Cost Control Strategies: Creating Memorable Sporting For Your Incentive Groups on a Budget

By Robert Tuchman, Tuchman Sports Enterprises

We all know these days most corporations are cutting back. Any unnecessary expenses are being nixed and often times this means fewer opportunities for company employees and incentives. As an incentive company, you need to reiterate the importance of keeping your clients’ rewards programs intact during tough times to continue to drive revenue. You don’t want them to lose their best and brightest to companies that have continued their incentive programs.

Robert Tuchman

There are ways to cut costs without anyone even noticing. We have a tech company, for example, that takes people to The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. They decided they still wanted to run the program and came up with unique way to still do it, cut costs — and take twice the number of people.  The Masters is four days long, so the company split the group into two, two-day segments. Therefore they were able to use one admission badge for two people –Thursday and Friday for the first group and Saturday and Sunday for the second. The expense was the same as it would be for one person going all four days. For this group, each person spent two full days at the tournament and played golf of the third day. It worked very well.

Speaking of golf, if you want the group to partake in the action and not just watch, look to scheduling a local golf outing.  Try to get everyone together on a weekday, as these tee times will be less expensive and easier to book.  Talk to the manager of the country club: even if the club is closed Monday, for example, they may be inclined to stay open if you bring them a group of hungry, thirsty golfers.  It is added revenue for them at little cost to you.

Discourage a company from going to the final days of a sporting event when tickets are at a premium –read: expensive! Sometimes going the first part of the week of a tournament has great advantages. Take the U.S. Open Tennis in Flushing Meadow, New York, for example.  No players have been eliminated yet! I’ve seen many tennis celebrities in the first week I wouldn’t have seen in the finals. When they lose, they go home.

For a consumer products company we work with that likes to do a grand slam tennis tournament each year, they always ask for the final week. But the program we put together for the first week instead cut their budget by more than $100,000. With their savings, They hired Lindsay Davenport to speak and meet with the group prior to the match. We ended up giving added-value to the incentive while still saving the client money.

Don’t rule out individual incentives for your top stars. Sending them to an LA Lakers game with a gift card for dinner at the arena is a fabulous way for them to spend a day or evening – and they didn’t have to plan anything themselves!

Think locally when putting together an event for your clients. Every city has a team of some sort so send them to a game. Some people don’t have the time or inclination to do it for themselves, or they might not have the disposable income to buy tickets to events. By sending them locally, you save on the hotel and airfare. You can even throw in a limo to the event for what you’re saving. Take your top stars in Vancouver to the Winter Olympics.  Get a motor coach to transport them to and from the events.  Splurge on the smart things!  How about a local baseball game? Throw in some cash for beers and dogs. Add a baseball cap or jersey with the company and team logo.

Memories for a lifetime

Most Major League Baseball Teams usually offer discounts on tickets with a large group. Some even include a pre-game tailgate party and designated areas in the stadium for meetings and get-togethers. 

Do not sacrifice incentives to this economy.  If you do, it will be a dangerous spiral: less in the budget leads (if you choose) to fewer  incentives, which leads to an unmotivated staff, which then leads to dwindling profits and an even more dire situation.  Stop the cycle and keep your sellers motivated!

Robert Tuchman started Tuchman Sports Enterprises (TSE) out of his New York apartment and soon named to the annual Inc. 500  list of America’s fastest growing privately held companies and as one of the top 100 promotion agencies by Promo Magazine. He sold his company to private equity firm Pfingsten Partners but remains President of one of its divisions, Premiere Global Sports. Tuchman write a monthly column for Entrepreneur.com. and for Incentive magazine. He is the author of  The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live, as well as Young Guns, The Fearless Entrepreneurs Guide To Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own.