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Orkin Gives the Presidental Treatment
September 16, 2008
Expanding its incentive program beyond the sales team has led to big rewards
By Peter Hildebrandt
Profile
Industry: Pest control
Challenge: Find a way to motivate a wider range of employees with incentives
Solution: Expand the President's Club sales incentive program by selecting winners based on best region or division and by nomination, allowing virtually everyone to be eligible for the award
Results: Those who win the award enjoy it so much they are inspired to work hard enough to win it again: 60 percent are repeat winners
The ever-present Orkin Man is that way for a reason: Pests are always poised to invade our homes and businesses, whether we're ready or not. Maybe that's why one annual Orkin incentive has been such a big hit: It always takes participants far from home and work.
For 35 years, the Orkin President's Club has given Orkin employees the chance to win a trip to a different enjoyable location. They've traveled to Montreal, St. Thomas, Cancun and dozens of places in between. New York City is this year's location, and the total number of attendees is up to 650 people, which includes about 300 employee winners, each with a spouse or friend as a guest. A small group of VIPs also attend each year, including the president, CEO, division vice presidents and others who act as hosts for the event.
Originally the President's Club was just for the salespeople of the Atlanta-based company. In the early 1980s the program was expanded to include service employees (those people who actually crawl under your home to treat for insects) and branch managers. The program has grown to the point where virtually everyone in the company, numbering 8,000 employees, has some way to compete for President's Club.
Support staff may compete in two ways. The best branch in each of Orkin's five divisions, the four best regions in the company and the single best division in the company bring their entire staff, including administrative and other support staff. The second way that support staff compete is by nomination, with each of Orkin's five divisions selecting one outstanding administrative staff person to attend from anywhere in that division.
Gary Rollins, CEO of Orkin's parent company, Rollins Inc., was Orkin president when he started the incentive. Now Gary's son is president and helps handle the arrangements.
Employees all have an individual threshold to reach for the incentive. Sales staff must meet a sales quota by a certain date. Service employees have a combination of "production" (how many homes visited), a grade on how many customers they retain, as well as a certain number of sales (though fewer than for those working solely in sales). For example, a service technician might offer the Orkin mosquito treatment to a current customer.
 "The opportunity is there to sell to existing customers or someone such as the next-door neighbor encountered while on a route," says Martha Craft, the event organizer and Orkin's assistant vice president of public relations and corporate communications.
Branch managers are evaluated on the basis of sales, overall branch productivity, and customer and employee retention. The idea is not only to sell as much as possible, but to keep the customers they already have happy too—in addition to their employees. This all makes for better business, and better relationships with customers and employees. Reports of progress are published each month, so employees can tell how close they are to achieving the goal of President's Club for that year.
The annual four-night trip involves a different venue each year, with only a couple of location repeats over the years. Getting everything set up and everyone to the city is quite a logistical feat for Craft, who has organized the event for Orkin during the eight years she's been with the company. Assisting Craft are her team—which includes two more planners, one media services director and two additional photographers—who also go along on the trips and are critical to pulling off a smooth event. Attendees come together from all over the U.S. and Canada, and Craft serves as the master of ceremonies at the gala awards presentation.
Boston branch manager Bill Siegel finds the incentive trip especially innovative. He's been to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. "This is a great plus," says Siegel. "Aside from the personal pleasure derived, it's also such a terrific benefit for your spouse or significant other. My wife often enjoys the trip as much if not more than I do. They like to be part of all the hard work that has involved them as well."
The goal is to make each trip unique and even better than the last year's, as about 60 percent of those attending each year are repeat winners. "Those who go want to go again," says Craft."And those attending come back and tell their coworkers about it, and they get excited and want to go as well."
For this year's New York trip, participants will get a taste of New York, with a welcome reception and dinner with New York City firefighters, policemen and some of the Rockettes. Later, they'll choose activities from a preselected list, including bus and boat tours of the city, a combination tour of NBC Studios and Radio City, a behind-the-scenes tour of Yankee Stadium and more. On the final night, everyone will come together for a group dinner and a Broadway show. Even with a lineup as enticing as this, Craft expects the awards night to be the most popular event, as surveys show it always is. It will be complete with a cocktail reception, dinner, a band and dancing.
"Despite being one of the most rewarding things I do, this also is really one of the biggest jobs you could imagine," says Craft. "Being detail-oriented and flexible are two of the most important things for this project."
The ultimate goal is for every single person attending to have the best possible experience. "Those people are working their tails off for Orkin the rest of the year; the least we can do is give them four days of the best experience they can have," says Craft. "Even though we're a fairly large company, there's a bond I've never seen anywhere else."
Editor's Note: Offering trips as rewards is always a great incentive. But what do you do When There's Trouble with the Travel Plan? Find out what Orkin did to adapt to hurricane interruptions at www.incentivemag.com.
Send comments to feedback@incentivemag.com.
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