PFI Updates Web Site Story to Emphasize Enterprise Engagement Capabilities
The Logic of Enterprise Engagement: Harmonized Interests, Lower Costs, Enhanced Impact Measurement
A Cutting-Edge Distribution Model
Click here for EEA sponsors; here to subscribe to RRN, and here for a media kit.
The 93-year-old Partners for Incentives, Cleveland, has updated its web site story to focus on its ability to engage all stakeholders on a single, low-cost enterprise engagement technology platform supported by a team of veteran design experts. Explains Mary Anne Comotto, CEO, “For over 25 years, we have been helping organizations engage sales and non-sales employees, channel partners, and customers with a highly configurable technology platform supported by five veteran program designers who have probably seen it all. It’s time to tell that story.”
Founded in 1932 as Schaffer Partners, the company originally supplied gifting programs to retailers for loyalty programs. It quickly moved into trading stamps. Then, in the late 1950s, it began a service to develop sales incentive programs through a new Promotions for Industry division. In 1989, it became what Comotto believes was the first company in the industry to focus on selling only through third-party distribution partners, including promotional products distributors, marketing firms, and human resources advisory firms, renaming itself Partners for Incentives. When Comotto purchased the company in 2002, she preserved the name and business strategy, making it one of the first woman-owned incentive companies.
The Logic of Enterprise Engagement: Harmonized Interests, Lower Costs, Enhanced Measurement
Today, she says, over 1,500 solution partners come to her company annually on behalf of clients large and small seeking incentive, recognition, loyalty and
related programs for sales and non-sales employees, customers, distribution partners and other stakeholders. “Why should organizations require different support services and technologies for each type of stakeholder, when we are uniquely qualified to help with any stakeholder audience. Clients can test us with one program, see how it works, and expand from there. Using one platform for all engagement programs not only saves money, but makes it much easier to maintain consistent messaging, branding, and features while providing powerful analytics capabilities across the organization,” she observes.“Given that organizations are continually striving for greater efficiency and their need to get everyone on the same page, an enterprise approach to stakeholder engagement just makes sense over having multiple technologies and vendors not even talking with one another.”
According to Comotto, PFI’s enterprise engagement technology is configurable to support any audience and business rules. “We have programs running to support any stakeholder audience you can imagine, including consumer promotions, sales and channel contests, employee recognition and engagement, including wellness, safety, and even customized modules for the trucking industry to promote better fuel consumption. Why should any organization need to use three different platforms and solutions?”
She adds, “Our enterprise engagement platform supports communications, learning and gamification, surveys and quizzes, engagement surveys, along with reports based on just about any data that is tracked, even across multiple stakeholders.”
The front-end enterprise engagement program management program, she explains, seamlessly links to its full-service Awardlink catalog, featuring over 8,000 in-stock products from leading brands, along with travel experiences, online travel booking, white-label gift card redemption platforms featuring select brands, or ordinary retail gift cards. The platform supports instant and event gifting, plateau programs, customized redemption portals with carefully curated items, all with a business model that provides a compelling value for clients along with margins for solution providers, she adds.
A Cutting-Edge Distribution Model
Comotto believes her company’s 36-year commitment to selling through distribution partners even pre-dates the distribution model used by companies like Salesforce and Hubspot, which didn't exist when her company developed this model. “We were probably the first full-service incentive company committed to selling through distribution partners and today are probably among the largest of the few master fulfillment companies selling full-service incentive and recognition technology platforms and services committed to this model. Now, in what I believe is another in a long history of innovation, we are positioning ourselves as the industry’s first enterprise engagement and services firm committed to helping our distribution partners take advantage of the enormous industry growth opportunities by supporting their clients’ enterprise stakeholder engagement needs.”
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services
Celebrating our 15th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:
1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:
ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009; click here for a media kit.
RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996; click here for a EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards insights and how-to information since 2020.
2. Learning: Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder
Management Academy to enhance future equity value and performance for your organization.3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.
5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.
6. Public speaking and meeting facilitation on stakeholder management. The world’s leading speakers on all aspects of stakeholder management across the enterprise.
