You know those credit card reward points you earn, such as AMEX Reward Points, that you love so much?
Did you realize that Meridian Loyalty, an IMARK member service provider was at the forefront of the process of rewarding loyalty points for using those credit cards? Pretty cool, huh?
Even cooler, many IMARK distributor members work with the same company to help boost sales with creative reward and sales promotion programs designed just for them.
Think about it, you reach for a certain card in your wallet because you know you get a benefit from using it. The same concept applies when contractors work with distributors—they will do business with the ones they get something extra from first.
H. John Mejia, managing partner at Meridian Loyalty, says the key to success is rewarding the incremental growth of smaller to mid-size customers, not just top clients.
Mejia’s company has helped IMARK members increase sales with individualized strategic incentive programs for more than 15 years. “Each client is met where they are in terms of sales and growth,” said Mejia. “If you are going to reward each customer based on prior year numbers, that’s where you engage and challenge each customer to grow based on their ability, not to only reward the biggest customers who can hit the huge numbers. Only rewarding the top customers alienates all other customers a business has and leaves untapped growth potential behind for the smaller customers through incremental revenue increases.”
Over the years, Mejia and his team have helped clients generate billions of dollars in sales and incremental revenue with their unique marketing, sales and loyalty programs. “What makes us different is we are experienced and have people who understand how to create a program with more than 40 years of industry knowledge,” said Mejia. “Our propriety platform helps companies manage data and analytics so they can use information to create engagement and awareness.”
Any one of Mejia’s programs may increase sales an average of 10-30%, leading to higher customer retention and loyalty rates, which provide a competitive edge. The loyalty program rewards include cruises, spa retreats, golf/sports experiences and thousands of merchandise offerings. Some of the hottest rewards right now are travel packages for the Masters Golf Tournament and Super Bowl, international trips and experiences such as Porsche Driving School or fighter jet combat.
“One of our programs has 90,000 participants,” said Mejia. “The analytics allow clients to communicate to the demographics of their audience and send custom messages to select audiences. This way you can see who is engaging in what, which enables you to get feedback and motivate your customer’s target audience to obtain the desired response.”
Meridian Enterprises launched and patented the first credit card reward process. “We were a leader in creating the credit card reward program; we held more than 20 patents,” Mejia said. “Meridian has always been a leader in driving human behavior and is well-known for its award-winning group travel division, customer loyalty reward points platform and the proprietary technology behind its comprehensive rewards platform.”
Meridian Enterprises acquired Capitol Marketing in 2003. The two organizations complement each other’s diverse product line. “The idea was they were great with loyalty programs and reward points and we were great in individual travel programs,” said Mejia.
Last year, the company acquired American Express’ LoyaltyEdge, a white-labeled end-to-end loyalty solution that helps companies design, implement and manage ubiquitous customized points/cash-based loyalty programs to engage and retain their customers, agnostic of payment type. The unified organization rebranded as Meridian Loyalty.
One IMARK member, who has worked with Mejia over the last four years, increased sales by millions of dollars—all incremental growth revenue dollars. “In this competitive marketplace, you always need to stand out from your competition to gain a competitive edge,” says Mejia.