several locations is not the same as managing reference gift catalogue for 150 participants located all over the country.

Some key points to notice when you select the logistics partner:

• Experience in incentives
• Delivery options such as 24 hours or international
• Online package tracking
• Call center
• Warehouse capacity

Developing a successful incentive program is directly related with this partner choice. Of course you can’t ignore the conception of the right strategy to afford your objectives, designing the different ways to communicate the program, and the selection of rewards.

Finally one suggestion: Don’t try to do it yourself. You must trust the professionals. I have seen a lot of tragedies because someone thought they could can do it themselves. They created the opposite of a loyalty/incentive program: objectives without strategies, out of stock rewards, logistics troubles, and at the end irritate customers/employees, I label them as "the unincentived."

Enrique Burgos, is the relationship marketing manager of SEUR, a logistics company in Spain. Visit his blog at www.incentivesandrelationshipmarketing.blogspot.com.