Moving to the Head of the Class

The Incentive Marketing Association has set its sights on increasing corporate America’s use of incentives to drive sales and employee retention — currently hovering somewhere around 40% of corporations using incentives.

One source of research on incentives is aiding that goal through a partnership with the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement at Northwestern University where the association is gaining access to important research it plans to package and report on as proof that incentives do work.

Cindy Mielke, the national sales manager for Staples Corporate Incentives, is currently the executive VP of IMA and director of education for the Incentive Gift Certificate Council, a sub-council of the IMA. She is poised to take over as president of IMA in January 2005. Mielke spoke recently about the association’s achievements in 2004, and the challenges that lie ahead.

PROMO: What key initiatives are IMA leaders working on?

MIELKE: This year, plans called for developing a strong member education program, which has not been as important to our association as a strong corporate outreach platform. Basically it equaled those two initiatives in importance. We developed 15 committees and task forces to support the initiatives.

PROMO: How is the IMA achieving these two goals?

MIELKE: We do this through our relationship with the Forum and through what Don Schultz [professor emeritus for Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern] is doing there. Don did for direct marketing what we hope he will do for incentive marketing. There really has been no education on how to create an incentive program so that it meets a company’s objectives and budget. Don and his group are working to create a curriculum that teaches people how to do that.

PROMO: The IMA raises money to support research on incentive programs at the Forum. What type of research is it doing and how will that be used?

MIELKE: Northwestern is just starting to do case studies and research to show that incentive programs work. As one of the founding members[of the Forum], this gives us access to the information to publish on our Web site and to distribute to our members for use in their communications to their clients and prospects and then we’ll be talking to the media, getting the message out about what we’re learning from the Forum.

Once we get enough support to show these programs really did work, we have to educate people about this. It’s our job to prove incentives work, and our members realize how important this initiative with the Forum is. Raising awareness in corporate America will increase the number from fewer than 40% of the companies running incentive to hopefully 90% because they have learned about the value of incentive programs. We’re nowhere near done, but we’re making great progress.

PROMO: What challenges does the association face?

MIELKE: The challenges facing IMA are tied directly to the challenges of the industry. It’s a challenge to stay ahead of what’s changing in the marketplace and to communicate those changes and stay responsive to the needs of our members.

We’re coming into a growth time now and as the economy is beginning to get stronger, I think employee recruitment and retention issues as well as driving sales will become more important than they have been in the last few years. Our challenge in ’05 will be to capitalize on those opportunities, to help those companies understand how incentives can be used in those programs and to be there to help our members capitalize on that growth opportunity.

A lot of employees that have been sitting tight will make moves and there may be some employees that companies are not going to want to lose but they haven’t had the ability to give them incentives, raises or promotions.

PROMO: What is at the top of IMA’s to-do list for 2005?

MIELKE: Strengthening our education of corporate America on the use of incentives, one of my hot buttons for next year. I would like to use our current Synergy in Action regional seminar series and incorporate a second section onto that which talks about some of the research coming out of the Forum in the fall and spring. We would like to strengthen that program and take that out to customers and prospects because right now it’s directed at members and it needs to be expanded.

Also, we have a Strategic Industry Group (SIG) within the IMA called the Performance Improvement Council (PIC) charged with creating incentive programs for companies to target under-performing groups to create a positive return. I look to PIC as a very important part of our overall association, but interestingly they are one of our smallest SIGs. Currently, their membership is limited by the bylaws. The more of them that are taking this message out, the more opportunities I have to place my products in incentive programs because there are more incentive programs being created. I hope to see growth in that category. It’s certainly something I’m going to be talking about.

PROMO: IMA expects about 10 individuals to receive the first certificates for its new Certified Professional of Incentive Management program this month. What benefits will this certification bring these individuals and the association?

MIELKE: As a member it raises the level of your professionalism in the eyes of your customers and prospects. It demonstrates that you understand not just the product you sell but the industry in which you sell, the business of incentive marketing. The designation sets you apart from the membership as a whole.

As for the association, it raises the awareness of the industry and it raises the level of professionalism with which people perceive our industry.

PROMO: IMA has created its first international council, IMA-Canada Council. What are the goals of the council?

MIELKE: Their purpose statement is to further the education of corporate Canada on the use of incentives and its industry practitioners, much like our mission statement, and to provide its members with a network of key contacts, resources and training to enhance their marketing effort. They are really taking a lot of what IMA in the U.S. is doing and applying it in the Canada marketplace.

In 2001, the most recent figures available, the Incentive Federation sized the non-cash U.S. incentive market at approximately $27 billion with roughly $17 billion spent on gift cards and merchandise with the rest spent on travel. The IMA, founded in 1999, has seen steady growth each year and now has about 550 members.