Executives Essentials Ready for More Focus on Rewards Experience
Although part of a 70-year-old company, Executive Essentials reflects a major change in the rewards & recognition business over the last decade that will continue if organizations follow the research on how to best utilize rewards and recognition to inspire their people. The corporate division of a 70-year-old travel, leather goods, fine pen and gift company outlet known as Irv’s Luggage, Executive Essentials is a Master Fulfillment Company that leverages its parent company’s long history and container-scale buying power to bring highly personalized and customized top-tier travel and corporate gift brands to the corporate market.
“Executive Essentials works with incentive, recognition, promotional products and loyalty companies to create high-impact reward and gift programs,” explains David Wein, President, who runs the company with his brother Philip Wein and sister Renee Silverman. “We have the expertise to help our clients achieve better results for their clients and to improve profit margins and sales by guiding them to the right product categories and brands for their audience and budget.”
Wein adds that his company knows how to create unique gifts and rewards by bundling gift sets and providing product options that enhance programs, “whether they’re for customers, distribution partners, sales, or non-sales employees.” Executive Essentials, he points out, provides a wide array of products, such as luggage, briefcases and pens, which can be personalized with engraving, monogramming and gift-wrapping. “Travel, business and gift categories are a significant part of what we can offer,” Wein notes. “Those categories include luggage, laptop bags, leather goods, handbags, backpacks, travel accessories and fine writing instruments for every generation. Our top-tier fine pen brands include Mont Blanc, Montegrappa, Waterman, Parker, Retro 51, and Namiki. Our higher-line luggage brands include Briggs & Riley, Jump, Travelpro, Hartmann and Brics. Additional premium brands include The North Face, Kenneth Cole, Victorinox, Bosca and more. We can offer over 300 brands covering an impressive product assortment.”
Wein believes that the reward experience is what counts. “Executive Essentials has been successful building long-term relationships by earning the trust of our customers,” he says. “We consistently deliver a quality product, with the proper presentation, competitively priced and on schedule every time. We can bundle unique gift sets…make events more meaningful by providing a personal touch to the gifts. We are good at assembling high-impact eye-catching combinations.”
Because Executive Essentials is the division of a retail company, Wein believes that companies assume his products cost more. Not so. “Our costs are often below wholesale,” he says. “It’s a misnomer to think you’re necessarily getting the best price if you’re buying directly from the manufacturer, because companies like ours get the lowest prices because of our buying power.”
He says that the company’s 40,000-square-foot warehouse is fully stocked, “offering the most competitive prices on a large variety of product, from name-brand to the company’s own private label brands. We provide deep discounts on high volume orders and work with each client to get them within their budget. And because we have the product in stock, we ship quickly.” To prove his point on pricing, Wein says one of the parent company’s largest online distribution outlets is through Amazon.com. “We’re 99% positive-rated sellers with over 40,000 reviews,” he notes. Wein adds that the company has a complete department for decorating items including monogramming, embossing and that about a 50% of the firm’s bulk orders request personalization or customization. “Some clients do understand the importance of the reward experience but don’t have the lead time to do it right.” His company also can provide direct product feeds into incentive, loyalty and recognition catalogs.
“What we have to offer is staff who have been here for 20 to 30 years and who have tremendous experience,” Wein explains. “We’ve seen it all, so we won’t let a client make a mistake in regard to how to customize a product. We can direct them to the right brands at the right price range to facilitate the statement they wish to make with their audience. It takes a lot of expertise to help clients, whether they’re in the budget for a $3,500 pen or a $35 pen.”
Wein says he’s excited about the research proving what he claims he has known all along: “Too often, not enough thought is put into the selection, presentation and customization of a reward or gift. Gifts have become a commodity, when in fact how to thank or recognize someone is one of the most important decisions one can make in a business relationship. It’s important to get the word out there about the research so that organizations can achieve the most meaningful impact from their programs.”
Contact:
David Wein
President
Irv's Luggage / Executive Essentials
847-952-7661
