True rewards: When it comes to honoring good customers, top

employees, Rymax has the goods By Meg Fry March 2, 2015 at 3:00 AM

Paul Gordon is a senior vice president of sales at Pine Brook-based Rymax Marketing Serivces. - (PHOTO BY

AARON HOUSTON)

You can forget about the days when annual reviews and salary increases were enough to keep employees on board. And before you go offering a Cadillac or a set of steak knives (a la “Glengarry Glenn Ross”), know that it's going to take more than that to motivate today's teams.

“People want choice,” said Paul Gordon, senior vice president of sales at Rymax Marketing Services in Pine Brook.

“If your employee is driving to do something on behalf of the company, you'll get far greater results by offering a variety of items with the same price value than you would by making an incentive a specific item.”

Gordon knows that employees today require more diverse incentives for their varying desires and needs.

And Rymax Marketing Services knows exactly how to deliver.

Founded in 1995 by President Marc Farbstein, the billion-dollar loyalty marketing provider creates and manages structured rewards programs to increase consumer and employee retention, recognition and engagement via targeted incentives.

With an average of 300 employees over the course of a year, Rymax caters to Fortune 500 companies in every business segment by creating rewards programs around more than 300 brands and 10,000 diverse products, including Apple, Black & Decker and more.

For instance, it was one of the original creators of the American Express credit card rewards program, in which consumers spend and redeem points for products or services.

And, it has a longstanding relationship with United Airlines after creating its exclusive Mileage Plus program.

But Rymax, on average, also has helped organizations increase their employee retention rate as much as 30 percent by tying business objectives into a fun and social challenge: See how many points you can earn from the boss.

“There's a very high retention rate for people enrolled in loyalty reward programs at work because they have a stake in it,” Gordon said. “They've accumulated points, so they're not so quick to leave when they're close to getting what they want.”

No, these employees aren't earning brownie points — they're earning points with monetary value that can be redeemed for products by going above and beyond, participating in additional training, achieving sales incentives or by being recognized by their peers.

“Every CFO loves programs like these because employees feel like they're getting something worth $500 when it only costs the company $350,” Gordon said. “The perceived values of products are far greater than their actual costs.”

This was especially important in 2008, when Rymax was dealing with companies who were concerned about keeping their top talent while also having to let people go.

“Good employees needed to be recognized and recruited,” Gordon said.

“But the average person may be enrolled in 14 different loyalty programs, and are only active in about four or five. If they've already got their credit card, airline, hotel and retailer rewards, what's their last focus?

“The importance of having the right rewards program became absolutely critical.”

Now a multibillion-dollar industry, virtually all retailers and services have some sort of rewards program — and Gordon says every company should, too.

“There's really no cost to an organization to have a loyalty rewards program because it comes out of the lift in business,” Gordon said.

“Any company that doesn't have one should, and if they do, they should challenge their supplier to make it more exciting — the rewards should be tenfold when done correctly.”

Which is where Rymax comes in.

“There's no other company in our industry that does what we do,” Gordon said.

“We buy, store and ship from here, as well as provide customer service, sales and marketing all under one roof.”

And, if you want to be able to offer your employees the chance to earn brands such as Michael Kors or Meyer Cookware, you'll have to work with Rymax to make that happen. With more than 90 exclusive brands, Rymax even sells to its competitors as the premier supplier of such products.

“We want to offer as many exclusive products as possible,” Gordon said. “It changes the dynamic of who we are.”

Rymax is also always on the cutting edge. In addition to creating the ability for its clients to access rewards and redemption information on multiple platforms (from smartphones to tablets), the company also makes sure it's always in front of the trends.

“We want to remain at the forefront of what we do,” Gordon said. “We have a department solely dedicated to discovering the latest, greatest brands.”

And regardless of where one does business, Rymax is able to develop customized rewards programs based on specific demographic needs.

“We pride ourselves on having our ear to the ground on a national basis,” Gordon said. “Needs are different based on where you are in the country.”

However, Gordon believes New Jersey is where it's at — and the reason why Rymax has had the ability to bring such broad perspectives to its clients.

“Our clients are leaders in all business segments, from financial to pharma to travel to gaming,” Gordon said. “Across the board, we've got a good mix.”

With some of the biggest companies in the world located in New Jersey, Gordon also said that just being on either side of I-287 can give Rymax the insight it needs to know what works across the country.

Hence why it's already increased its warehouse and office space in New Jersey this year.

“Rymax is fully committed to the Jersey market,” Gordon said.

“It gives us a fairly good sense of what makes things tick.”

Atlantic City If there’s any one place in New Jersey that Rymax knows best, it’s Atlantic City.

“We’ve had a huge stake in the casino business with player loyalty, and Atlantic City has been a critical part of that for quite some time,” said Paul Gordon, senior vice president of sales at Rymax Marketing Services.

But even as daily news alerts roll out predicting the decline of the area, Gordon thinks the city and state need to take more pride in the fact that their casino business is still a $3 billion market.

“Any other place in the country would be thrilled with $3 billion in casino revenue,” he said. “The glass isn’t half-empty; we can, and should, revitalize the area because it’s still a thriving, phenomenal part of the New Jersey economy and history.”

Gordon, who was the first nongaming executive to be named to Global Gaming Business Magazine’s “25 People to Watch” last year, feels Atlantic City is going to be fine. As long as the beach stays.

“There was certainly some saturation when it came to the casinos, but once we get to the right number — along with the world-class restaurants, entertainment, hotels, spas and shopping — Atlantic City can continue to be proud of what it’s all about,” he said.

Millennial issues Generation “Trophy Participants” — or, to be more politically correct, millennials — thrive on receiving “gold star”-type recognitions for giving 110 percent, Paul Gordon said.

And while millennials are less loyal in terms of tenure, they also tend to seek out more reinforcement on a regular basis than their predecessors — not only from senior employees, but also from colleagues.

“Millennials are big on peer-to-peer recognition,” Gordon said. “So you want to have a good employee rewards program that will give them things right away that make them feel like they’re part of the team.