Incentive Rep Profile: IncentiveSource Balances Needs of Brands and Buyers
Established 1998 in Saint Louis, Incentive Source has steadily grown, with the addition of a Kansas City office shortly thereafter and with the later addition of offices in Chicago, Cincinnati, and Seattle. The company has customer service hubs in Colorado, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa to service all time zones, according to the company’s founder, Mark Wunderlich.
Mark Wunderlich, IncentiveSource Founder, is optimistic about the Incentive, Rewards, and Recognition (IRR) business, despite the looming recession. “The opportunities in the incentive space keep growing as we navigate the post-pandemic environment. With the labor shortage, the
value of employee incentive programs and benefits is going to more important than ever. The emergence of employee retention programs has become a significant part of our business, and we only expect that to grow. Historically, recessions drive corporations to increase their budgets and interest in sales incentive programs to help drive their business.”
Wunderlich says “his company welcomes calls from any business or organization seeking to purchase brands for engagement, incentive, recognition, loyalty,
corporate gifting, event, casino and amenity programs." We offer the best brand names for every major product category, everything from brand name watches, electronics, tools, cookware, food gifts and everything in between,” among them Citizen Watch America brands, including Bulova and its other lines.The company’s primary mission, he says, is explained in its tag line: “Representing the Manufacturer, Serving the Motivation Industry.” “What this means is IncentiveSource educates our customers specifically on the incentive marketplace and on all aspects of our brands, products and capabilities to maximize their sales and customer satisfaction. We also take the approach that we work for and represent our brands, but we also work for and represent our customers. This gives a unique positive experience to both our brands and customers.”
IncentiveSource, he says, “supports incentive houses, onsite event management companies, promotional products distributors, destination management companies, corporate travel agencies and advertising agencies just to name a few. We are involved in all kinds of programs ranging from casino programs, sales and channel incentive programs, individual experiential incentive travel, corporate gifting programs for customer and employees as well as travel amenity programs. We also have multiple suppliers that offer decorated products, so we get involved in a variety of logo product programs and promotions. Our job is to be brand-name merchandise experts for our clients and be the best possible brand ambassadors for the brands we represent.”
According to Wunderlich, “The single biggest change in the last few years (since the beginning of the pandemic) is the availability of some products. In the good old days (pre-pandemic), we just knew that most products were available, and we did not even need to check with the supplier before making a sale. Now, we must check product availability before quoting just about every project. Lead times have also changed drastically for larger orders. Lead times used to be 90-120 days; some were as low as 60 days. Now some lead times are six months to a year in the case of some products. This impacts our customers greatly. Representatives like IncentiveSource not only have to spend a lot of time tracking down products, but we also must help shift the mindset of our buyers and their customers to plan much further out than they have in the past.”
For More Information
Mark Wunderlich
Founder
IncentiveSource
Markw@Incentivesource.com
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Education, Certifications, and Information to Activate
Brand Media and Enterprise Engagement
A complete learning, certification, and information program and a course syllabus for educators.
Resources: The Brand Media Coalition, the only guide to the story-telling power of brands and where to source them for business, event, promotional gifting, and rewards and recognition. Enterprise Engagement Solution Provider Directory. The only directory of engagement solution providers covering all types of agencies and tactics as well as insights on how to select them.
Communities: The Enterprise Engagement Alliance and Advocate and the Brand Media Coalition free resource centers offering access to the latest research, news, and case studies; discounts, promotions, referrals, and commissions, when appropriate to third-party solution providers from participating coalition solution provider members.
Training and Certification
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Education: Certified Engagement Practitioner; Advanced Engaged Practitioner, and Certified Engagement Solution Provider learning and certification programs on how to implement Stakeholder Capitalism principles at the tactical level.
International Center for Enterprise Engagement: The only training and certification program for ISO 30414 human capital reporting and ISO 10018 quality people management certification.
The EEA offers a complimentary course syllabus for educators.
In Print:
This is the definitive implementation guide to Stakeholder Capitalism, written specifically to provide CEOs and their leadership teams a concise overview of the framework, economics, and implementation process of a CEO-led strategic and systematic approach to achieving success through people. (123 pages, $15.99)
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Online:
10-minute short course: click here for a 10-minute introduction to Enterprise Engagement and ISO standards from the Coggno.com learning platform.
Services:
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• C-Suite Advisory Service—Education of boards, investors, and C-suite executives on the economics, framework, and implementation processes of Enterprise Engagement.
• Speakers Bureau—Select the right speaker on any aspect of engagement for your next event.
• Mergers and Acquisitions. The Engagement Agency’s Mergers and Acquisition group is aware of multiple companies seeking to purchase firms in the engagement field. Contact Michael Mazer in confidence if your company is potentially for sale at 303-320-3777.
Enterprise Engagement Benchmark Tools: The Enterprise Engagement Alliance offers three tools to help organizations profit from Engagement. Click here to access the tools.
• ROI of Engagement Calculator. Use this tool to determine the potential return-on-investment of an engagement strategy.
• EE Benchmark Indicator. Confidentially benchmark your organization’s Enterprise Engagement practices against organizations and best practices.
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• Gauge Your Personal Level of Engagement. This survey, donated by Horsepower, enables individuals to gauge their own personal levels of engagement.
For more information, contact Bruce Bolger at Bolger@TheEEA.org, 914-591-7600, ext. 230.
