Sports Buzz

“Salespeople love competition,” says Duane Penner, VP of corporate sales with Roadtrips Incentive, “so naturally, sports generate a lot of water cooler discussion. People want to go to the high-profile events, but they often don’t know how to get tickets or handle the logistics. So when you announce that this year’s top 10 sales performers are all going to the Super Bowl, excitement begins to build immediately.”

Roadtrips creates both individual and group incentives, with the emphasis on sports travel experiences and fast cars. Some programs, like the ProSPORT Getaway Travel Award, are standing products that can be pulled off the shelf and are thus relatively cost-effective. (Some begin as low as $259.) The Getaway Award provides two tickets to any game in North America, from basketball to hockey, and an overnight stay in the destination city. Penner believes the program’s popularity is tied to the fact that companies don’t have to guess what sport will most inspire the incentive winner or wonder what his favorite team is. Each winner gets to choose his game, so if Ernie loves the Pistons and Susan roots for the Braves, it’s not a problem.

The more elaborate incentive programs are further customized. Companies can simply give Roadtrips their theme, budget, and the time of year they wish to schedule their event for and let the incentive team come back to them with ideas. “If you want to take a group to the Final Four or the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, we can do it,” says Penner.

Incentives can also extend over time with multiple destinations and levels of winners. Roadtrips just wrapped up a year-long incentive program with a Fortune 10 company that wanted to develop their business with overseas partners. The theme was racing, and the top-level winners attended a series of premiere international racing events from the Australian Grand Prix to the Indy 500. Winners were flown around the world, lodged in 5-star hotels, served the best food in town, and even given spending money.

Quarterly winners at the next level down – if you can call this down – won the Porsche Driving Experience in central Europe. “This isn’t a racing school,” says Penner, who waxes euphoric on the subject. “It’s the chance to get behind the wheel of one of the world’s classic cars, driving the winding Black Forest roads of Germany – or to break out for a little fun on the Autobahn. Did you know that portions of it have no speed limit?”

Individual drivers met up for lunches at castles along the way (with branded and customized menus, of course) before tucking into luxury hotels. “This event has broad appeal,” says Penner. “You’d enjoy driving these roads in a Ford Escort, but when you have the top down on a Porsche, it’s incredible.” Prizes for third-tier winners also had a racing theme, such as jackets, prints and auto accessories.

Not only does the very mention of big-time sporting events fire up a sales staff, but there’s another payoff to using a company like Roadtrips Incentives: the long afterglow from the reward. “You get major memories on the back end,” says Penner. Participants might be given something like a framed print of Shaq slamming it home or Tiger tapping it in, along with the participant’s name and the date of the event. “It hangs on their wall after they’re back in the office,” Penner says. “So for years afterward the sales winner can look at it and think, ‘Everyone in the world wanted to be there at that moment, but I was one of the few who actually was.’”

For information on the range of events Roadtrips Incentives offers, visit www.roadtrips.com or call 1-800-465-1765.