IRR Veteran Has High Hope for the Marketplace

With over 40 years of continuous experience in the IRR (Incentive, Rewards, and Recognition) field, Barbara Hendrickson says she is retiring in September 2022 with a lot of good friends and hope for the future of the marketplace.

 

The renewed focus on people is real and Barbara Hendrickson believes that there is significant growth potential. When asked what would make sense for people entering the marketplace now, she envisions a reward-neutral engagement agency that designs employee, consumer and channel programs that achieve measurable results. “Once the merchandise world evolved, I spent a significant amount of energy trying to figure out how to monetize my knowledge and experience rather than earning a commission only on the reward vehicle. Firms that are listening carefully to client challenges and building customized programs to solve them seem to be on the right track.”

 

Starting in 1978 as a local incentive manufacturer’s representative in 1978, in 1989 Hendrickson joined Design Incentives in providing merchandise for incentive, reward and recognition programs. Hendrickson and her partner Karen Williams guided the evolution of Design Incentives into helping clients design and implement employee, sales, channel and consumer programs. They formed separate companies to expand into promotional products and national fulfillment services, which Hendrickson ran after Williams retired in 1998. In 2011, Barb sold Design Incentives and started Visible Communication, a boutique content marketing and social media strategy firm. 

 

So why is she retiring if she believes there is so much promise for this business? “I feel like I’ve done all I can do here: sold merchandise, promotional products, fulfillment services, gift cards and travel. I’ve designed corporate programs and facilitated the study session to train other professionals to design effective programs. I’ve survived three economic downturns and a global pandemic. I’ve worked with major corporations and small to mid-size businesses. As a charter member of the Incentive Marketing Association, I served on committees, on the board and a year as president. For the last 10 or more years, I’ve helped others grow their businesses through social media strategies and content marketing. I’ve met so many great clients and colleagues along the way; many remain good friends. At this point I’m enjoying sharing my experience by mentoring younger women through organizations like IMA and WiiN (Women in Incentives Network).”

 

Hendrickson feels that people often leave companies or industries when they’re ready for a new set of challenges. “Every job has its challenges, but eventually, I was just tired of running into the same roadblocks. For instance, one of the last programs I worked on at Design Incentives involved a company running a consumer promotion that was intentionally designing a complicated redemption process to minimize the payout. I’d had enough.”

 

Her advice to the incentive industry based on her 40 years of experience? “It’s a different world now than it was 40 years ago – or even five years ago – and I would not presume to offer advice as if I had a clue as to what the world will look like in the next five years. My observation is that none of this is rocket science: in any industry, those who truly focus on the client and adapt their business model to serve those customer needs should do well. It seems that corporate leaders are finally acting on their claim that ‘people are their greatest asset.’  If they invest in programs that prove they’re serious, there should be a meaningful resurgence in the incentive, reward and recognition and engagement marketplace. This resurgence presents the opportunity to make sure that the market is aware that there are organizations full of experienced professionals ready to help.”

 

She concludes, “It has been a challenging and rewarding several decades. The incentive world has been very good to me. I’m grateful for the opportunities and for all the friends I’ve made along the way.”

 

 

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