Why Creative Group

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why creative group

description

Why Creative Group, top 10 reasons

Transcript of Why Creative Group

Page 1: Why Creative Group

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Page 2: Why Creative Group
Page 3: Why Creative Group

Over the years, much has changed in our industry, but one thing has remained constant: our enthusiasm to conquer the challenges others only dream of.

Here are a few of the challenges we surmount every day for our client partners – and the top 10 reasons they continue to choose Creative Group.

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To improve the quality of their programs.

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Creative Group has become one of the industry’s largest and most influential meeting, incentive and event management companies by constantly innovating to improve the quality of our clients’ programs.

Since Creative Group’s inception in 1970, we’ve taken a creative and innovative approach to satisfying our clients’ business needs. We’ve put our experience and resources to work for our clients to engage their audiences and enhance their programs with new, creative ideas, streamlined processes, and a focus on delivering exceptional value.

In the average year, Creative Group operates more than 500 programs and moves more than 55,000 travelers to domestic and international destinations. Since 1970, we’ve run thousands of successful programs, including meetings, events, incentives, product launches and stand-alone technology solutions.

Our core competencies include strategic destination sourcing, meeting and event management, strategic

meeting management initiatives, performance improvement and engagement, group and individual incentive programs, proprietary technology solutions, marketing communications and air travel management.

Many companies claim to do what we do, but none can claim our service benefits or match our client retention record. We have retained more than a dozen clients over 20 years, and several are still with us since the early 1970s.

In addition, 99% of the clients who rated our performance over the last 4 years said they would recommend us to others, and a total of 91% rated our service “better” or “much better” than that of our competitors.

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To get the most for their money.

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We are always looking for opportunities to save our clients money.

Managing your resources. Motivating your audience. Negotiating your contracts. Tracking your results. Bringing your program together on time, on target, and on budget can be a daunting task for you and your team alone. The good news: We can help.

Due to our tremendous business volume (about $100m a year) and long-standing industry reputation, Creative Group is considered a national account to all of the major hotel and airline companies.

We take an active role in our industry partnerships, and our management personnel sits on the advisory board for several of the major hotel chains as well as the U.S. Travel Association.

We invest our clients’ dollars wisely, leveraging our experience, buying power and industry relationships to accomplish our clients’ goals and deliver the best value possible.

These preferred relationships and our leveraged buying power offers significant benefits to our clients that have regularly translated into substantial savings.

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To better manage their time.

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By reducing the number of supplier contacts to one – Creative Group – we can manage all supplier partners on our clients’ behalf with focus and consistency.

Managing your resources. Motivating your audience. Negotiating your contracts. Tracking your results. Bringing your program together on time, on target, and on budget can be a daunting task for you and your team alone. The good news: We can help.

Founded in 1970, Creative Group is one of the industry’s largest and most influential full-service independent meeting planning and incentive travel management companies.

We serve a client roster of Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller, regional companies in a broad range of industries. Clients just like you.

Our core competencies include strategic destination sourcing, meeting and event management, strategic

meeting management initiatives, performance improvement and engagement, group and individual incentive programs, proprietary technology solutions, marketing communications and air travel management.

Many companies claim to do what we do, but none can claim our service benefits or match our client retention record. We have retained more than a dozen clients over 20 years, and several are still with us since the early 1970s.

Why? Short answer, because we’re great to work with and our clients can count on us to deliver creative business solutions with exceptional results year after year – in the face of any obstacle, schedule or budget.

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To better manage their risk.

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While coping with the unexpected takes training, a cool temperament and considerable ingenuity, we also believe it is critical to insulate clients against risk through savvy contract negotiation.

One of the most important reasons to employ the services of an outside supplier like Creative Group is that effective planning will avert most potential crises. And believe us when we say that there are many potential crises that can strike an event and compromise its objectives.

But crises do occur and when they do, Creative Group can manage them with the benefit of our cumulative intellectual capital, technical resources, dedicated employees, and incredibly resourceful onsite staff.

While coping with natural disasters onsite takes training, a cool temperament and considerable ingenuity, we also believe it is critical to insulate clients against risk by negotiating contracts on your behalf that account for such things as deposits, attrition, cancellation and food and beverage minimums.

It is our risk assessment process, coupled with our industry relationships, that maximizes your protection, minimizes your liability and saves you money – away and at home, in bad weather and in good.

We also search for opportunities to save you money by forging multi-year agreements with specific hotels or chains, negotiating program concessions, identifying major spending areas through comprehensive reporting and working with suppliers to negotiate pricing for high-use areas.

The bottom line? A significantly reduced bottom line. And a better night’s sleep to boot.

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To work with one dedicated team that knows their business.

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Creative Group account teams form their resources seamlessly around yours to deliver a consistently excellent experience to clients and their program participants.

Our Account Team structure is unique in our industry – and key to our flexibility in delivering service to our clients. Each client has a dedicated team led by your Account Executive that is empowered to support your needs in the way that’s best for you – from the number and type of resources dedicated to you to the manner in which we interact.

Your Creative Group Account Team works with you seamlessly, as one team, and consists of a nucleus of people responsible for all aspects of your program. They include:

• Account Executive - manages the overall client-supplier relationship, as well as all members of the account group

• Account Manager - the main day-to-day liaison and primary planner

• Account Administrator - management of all program related data and participant liaison

• Travel Purchasing Specialist - all “pre-sale” activity, budgeting, negotiations and contracting with suppliers

Account Teams are supported by Creative Services, Travel Services (air transportation,) Accounting, Human Resources and IT.

We believe it is this business philosophy of forming our team around yours, coupled with our strategic approach to defining your needs, that has resulted in so many successful business solutions for our client partners.

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To align their company with an ethical and honest partner.

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6. To align their company with an ethical and honest partner who has an excellent reputation.

Creative Group has earned a reputation as a great company to work with – and to work for. We take that reputation very seriously.

At Creative Group, we believe all business, regardless if a product is bought or sold, involves people communicating with people. As your partner, it is essential to communicate our philosophy and how we serve our customers and program participants.

We believe what allows us to facilitate improved performance for our clients and their audience is our customer focus, defined through:

Customer Care:

• Recognizing our customers’ needs• Responding to our clients in a prompt manner• Providing sincere, considerate and personalized

service

Customer Service :

• Accessibility to the client and their “internal customers”

• Pro-active and Re-active (understanding & implementing the difference)

• Professional employees always delivering quality service

Customer Delight:

• Exceeding customer expectations

Like your company, we take quality very seriously. Our culture encourages ongoing TQM training and rewards continuous process improvement from the moment an associate joins our organization.

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To work with a stable company that can grow with your needs.

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Creative Group operates on rock-solid financial footing. We are debt-free and have earned a profit each of the 40 years we have been in business.

Creative Group is a medium-sized incentive travel company (eighth largest in the U.S.). This is large enough to command significant buying power without sacrificing our commitment to personalized and flexible service.

Our unique business model means that you know who does what: Nothing gets lost. Team members are cross-functional, and they are all accountable to you.

While the team functions independently, great efforts are made to capitalize on the synergy and efficiency associated with having more than 100 experienced professionals all working towards a common goal of client satisfaction. Our depth and breadth constantly amazes us. It will certainly benefit you as well.

In addition to the flexibility our account team structure offers, our teams are scalable. As your business increases, your dedicated team grows to ensure we deliver the standard of service we’re known for.

At Creative Group, we’re in it for the long haul. We endeavor to learn our client’s business and culture so we not only meet their needs, but learn to anticipate them.

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To know what they’re getting for their money.

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Our pricing philosophy is simple. We believe in a fair profit for professional services rendered… with no hidden costs and no surprises.

At Creative Group, we believe in total cost transparency. We typically include all third-party invoices with our billings so you know exactly where your costs are,

In addition, we are always seeking to deliver cost savings to our clients. Creative Group recognizes the immense expenditures that are involved in producing effective meeting and incentive programs and has developed the following methods to measure savings and reduce overall program costs.

Ongoing Cost Savings Tracking ReportFrom the onset of program planning, Creative Group tracks all elements that are negotiated on your behalf. This includes room rates, food and beverage, ground services, audiovisual, printing, and premium items. A

report detailing these savings is included with your final billing.

Deferred Cost SavingsCreative Group negotiates, tracks, and provides you with earned hotel rooms and cruise berths, based on a negotiated ratio with suppliers, which helps to defer your company’s overall program expenses. On average, we save our clients 5-17%.

Our management fees are competitive and our accounting processes are audit proof. No surprises – just clear, concise accounting and great service at a terrific value.

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sample cost savings report

Year Location Mtng Type Budget Actual Savings CGI Fee Net Savings Note

2007 Midwest Regional $243,218.41 $205,055.81 $38,162.60 $13,968.22 $24,194.38

2007 East Coast Regional $228,974.85 $183,657.86 $45,316.99 $12,188.70 $33,128.29

2007 West Coast Regional $283,310.28 $226,635.56 $56,674.72 $20,208.50 $36,466.21

2007 Europe Incentive $1,728,199.73 $1,604,943.16 $145,035.85 $112,587.36 $32,448.49

2008 Midwest Launch $242,046.24 $194,336.15 $47,710.09 $29,187.02 $18,523.08

2008 Southeast Nat’l Sales $1,782,694.45 $1,866,872.24 $524,167.52 $103,498.21 $420,669.31 Net Savings added cost of $235,000 for Business Unit "ABC" when they joined the meeting last minute. Had "ABC" not joined, net savings would have been $47,323.99

2008 Europe Incentive $1,416,992.60 $1,274,807.21 $175,878.04 $109,735.03 $66,143.01 Does not include Airfare

2009 Midwest Channel $101,858.46 $56,744.08 $45,114.38 $16,500.00 $28,614.38

2009 West Coast Nat’l Sales $1,284,460.61 $1,100,918.00 $315,865.81 $94,600.00 $221,265.81 Does not include production

2009 Hawaii Incentive $1,393,850.49 $1,269,525.62 $124,324.87 $116,237.51 $8,087.35 Does not include Airfare

TOTALS $8,705,606.11 $7,983,495.70 $1,518,250.86 $628,710.56 $889,540.30

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pricing

Services & Fee Description Cost Per person/per program

Hotel Site Selection/Contracting Commission Per program

Site Selection Fee Included

Sourcing/Contracting for Ground & Budget Creation

Included

CGI Management Fee 10%12%15%

If over agreed budget per programAt budget per programIf under budget by 10% per program

Basic CreativeEDGE Web Design $2,500 – 3,500 Per program

Online Registration/Participant Management $12 Per person

Additional Custom Database Programming $165 Per hour

Airfare ticketing Domestic - $35International - $75

Per Transaction

On-site Staffing $350 + Travel Costs and Per Diem

Per Day Per Staff Member

Groups Already Contracted with Hotels:Creative Group understands that several meetings have already been sourced and contracted with selected hotels. In an effort to show our true partnership with these groups, we will conduct full meeting planning services for 10% of total spend, not to exceed $16,500 per meeting.

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To support them so they can focus on what they do best.

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Our goal is to expand your capabilities – to collaborate with you in a manner that leverages the best from both our organizations.

Your department could really use a few more people to get the job done right, but your company wants you to do the same job with fewer people. Sound familiar?

Doing more with fewer resources is a common theme in this era of corporate downsizing and outsourcing. Unlike many companies in our industry, our goal at Creative Group isn’t necessarily to replace your planning team, but to expand your capabilities by helping you capitalize on the resources you have – the hard-working folks who know your business, your culture and your goals.

As a Creative Group client, you’ll find our support invaluable throughout your organization. For instance, your directors will appreciate our focus on

practical, effective business solutions. Your IT people will appreciate the way our technology systems can integrate with yours. Your executive stakeholders and procurement people will enjoy real-time management reporting that keeps them in the loop 24/7. Your meeting planning staff will sleep better at night knowing we won’t miss a beat amid the myriad planning details that make your event great. Your accounting people will appreciate our transparent billing, which includes detailed third-party invoices.

And ultimately, your attendees will bring the passion to do more back to your organization as a result.

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To enjoy the best service in the industry.

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At our core is a dedication not only to provide the services our clients need, but to execute them better than anyone.

Like your organization, we are a company built on the strength of our people. Creative Group is an employee-owned company; We value our relationships with you, and invest in them on many levels.

Since we are in a service-oriented business, our employees remain our greatest assets, and their satisfaction has a direct impact on our ability to provide world-class service to our clients. As employee-owners, they have a vested interest in your success.

From our operations staff to our creative wizards, our technology gurus to our account managers, our employees are relentless in their pursuit of the best solutions. We negotiate fiercely on your behalf

and take quality as seriously as you do. At the same time, we endeavor to make the journey from program inception to successful completion a pleasure for you every step of the way.

Creative Group is home to people who want to continue to learn, grow, and improve the quality of what they do every day. We support and applaud the efforts of our staff every chance we get, from our ongoing education programs and stipends to our internal recognition programs.

And we put our money where our mouth is: All our employees share equally in the profits we earn beyond our established goals, regardless of their job title. This gives us all a vested interest in the success of your programs.

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wisconsin619 N. Lynndale DriveAppleton, Wisconsin 54914920 739 8850800 236 2800

illinois1535 Barclay BoulvevardBuffalo Grove, Illinois 60089847 520 4350800 373 4350

expandmycapabilities@creativegroupinc.comwww.creativegroupinc.com