SAN MARCOS, Calif. - Hunter Industries’ two-year old incentive program rewards contractors who purchase Hunter irrigation products for their businesses, and growing membership in the program has yielded an impressive response. In fact, started in March 1999, Phil Robisch, promotions manager for Hunter, said the success of Hunter's Preferred Contractor Program has "grown so fast that we had to take a step back and take care of it here from a redemption standpoint."
The Preferred Contractor Program is designed to help contractors make their businesses more profitable and is open to all professional landscape and/or irrigation contractor companies headquartered in the United States (including Hawaii) and Canada (excluding Quebec), regardless of business size. As part of the program, contractors earn points for purchases of Hunter products, such as rotors, sprays, valves and controllers. There are no minimum purchase requirements for the program, giving contractors points for each purchase.
Points earned through the program can be redeemed for either business benefit or personal pleasure. That redemption is handled solely by the staff at Hunter Industries in San Marcos, Calif. "Participation was pretty strong right from the start," explained Robisch, "but once people started to get points in their accounts, that’s when we started to see an increase in workload here. The first year not that many people were redeeming points. Now that they have a feel for the program, the redemptions have gone up quite a bit."
There are three main categories of awards, and accumulated points can be used toward any single award or combination of awards. The categories include:
- Business Development Funds - Point redemption in this category involves Hunter helping businesses purchase equipment, buy advertising, reward employees, attend seminars and perform other actions when a business provides a proposal on a specific item that Hunter can help fund. Contractors can also select from a portfolio of professional image tools or put their points toward Hunter brochures, videos and sales literature, or promotional items such as yard signs, Yellow Page ads and Hunter logo clothing items.
- Merchandise Awards - Business owners may choose to reward themselves or employees with gifts and prizes in this redemption category. Among the choices are electronic equipment (camcorders, radios, home theater systems), outdoor equipment (tents, campers, pontoon boats, ATV 4-wheelers), leather recliners, golf clubs and vacations.
- Cash Awards - Contractors may also decide to exchange their points for cash.
Hunter places higher value on points used for business development to encourage contractors to opt for that choice. "We want to partner with our loyal customers to help them grow their businesses, "explained Robisch. "If we can help them acquire items they can use in their operations to make them better and more efficient, they will remember us in the future."
Redemption in the business development category has ranged from small ticket items, such as fax machines, computers or answering machines, to larger items, including pickup trucks and skid steer loaders, according to Robisch. "If contractors need anything for their business, whether that’s a computer, a fax machine, a trencher, a trailer or a truck, the business development category is a great way to use their points," he said.
An online Preferred Contractor Program web site at www.hunterpreferred.com has been recently launched on which members can track their point totals, manage their profiles and submit redemption requests.
The author is Internet Editor of Lawn & Landscape Online.
