Report From RPI Conference: Sell Solutions, Not Products
Want to sell more rewards and recognition programs? Here's a tip gleaned from the Recognition Professionals International conference, taking place in Las Vegas this week: Help clients design the programs and you'll win their long-term business. So said Christine Duffy, president & CEO of Maritz Travel, and the keynoter at the conference, which opened Sunday night. "What our clients need is more and more people sitting at the table asking them, 'What is your business objective?'” Duffy told the crowd of about 200. Distributors selling recognition products "need to move away from product procurement and more toward conversations about solutions," she said.

Indeed, in a handful of sessions on Monday, recognition professionals at several large companies referred to all of the ways for distributors to get involved in their programs beyond simply selling a few plaques or rewards. As an example, Amy Hurley, director of recognition at the Ohio State University Medical Center, a company that employs more than 17,000 people, recently took audience members through a retooling of the organization's recognition program. First, the company rebranded the program, which originally consisted of several old programs that all had different names. To communicate the new name, Duffy says the medical center passed out buttons, pens, balloons, and even logoed cookies, to spread the word about the new program. "You couldn't walk anywhere in the center without seeing our new logo," she said.

Within the new program itself, Duffy said, the company used a number of different promotional products. For example, an on-the-spot recognition program utilized stickers that peers could put on one another's badges to thank them for exhibiting a positive behavior. The company even gave out promotional products during training sessions that schooled managers on how to reward employees under the new program.