Get to Know ME with AJ
We’re pleased to introduce AJ in our latest edition of Get to Know ME! She is new to our company, and new to this industry. Read below, and watch her two-minute video to get to know her better. Perhaps she’ll be able to advise you on better organizational methods or how to use both of your eyes in a new way! Thanks AJ for letting us get to know you better!
What’s your title and how long have you been with Motivation Excellence?
Payroll & HR Generalist – I started August 22, 2022 – so, 4 whole months now!
What does your job entail?
Well…Payroll & HR stuff- reviewing, processing and balancing semi-monthly payroll; recruiting, onboarding, insurance enrollment; administering the IATAN program; managing the Motivate Me program; managing the Chicago Bulls sports tickets, being a point of contact for our employees who have questions and providing assistance where needed.
What’s something special about the people you work with you’d like to share?
They are smart, funny and they all bring a tremendous skillset and something different to the team.
What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?
I don’t know how unknown it is, but a talent I have is OCD. I’m very neat and organized. My family and friends laugh at me because all my cabinets are organized and my closets too. I truly believe in “everything has a place.” I have a giant heart and love to help others too!
What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?
My family, kids and grandchildren motivate me to always do better. They encourage me a lot!! They are always asking what I do at work and if I enjoy what I’m doing.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Hanging with family – spending quality time with my 3 grandsons and traveling the world!
One thing that always makes you laugh is?
My Auntie Lynn – she lives in Houston, but I know if I want to laugh, I can call her. She often calls me to tell me jokes and we sit on the phone for hours laughing. My 5 year-old grandson, Jeremiah, keeps me laughing too and he keeps me young.
What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic?
The pandemic was a difficult time for everyone. One thing that helped me was having Zoom meetings with my family and friends. Depending on the time we were meeting, we would suggest breakfast, lunch or dinner; everyone would order their food or prepare their food; we would meet on zoom and eat, talk, laugh or cry; we would play games and enjoy each other’s company from afar.
What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
I started working while in high school at 16; for my first job, I was a vision therapist. I worked at Plano Child Development Center. As a vision therapist, I trained children how to use both eyes together or to use teamwork between the two eyes. The program is based on behavioral optometry – which entails the total vision information processing system and its relationship to learning and development. Vision therapy heals to improve conditions like crossed-eyes, lazy eye, or to help you learn to enhance specific vision skills. It was a very interesting job. Most adults don’t know how to use both eyes together. 😊
This month, our theme for social media is mentoring. Do you have experience with mentoring or being a mentee? How has it affected you personally or professionally?
I have experience mentoring and being a mentee. I was a mentor at my church for young women ages 18-25. You never know what someone is going through and just being able to sit, talk, advise, recommend, and suggest makes a huge difference in someone’s life. We would schedule lunches or go to the movies. It helped me become a better person. Many of the young women went to college and graduated. Some started families. Some are married. I learned to take a step back and look at life through a different lens. Your life may not be perfect, but there’s always someone worse off than you. Always be grateful.
We’re Taking Incentive Group Travel to the Next Level with Our One-of-a-kind Technology: Inspire!
There’s never been a better time to get excited about new technology in the group travel space. With the ever-changing and nightmarish, travel scene right now, having a personalized itinerary with up-to-date adjustments as needed in the palm of your hand is exciting! Group incentive travel programs operating through Motivation Excellence all include Inspire, our fully customizable and personalized mobile travel site.
Features of Inspire include:
- company branding
- personalized air, land and event itineraries
- airline and customs information
- text messaging alerts
- interactive photo gallery
“This is something no other incentive company has at their disposal. The personalized itineraries are a game changer for our industry. Plus, we can customize the app in a number of ways to make it truly unique to our clients’ needs and travel destination,” says Brad Hecht, VP Travel at Motivation Excellence.
For a quick overview of Inspire please watch the video on our Motivation Excellence homepage or below. We also have a one-page features doc you can download at the end of this post.
Motivation Excellence is a performance improvement agency. We use a variety of award solutions to inspire extraordinary performance among our clients’ participants. Through a deep dive into each client’s particular situation, we develop a comprehensive plan to meet goals and drive peak ROI.
“I’m extremely confident Inspire adds incredible value to our travel programs. Our own people built it and it’s already part of the travel solution; there’s not an upcharge for this technology. This represents our commitment to our clients and their most deserving participants,” says David Jobes, President and CEO of Motivation Excellence.
For more information, please contact our Strategic Marketing Manager, Sky Z. Capriolo at s.capriolo@motivationexcellence.com.
Motivation Excellence’s Response to the Airline Crisis of 2022 & Beyond
A White Paper by Brad Hecht, Vice President, Travel
What crisis you say? Perhaps you haven’t tried to book a flight this year or maneuver your way through the rebooking nightmare going on right now. The friendly skies aren’t so friendly for anyone currently, other than perhaps the airlines’ bottom lines.
The big three airlines (American, United and Delta) have made record profits to date in 2022. And that’s despite increasing fuel prices! Passengers are being charged fees and penalties for changes, cancellations and dropping of blocked space. Add on record high fares, full planes, fewer flights, less staff and you can see it’s all going well…for the airlines. According to FlightGlobal.com, American Airlines’ 2022 Q3 profits beat earnings projections by 13%, even though air miles flown were down 10%.
I have been fortunate enough to be in the incentive travel industry since 1984, and I have never seen anything like what we are currently facing. What’s happening? Well, here are some of the issues:
Supply Is Down
- Fewer flights are operating, and they are often heavily booked
- Pilot and staff shortages from forced retirement and pandemic layoffs are creating a ripple effect
Prices Are Rising
- Airfares are up about 40% year over year
- Fuel costs continue to fluctuate, with varied global pricing, contributing to added fuel surcharges and consumer price hikes
- Nonstop flights are being priced at a premium due to high demand.
Group Travel Is Being Hit
- Group travel air (blocked) space is extremely limited and is priced at a premium, as much as 50% more compared to pre-pandemic pricing
- Group air space is the most restrictive of all fare offerings, making it hard or impossible to make changes or cancellations
- “Free sell” (individually ticketed) space is limited but is still less expensive than group space
- Frequent schedule changes are negating any group space that is held
- Group seating continues to be a problem as there are not enough seats to cover the amount of group tickets sold.
Flights Are in Flux with No Flexibility
- Flights are being canceled (crew, weather, maintenance), or flight time changes result in misconnections or very long layovers that aren’t conducive to anyone really, but group travel especially, with special group events depending on timely arrivals
- Canceled flights result in very few re-accommodation options on any carrier
- Seats together and preferred seating are also a problem due to seating being blocked by the carrier or the equipment changes to an alternate aircraft with a different seating configuration.
Customer Service Is Struggling
- Airlines’ customer service is at an all-time low with many people being bumped from flights or downgraded involuntarily and not notified
- Calls into airlines often take hours, if not longer
In a service industry, all of the above points would normally constitute a boycott. Can you imagine going to a restaurant that gave you limited options to eat, changed your order without telling you, made you move from the corner booth you reserved to a two-top by the kitchen and then served your food to another table but still brought you the check?
Unfortunately, for consumers of air travel, we’re not in a great position. The airlines, however, are anticipating consumer demand will not falter even with inflation and the knowledge that airlines are operating at a considerable price increase (which will pad their profits). American Airlines predicts 2022 Q4 revenues will be up to 36% higher than Q4 2021.
So, where does that put incentive group travel now and in the near future?
While we continue to strive to provide the best flight options at the best prices, we are at the mercy of the carrier’s schedule and fares. There is no incentive for carriers to add more flights unless those markets will be highly lucrative. We have been assured by all the majors that they are trying to ramp up offerings of more flights and better fares. Depending on the carrier, this could happen anywhere from 9 months to up to 3 years from now.
Here at Motivation Excellence, our strategy for group travel is to continue to work a hybrid model of group bookings. We will obtain group block space whenever it’s necessary and affordable; or secure a chartered aircraft, if it makes the best sense for a particular group.
At the same time, we will free sell (individually book flights based on the best price for the route) a portion of the group to accommodate the needs of our guests. Our desire is to offer our travelers the best flight options available while balancing the block space and the free sold fares to keep the overall average fares reasonable.
We are diligently reviewing the ever-changing airline space and continually adjusting our hybrid model to stay ahead of everyone else looking for the best fares. Our promise to our clients is we will not stop doing this and just accept what is going on in this crazy market.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to Motivation Excellence if you have questions about any of our performance improvement strategies, whether they involve incentive travel or other reward solutions.
Safe travels!
Get to Know ME with Laurie Ackles
Our Motivation Excellence sales team grew recently with the addition of Laurie Ackles as Account Manager. She brings with her a long history in the incentive industry. In this edition of Get to Know ME, Laurie shares insights on collaboration, what makes her laugh and a couple of pretty cool talents! Thanks, Laurie for letting us get to know you more!
What’s your title and how long have you been in the incentive industry?
Account Manager. I’ve been in the incentive industry for more than 25 years and just recently joined Motivation Excellence.
What does your job entail?
I partner with clients to deliver amazing incentive travel experiences. I also work with our team to develop innovative solutions to help clients grow their businesses and provide high-quality customer service.
What’s something special about the people you work with that you’d like to share?
They are incredibly talented and experienced. They are fully invested in delivering creative solutions and providing a high level of care to our clients. Each team member is truly dedicated to making a difference in the work they do.
What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?
Does raising triplets count? If so, that’s my talent! My trio just graduated from their universities last spring and are off and running in their career paths.
Possible unknown talent – I was inducted into my high school’s Hall of Fame for our girls’ golf team winning the state championship.
What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?
My family and my desire to please others are constant drivers for me. That and the fear of being a deadbeat.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Going to concerts and sporting events with friends and family, playing golf, watching movies, traveling, trying out new restaurants, reading, and walking our Golden Retriever, Bailey.
One thing that always makes you laugh is?
My husband, for sure, but also Will Ferrell, Jim Gaffigan, the Smartless podcast, and Seinfeld episodes.
What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic?
I was in a weekly Zoom discussion group working through “The Artist’s Way” book by Julia Cameron, with 18 women I had never met before, from all over the country. It was an incredible experience that involved weekly discussion, reading, and journaling. It really kept me energized and focused during that time period. Also going for long walks with my dog, cooking for my family, wine, and Netflix.
What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
Being a travel director and visiting 6 continents before I was 30 years old was the best and most unusual job I’ve ever had. It’s also how I met my husband and some of our best friends.
This month, our theme for social media is teamwork/collaboration. What benefits of working together do you find professionally and/or personally?
I love working as a team and am fueled by connection and collaboration with friends and work colleagues. I learn so much from listening to other people. I’ve worked remotely for about 20 years, so I’m used to it, but it can be isolating, so I truly appreciate face-to-face interaction whenever possible.
Get to Know ME with Judi Froehlich
Judi Froehlich is a few months into her role as Global Strategic Account Director at Motivation Excellence, but she brings a wealth of experience and more than a pinch of pizzazz! Thank you Judi for letting us Get to Know you. Read on and watch her video. You’ll learn that she’s light on her toes and quick to throw a smile your way.
What’s your title and how long have you been in the incentive industry?
My title is Global Strategic Account Director, and I bring nearly 30 years of experience in the Meeting and Incentive industry to my role at Motivation Excellence. I’m new to the team and look forward to creating amazing programs together!
What’s something special about the people you work with that you’d like to share?
Each team member is truly entrenched in our culture and focused on customer success. They are also just great people!
What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?
I dance (amateur) Latin dance and tango. I can also sing all the words to Rappers Delight.😊
What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?
I am motivated differently based on the item I am trying to accomplish. I aspire to bring great solutions to clients and have an impact on their business and feel such accomplishment when we can measure that or see the reaction from participants at an event. In my personal life, I am inspired by giving back and bringing a bit of joy to others to whom I am close.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I enjoy anything outdoors! I love playing and watching sports and watching live music every chance I get.
One thing that always makes you laugh is?
Dry humor and quick wit.😊
What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic?
I tried to stay connected with family, friends and colleagues to ensure everyone was doing okay and had some fun Zoom activities. On the Zoom front, I joined many immersive activities across the globe that I may not have had the chance to enjoy otherwise. I did cooking classes with Nonna in Tuscany, another cooking class with celebrity chef Fabio Viviani, and virtual Latin dance classes with Max and Val Chmerkovskiy from DWTS.
What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
Not sure if it was unusual, but during college, I worked as a tour guide at the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose Dome…and can still share a few (probably useless) factoids.
This month, our theme for social media is imposter syndrome. How do you combat feeling “less than” even though you’re a high-achieving woman in the industry?
Most people suffer from self-doubt at times, and the key is acknowledging it.
One strategy I use is to journal and acknowledge even the smallest of victories/successes each day. It is also helpful to be authentic and true to your strengths and stop measuring against others. One of my favorite quotes is “in order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different,” by Coco Chanel.
Motivation Excellence Wins Prestigious SITE Crystal Award
Contact:
Sky Z. Capriolo
s.capriolo@motivationexcellence.com
847 843-6538
For Immediate Release
Motivation Excellence Wins Prestigious SITE Crystal Award
The “Oscars” of the incentive travel industry, the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence’s Crystal Awards, recognize companies that accomplish outstanding creative and memorable experiences. SITE honored six companies at their global conference in Dublin this year.
“This is an incredibly special group of Crystal Award winners,” said Kevin Edmunds, MS, CITP, Vice President, AIC Hotel Group & SITE President. “They are all leaders in our industry, with the programs we recognized at this year’s Crystal Awards Gala standing out as shining examples of incentive travel programs being run smoothly and safely that still achieve the exacting, incredibly high business aims all of us set out to deliver.”
Motivation Excellence won for Most Creative Solution Deployed at a Time of Crisis for our program “GEM Club 2020: From Kauai to Concierge.” Our longtime healthcare client postponed two years’ worth of incentive travel experiences due to COVID, with the first year slated to be a rewarding adventure on Kauai in Hawaii.
At our direction, our client converted the travel experience to award points for each winner. Our team then crafted a virtual reward experience allowing the winners’ imaginations to decide how best to exemplify their achievements. Dedicated in-house concierge shoppers helped each participant use their points for highly individualized selections. Winners redeemed for things like a bucket-list electric guitar, diamond jewelry, home solar panels, future personal travel, vacation home rental, and private school tuition.
In addition, the on-site gift experiences scheduled for Kauai were offered online so winners could still enjoy selecting a pair of Olukai sandals and REVO sunglasses. This entire creative solution was so well-received, our client repeated it in 2021 with new virtual gifting experiences.
“Being honored within the industry with the SITE Crystal Award means a great deal to our team! We work to Inspire Extraordinary Performance with every client and every participant. But it starts within our own company. We appreciate this recognition as it truly shows the care and passion we value internally and produce externally. Thank you SITE,” said David Jobes, President and CEO of Motivation Excellence.
As a final bonus, throughout this transition from travel experiences to personalized rewards, our travel team worked closely with our hotel and supplier partners to rebook future stays and nearly eliminate all cancelation fees for our client.
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Get to Know ME with Michael Southerton
Join us this month, in our Get to Know ME segment, learning more about Michael Southerton. He’s been a lifer with VIKTOR, now Motivation Excellence, and has some serious indoor and outdoor abilities to share! Read below, and be sure to watch the linked video to hear more about what makes Michael a great member of our team. Thanks, Michael for letting us get to know you better.
What’s your title and how long have you been in the incentive industry?
Senior Developer.
I started working with VIKTOR Incentives & Meetings under an internship as a graphic designer in the summer of 2006 before my senior year of college at Northern Michigan University. I continued to work on small projects through my senior year, and I was hired full-time when I graduated in 2007. Almost sixteen years later, I’m proud to still be in this industry and joining Motivation Excellence with the rest of the VIKTOR team.
What does your job entail?
At its core, problem-solving. Sometimes the best code is no code at all. But I specialize in website design and frontend development, and I’ve always been involved in the full stack of web development. That’s led me to build and maintain a lot of websites and applications that help manage the large amount of data required to operate travel and rewards programs and the systems they run on. I also provide technical support to our staff and assist with technical infrastructure, along with the rest of our awesome Tech Team.
What’s something special about the people you work with you’d like to share?
As a technical person, who on occasion, has experienced the frontlines of service on our group travel programs, I’m constantly blown away by the level of detail and coordination that our Client Services team juggles while delivering our large group travel programs. There are a lot of moving parts to get thousands of participants on-site, each with their own custom itinerary and requirements, and the smallest details can change quickly. Even with the best technology, it takes an amazing team of talented people to get your head around it all and successfully operate a large travel program with events that are happening all around you.
What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?
I play table tennis locally in Traverse City at the Northern Michigan Table Tennis Club, and I have competed in Michigan’s state tournaments.
What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?
I’ve always enjoyed improving efficiencies, for both timesaving and convenience. Whether I’m installing home automation systems to automatically turn on my lights and unlock my front door when I arrive, or I’m redesigning a user flow in one of our web applications so that it takes 1 click instead of 5 to accomplish the same task, I really like making things as simple and easy to use as possible.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
My fiancé and I like to take our kayaks to as many different small lakes in Northern Michigan as we can find. We like to explore, fish, and sometimes just soak up the sun.
One thing that always makes you laugh is?
The Detroit Lions. Sometimes I laugh. Sometimes I cry. But, I’ll always watch and support them. Next year is our year.
What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic?
I hate to speak so nicely of a time that was so hard on many others, but personally, I thrived. My fiancé and I are homebodies, so that part was no problem; we caught up on a lot of TV shows. But we also became healthier; we cooked at home and ate better, and we got outdoors more often than we’ve ever done before. We were hiking, running, and biking all the trails by my house, and we were kayaking almost every weekend when the weather was good.
What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
This one! Before I started here 15 years ago, I had never heard of the incentive travel industry. As someone who was once looking for any available job after college to start my career in web development and user experience design, I never imagined I could be building digital solutions for live events used all over the world, not to mention personally traveling to some of these amazing locations to watch them come alive and support their success. It’s led to some pretty incredible experiences I could not imagine having while working web development in another industry.
This month, our theme for social media is about volunteering. How does this speak to you either personally or professionally?
Our company has offered a lot of different opportunities that made it easy to volunteer over the years: we’ve worked the counter of our local non-profit movie theater, we helped our local City Opera House build their green room, but the most memorable is our stretch of road we clean each Spring and Fall through the Adopt-A-Highway program. It is located on Traverse City’s Old Mission Peninsula, and we get a gorgeous view of the local wineries and Grand Traverse Bay as we walk it and keep it looking great.
Get to Know ME with Kelli Robb
We’re extra excited to spotlight one of our new colleagues in our brand new Traverse City office! Kelli Robb is part of our leadership team coming from VIKTOR Meetings & Incentives. With our acquisition in January 2022, we welcomed Kelli and 19 other awesome new teammates! Read below and watch the video to get to know Kelli better. She’s all about taking care of other people, whether it’s one of our participants or a perfect stranger!
What’s your title and how long have you been in the incentive industry?
I am the V.P., Client Services, in the Traverse City office. I was fortunate enough to work for an incentive company, my first job out of college, so I’ve been in the business 31 years now. I was at VIKTOR for 21 years and am excited to be part of Motivation Excellence now!
What does your job entail?
I oversee the Client Services operations of the Traverse City office – a lot of pre-sale responsibilities and working closely with our vendor partners. My goal is to make sure our travel programs go off without a hitch and our participants are blown away!
What’s something special about the people you work with you’d like to share?
Their commitment to serving the clients is over the top! Working with this team is the best part of my job.
What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?
I love to line dance!
What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?
My family and the passion I have for this industry.
What do you enjoy doing outside work?
Spending time with friends and family. Golfing. Boating.
One thing that always makes you laugh is?
My husband. He’s a hoot!
What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic?
Take walks/hikes and get some fresh air.
What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
I spent the summer in Nantucket between my sophomore and junior year in college. I worked for a family, for room and board, doing all kinds of odd jobs around their home and their businesses.
This month, our theme for social media is Work from Anywhere. What do you do to make sure you’re ready to work no matter your location, or just as importantly, make sure you’re not working too much?
When I’m working from home, the office, or on the road, I like to make sure the desk is set up to ‘plug in and be ready to go’.
Get to Know ME with David Jobes
This month’s Get to Know ME segment is on our very own fearless leader, David Jobes! Read below to find out what drives him to succeed, makes him laugh, and his childhood musical instrument of choice. Oh, and wait until you read about the kittens! Thanks, David for letting us all learn more about you and your passions inside Motivation Excellence and out.
What’s your title and how long have you been at Motivation Excellence?
CEO & President, “my residency” will be 30 years this February.
What was the road to ownership of Motivation Excellence like?
For the last 25 years, I had the desire to own Motivation Excellence and I always shared my plans with Greg Lewis, who was the founder and prior owner. There were times I did not think it would occur, but when the time was right it happened. Having such a great team on the journey and believing in the vision is so fulfilling.
What do you consider your biggest responsibility is running the company?
By far, it is providing employment opportunities in the community and in offering as much security with our team members as possible. Every decision we make has a direct influence on our people and I take that extremely seriously.
What’s something special about Motivation Excellence you’d like to share?
Everyone is focused on delivering high-level service to our clients and participants. It is a “can-do” environment without accepting a hurdle as an unattainable obstacle.
What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?
I played the accordion as a child! Not the most popular instrument to play when you are growing up, but it made my mother happy.
What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?
I have always been competitive, in essence, I want to do the very best that I can all of the time without taking shortcuts. Another is, learning and understanding other people’s perspectives and not prejudging a situation, each one is unique.
What do you enjoy doing outside work?
Being with family and friends, fishing, the daily crossword puzzle, and fostering kittens.
One thing that always makes you laugh is?
I love romcoms and sitcoms! They help me relieve stress and refocus.
What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic?
Focus on what is important and not worry about things you can’t control. During this time, I was able to achieve a significant part of our current three-year strategic plan. This plan is helping grow our company by acquiring another incentive company, which we just completed.
What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
I’ve been a newspaper boy, a stock boy at a grocery store, a pizza maker (really got to learn how to cook Italian food), a tool and die apprentice, computer programmer….no strange ones, but each has its own story that helped prepare me for where I am today.
This month, our theme for social media is Growth Mindset. Why is it important to you as a business owner?
There is personal growth and professional growth, being a 14-year member of Vistage International (an executive development organization) has taught me that you have to focus on both and not ignore either one. Without a well-balanced commitment, I am not doing what is my responsibility in making sound decisions, knowing everyone you touch is affected by your actions.
Motivation Excellence Acquires VIKTOR Incentives & Meetings
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – January 10, 2022 – David Jobes, owner and CEO of Motivation Excellence, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, is excited to announce the acquisition of VIKTOR Incentives & Meetings, located in Traverse City, Michigan. This merging of two premier and long-standing incentive industry companies under the Motivation Excellence name will create incredible opportunities for current and future clients, as well as the employees of both firms.
“I’ve always been excited about our industry-leading Motivation Excellence team, and since taking ownership in 2018 I’ve looked forward to expanding and bringing our exceptional incentive solutions to more companies looking to Inspire Extraordinary Performance,” Jobes says. In 2022, he celebrates 30 years with Motivation Excellence.
Mark Bondy, owner and President of VIKTOR, is equally excited about blending his company into the Motivation Excellence team. “I worked with David and Motivation Excellence before joining Viktor Weyand Travel Services in 1996. We kept in touch over the years, and he was the first person I thought of when I began the process of deciding what was next,” Bondy reports.
Bondy became an owner of the rebranded VIKTOR in 2009. He’s been an active member of the incentive industry for more than 35 years, including being named the SITE International Foundation Research Chair in 2013. He plans to stay active with Motivation Excellence for a period of time to help create the best transition for future success. He looks forward to his next adventures after that.
“Having Mark on board during this time is especially appreciated, as I know he’ll offer his incredible experience in a collaborative way. The cohesive blending of our incredible cultures will need special attention. His involvement will help us make a successful transition. We have nowhere to go but up as a team,” exclaims Jobes.
“It’s almost like it was meant to be,” adds Bondy. “Two great companies with reputations of integrity, outstanding service to our clients and caring about our employees and our communities. The sum is truly greater than the parts in this case for our clients and employees. This is very exciting and unique in the industry.”
Combined, Motivation Excellence and VIKTOR have 85 years’ experience delivering bar-raising incentive capabilities, including travel, meetings, events, and points-based reward and recognition programs. Bondy has back-to-back honors on the BizBash’s Top 1,000 People list. Since becoming owner, Jobes led Motivation Excellence to three consecutive years being honored as one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work for in the Nation.
The two companies share vast experience helping clients in verticals such as health care, building supply, automotive, insurance, veterinary, electrical and fire safety. Jobes will keep the Traverse City location and its employees but will rebrand VIKTOR as Motivation Excellence in 2022. Motivation Excellence also has office locations in Wisconsin, Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina and Florida.
“Our entire team is very excited to welcome a whole new crew of team members! With that comes great new ideas, open conversations and a melding of best practices that have made each of our companies shine in the industry. Going forward, the enhanced Motivation Excellence will continue to be an industry leader our clients can count on to deliver exceptional experiences to meet their needs,” Jobes says.
