Archive for January, 2009
Top 4 Examples of Successful Employee Incentive Programs
“Examples of Successful Employee Incentive Programs”
In order to help ensure a well maintained business or workplace, it is very important that the business keep the morale of the workers at a high level and ensure that everyone is as content and happy as possible. This will help to improve the productivity of the business, and this works to make sure that not only is the business successful, but that the workers are happy. Everyone wins.
However, some companies and businesses may be unsure of how to go about increasing the morale and thus the productivity of their workers. As a result, they may not be able to have the type of workplace that they desire, in which things run smoothly and with little negative reactions. To these business owners, it may be helpful and beneficial to consider different employee incentive programs that are being used successfully by other businesses as a mean through which the company is maintaining an effective and positive environment.
There are a number of different options, and by reviewing other examples a business owner may be able to decide if a particular program would work for them or whether it makes them creative enough to come up with different ideas that would aid their company and workers. Some promotions and programs will be acceptable for certain companies and not for others. Because of this, it is very important that the business owner carefully think about whether or not the investment will help or hinder their specific and individualized company or workplace.
1. The most sincere form of appreciation is when the boss takes the time to thank individuals for specific things that they have done that day or that week. It is cost effective, and will help to make co-workers feel valued and important. By taking the time to acknowledge an individual, the owner does not just recognize that goals were met, but that a particular individual had a hand in what was accomplished and is appreciated because of that.
2. In order to generate more well-rounded employees, it can be helpful to have programs that work to reward individuals that do community service projects outside of work. Some employee incentive programs do work in order to increase the relationship and communication practices between the employees. They can range, but some successful examples include a dinner out, without relation to work, once a month.
3. There can also be lunch meetings once a week in which individuals are able to get to know each other better and relate to one another in a more informal atmosphere. Time off certificates for perfect attendance by an employee can also be a helpful incentive program that will help the company to function with more efficiency since individuals will be more inclined to call in for time off.
4. Birthday programs in which a present is given to the employee on the day or week of their birthday can also help an employee to feel more appreciated in general. These employee incentive programs are just the start. There are many more examples that can be considered or created. Keeping a well run company also includes having successful employee incentive programs where there is an emphasis put on appreciating the individuals that help the company to be as successful as it is.
Tips on How to Create Effective Employee Incentive Programs
“Tips on How to Create Effective Employee Incentive Programs”
If you wish for your business to generate more profit than usual, you need to work on creating two types of incentive programs: one for your employees and another for your customers.
COMMUNICATE – Use all the ways possible to know how your employees feel. Have them fill out evaluation forms, and encourage them to voice out their opinions. Make it a point to know them personally so that you’ll also be able to read between the lines.
EXTERNAL AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION – Both are important if you wish to properly motivate your employees. It’s impossible for one to stand without the other. External motivation can be provided by giving away cash and other similar incentives like travel packages and gift checks. Intrinsic motivation can be provided by establishing company loyalty, aligning their goals with that of the company, and giving them sincere compliments when they do something exceptionally well. A simple pat on the back can do wonders to a person’s self-esteem.
MONITOR, MONITOR, MONITOR – Changes in an employee’s preferences may differ due to changes in the economy. Priorities may differ because of a change in lifestyle. Thus, it’s important to constantly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your program.
SHORT TERM VERSUS LONG TERM BENEFITS – Be aware of which incentives would work better for motivating people to achieve short term goals and which ones would work for long-term goals.
GIVE REWARDS INSTANTLY – If an employee does something well, give him the reward he deserves immediately. Don’t delay because your employees might think you’re begrudging them of the reward they deserve.
5 Tips on How to Choose Which Wholesale Promotional Products to Offer
“5 Tips on How to Choose Which Wholesale Promotional Products to Offer.”
Promotional products are given away primarily to create and sustain interest in a company’s products and services. They can be the products itself or, and this happens more frequently than usual, specially made products that are imprinted with the company’s name and manufactured exclusively to serve as giveaways. Since promotional products are usually purchased wholesale, even the smallest mistake can land you with thousands of useless giveaways. Thus, before pushing through with the production of your promotional products, make sure first that you’ve considered all the important factors that can affect it.
Tip #1 KNOW WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE LOOKING FOR FROM YOUR WHOLESALE PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS
According to a survey made by the PPA, customers deem the following factors significant when receiving promotional products: Usefulness (98.3%) – Your promotional product must be useful, not just to anyone, but most especially to your target market. Quality (71.8%) – If you’re not willing or able to produce promotional products of adequate or superior quality, then it’s better to employ another marketing strategy instead. Attractiveness (61.5%) –
Your product must also be visually pleasing to the eye and most especially once more to your target market. If your promotional product’s not something that your customer can proudly brandish in public, don’t give it away. Customers also indicated their desire for promotional products that are tasteful (59.8%), but since taste is entirely subjective, make sure that your promotional product adheres to your target market’s taste.
Convenience (45.5%) – Convenience can convey different meanings, and if you want to play it safe then you need to use promotional products that are conveniently compact in size besides being convenient to use as well. Uniqueness (43.7%) – Promotional products should also be unique if possible, but you can worry about this later on. Longevity (28.2%) – And lastly, promotional products – if possible – should be durable.
Tip #2 NEVER FORGET TO PRINT YOUR COMPANY’S NAME
There’s no point to having wholesale promotional products manufactured and given away if none of them bears the name of your company. Be careful, however, when having your company name printed because too large a print can be detrimental while too small a print can prove to be ineffective.
Also, consider if it will be better for you to have your company logo printed instead of your company name. Sometimes, image-conscious customers prefer to use promotional products that only bear the logo instead of the name.
Tip #3 SIZE MATTERS
If your wholesale promotional products consist of things like pens and lighters, these may be useful and even fashionably designed but they also allow you only a small amount of space to have your company name and logo printed.
Tip #4 THINK EXPOSURE
Useful is as useful goes but sometimes people end up using a promotional product frequently not just because it’s useful but trendy as well. One good example of this is giveaway caps. As long as the corporate logo or name is tastefully incorporated, customers probably won’t mind using it for almost all kinds of occasions.
Tip #5 MATCH THE PRODUCT WITH THE REASON
No company gives away promotional products without any reason. You yourself have your own reasons for giving away promotional products and one way to increase its effectiveness is by making sure that it matches the reason and circumstances surrounding it. Are you having wholesale promotional products manufactured for a trade show or to introduce a new product to the market? Follow these tips and you’re sure to end up with a wholesale batch of promotional products that are going to drive your sales up.
7 Things You Need to Know about Employee Motivation
“7 Things You Need to Know about Employee Motivation”
The process of learning how to best motivate your employees is long but rewarding. Employee motivation is one of the greatest factors that influence your business’s ability to generate profit, it’s important that you know how to motivate the people working for you in the most effective way.
People Have Different Needs – If you’ve ever had a theology class, your professor might have mentioned that people were created unique but fundamentally equal. Thus, it’s important that you treat your employees fairly and without bias but at the same time acknowledge the fact that people have different needs as well. Thus, it’s important that you employ different ways of motivating them to take into account their differences. These differences can manifest itself through an employee’s race, culture, gender, educational attainment, work experience, age, or other similar factors.
To know which factors a person best responds to, you need to take the time to get to know your employees one by one.
Fear Only Has Temporary Effects – Yes, fear can indeed work as a motivational factor but only for a temporary basis. In the long run, it may still be able to ensure that your employees work the way you want them to but they’re certainly not doing so for the right reasons. And in the end, these employees will either rebel against you or leave your company. Either way, you lose.
Money Matters – Say all you want about intrinsic motivation but in the end, it’s never enough to put food on the table. You need to offer both types of motivations to your employees if you want them to perform the way you want them to. You need to give them both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and there are no exceptions to this rule.
Make Them an Integral Part of the Company – You only need to look at how companies like Disney and Starbucks operate and you’ll understand just how important it is to show that you can’t survive without your employees. It’s a given already that they need your company to survive – you’re the one issuing their paychecks after all – but they won’t be able to feel that it’s a vice-versa-thing unless you prove it to them. When they realize that you mutually need each other, your employees will definitely feel more motivated to work harder even if you’re not promising them a hefty cash bonus at the end of the rainbow.
Do Not Delay – When an employee achieves a particular feat, make sure that you reward him appropriately and immediately. Delaying on giving the employee the reward he so richly deserves will only cause him to lose motivation in continuing to do the same in the future.
Give Your Employees the Freedom to Choose – Just because you feel that a particular reward is best for a particular employee doesn’t necessarily mean that the said employee will agree as well. As such, it’s important that you always give your employees the freedom to choose which prize they wish to work for.
Lead by Example – Employees won’t be sufficiently motivated even if you’re giving them a lot of incentives to work hard IF you’re not working the same hours they do. As manager or owner of a business, it’s important that you lead by example. Don’t ask others to do something that you’re not willing and able to do yourself!
5 Ways to Create Successful Employee Incentive Programs
5 Ways to Create Successful Employee Incentive Programs
Make Your Company Goals and Mission-Vision Employee Centric
Remember that employee incentive programs are made up of two sections: financial and non-financial incentives. To achieve and provide the latter, start by reviewing your company’s goals and mission-vision statement. Are all of them all about you earning profit and nothing else? Is there any mention made about how employees benefit if and when your company does well? Is there any mention made about how much a company relies on its workforce?
Once you’ve made the necessary corrections, take the time to explain the changes you’ve made to your employees. Make sure that they understand the need for cooperation and harmony. Lastly, emphasize the give and take relationship between the company and the employees.
Make the Financial Incentives Sound as Exciting as Possible
When introducing an employee incentive program to your workforce, do it the way you would advertise a new product to your market. Make everything sound as exciting and as attractive as possible. Don’t rely on mere figures to convince your employees to follow your directives. Yes, they’re powerful, but why leave it at that when you can make them sound even more tantalizing?
Be Fair and Realistic with What You Want to Get Employee incentive programs that offer multimillion dollars’ worth of commission won’t work if you’re asking your employees to give you the stars and the moon.
When deciding on the goals for your employee incentive programs, make sure that they adhere to two important conditions. Firstly, they must be fair to your employees. Don’t ask them to do something that – although achievable – might compromise their values and principles. Don’t take advantage of your employees if you become aware that they’re at desperate straits and liable to do anything for the incentive you’re offering.
Secondly, they must be realistic. Don’t give out rewards that are obviously unattainable because you’ve attached impossible goals to them. Don’t dangle incentives in your employees’ noses if you don’t mean to give them out in the first place. Consider time constraints as well. Are you giving them enough time to complete the task at hand? What about the required resources? Do all your employees have equal access to the necessary resources?
Options, Options, Options
The most effective employee incentive programs are those that provide employees with numerous options to choose from. You must always be flexible when creating and modifying your employee incentive program. Don’t expect all your employees to fall in love with your first choice. People tend to have different priorities and perspectives, and to ensure that your employee incentive program will work, give your employees the freedom to choose the reward they wish – but only within reason and within your power, of course.
Use Winning Employees as Models
When an employee is rewarded by your employee incentive program, take lots of photos of how happy he or she is with the rewards provided and use this as an example to motivate other employees to work harder in the future. A picture speaks a thousand words, after all, so seeing the actual effects of the employee incentive program will cause your employees to respond more favorably than having you expound on and on about its benefits.
5 Hot Tips on How to Create Effective Customer Incentive Programs
“5 Tips on How to Create Effective Customer Incentive Programs”
KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET – Are you sure you know what your target market is? Determine everything about them from general demographic factors like age, gender, income class, to the little but important details like which colors or designs they prefer and so forth.
COMMUNICATE – Again, do everything you can to know what’s on your customers’ mind. Have them fill out survey forms, and to make sure that they’ll answer these, give them incentives to do so.
Keep in mind that although you truly need to spend money for both incentive programs to work, you don’t need to spend a lot because big capital doesn’t necessarily equate with effectiveness. Creativity and resourcefulness still counts so it’s definitely possible to have a successful incentive program without denting your company’s pockets too much.
REWARD CUSTOMER LOYALTY – Know who your loyal customers are. And when you’ve identified them properly, make sure that you reward them accordingly. Let them know that you’re aware of their loyalty to your company and that you’re giving them a reward because you appreciate it.
GIVING AWAY REBATES – Be careful when using rebates as an incentive strategy for your customers. Due to numerous controversies surrounding rebates, more and more consumers are feeling discouraged and reluctant to take advantage of rebates. If and when you do use them to encourage customers to patronize your products or services, make sure that you use a simplified process for your customers to redeem their reward: don’t dangle a carrot if you don’t plan to give it away in the first place.
GIVING AWAY PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS – Promotional products are always welcomed by all kinds of customers. Be sure, however, that you give them something useful – even if it’s only in the aesthetic sense. If you skimp on the costs and design, your incentive strategy might end up backfiring on you.
Sales Incentives Program
“Sales Incentives Program”
There are so many different types of sales incentive programs being offered today and more companies are available to help you develop your program. The major difference in the sales incentive programs being offered is the structure or how participants earn in the program. These different types, or structures, can be used for a variety of audiences including sales staff. One also needs to consideration the fixed budget for the sales incentive program or if the amount will depend on performance.
With a fixed budget sales incentive program, you have the advantage of being able to develop a budget for the program. There are a few ways you can structure this type of sales incentive program. You can structure your sales incentive program to the first 10 people to reach the given goal will get the award, or you can structure it so that there is a reward for the top 4 sales producer. In general sales incentive programs motivate sales people to sell more products or increase their volume by a predetermined percentage during a specific time period of time.
There are also sales incentive programs that offer travel as the grand prize. This can be for the sales team or for the top seller to go on vacation with their family. Sales incentive programs can also be used for dealers, distributors and resellers. The dealers and distributors can be motivated to buy more products either by discount for volume purchases or freebies for purchasing a certain amount of a specified product. This is a great way to boost sales volumes and profitability.
Variety is really the key to sales incentives programs. Say for example you only offer cash and not all your sales force is motivated by cash this could be setting yourself up for disaster. Flexible pay plans will help you avoid de motivating a certain percentage of your sales force, you need to be sure you have enough flexibility to motivate the majority of your sales force, with the sales incentive program you opt for. However keep in mind that you will not be able to please everyone, so the goal is to keep the majority happy with a flexible and varied sales incentive program.
With the abundance of talent within the workforce today, sales incentive programs are sometimes the difference between getting the most talented employees to apply at your company and retaining them. Consistency is also a vital part to the effectiveness of your sales incentives programs. Companies are constantly trying to tweak their plans to keep up with the economy, but too many changes are confusing. Keep sales incentive programs simple and consistent and if changes are required, take time to explain the need for changes and allow time for employees to adjust to the changes.
Top 6 Ways to Use Rebates and Incentives for Increasing Sales!
“6 Ways to Use Rebates and Incentives for Increasing Sales!”
Rebates and incentives are two of the most common methods used to increase your company’s sales. Unlike other advertising strategies, rebates and incentives speak for themselves. Thus, as long as they’re done properly, rebates and incentives are one of the most cost-efficient marketing solutions you can use for your company.
How to Make Rebates Work for Your Company
Rebates may either be offered by the manufacturer or retailer but in either case, rebates usually offer products or services at a seemingly lower rate.
Tip #1 Calculate Carefully
Don’t just lower the price of your product and offer rebates without showing any serious thought about it. Carefully calculate just how much you can afford reducing the price without getting bankrupt.
Tip #2 Women Respond Better than Men to Rebates
If you really want to make the rebates you’re offering work, do your best to target female customers with your advertisements. Women are more patient than men when it comes to shopping. Secondly, women are more patient with keeping rebate coupons in their pockets until they finally find an opportunity to use them.
Tip #3 Keeping It Simple
Don’t give out rebates if you’re only intention is to deceive your customer into buying your product at its original price. If you’re offering rebates, but there’s a procedure to follow before you can claim the promised reward, make sure that the process is kept short and simple. Don’t ask them to photocopy their receipt in triplicate, sign tons of paperwork, and do other things to discourage them from claiming the rebate.
How to Make Incentives Work for Your Company
Incentives take various forms but all of them generally work by rewarding people for taking the desired action.
Tip #1 Reward Customer Loyalty
If your company has long-time customers – those who keep coming back to you no matter what’s dangled in front them by your competitors – do make sure that you reward them appropriately. You can identify who your loyal customers are by giving out loyalty cards. It’s important to give them preferential treatment because this kills two birds with one stones: it encourages new customers to act in the desired fashion to get similar V.I.P. treatment, and secondly, it rewards old customers and gives them reason to keep coming back.
Tip #2 Reward Customers Who Give You the Information You Want
One way of increasing sales is by building your knowledge of your target market, and there are various ways to achieve that such as giving away survey forms or encouraging customers to join your opt-in list. To ensure that they’ll continue giving you precious data about your customer base, reward the people who have kindly taken the time and effort to give you what you need.
Tip #3 Bumps and Burdens are Always Welcome
Customers always like it when they receive something for free. When you’re using direct mail marketing, prospective customers are more likely to open and read your letter if you enclose something with it. The bigger or more noticeable the bump, the heavier the package, the better! The most important thing to remember is to be ethical when dealing your customers. Just as long as you have no intentions to cheat or deceive when using rebates and incentives, they’re sure to work in the long run and ultimately cause your sales to increase.
Motivate Your Employees Without A Lot Of Cash Out Of Your Pocket
“Motivate Your Employees Without A Lot Of Cash Out Of Your Pocket”
Let’s face facts. It is hard to run a business in this day and age. Not only is money tight everywhere you look but it is getting harder to find quality employees who are willing to make the grade when it comes to sales. You need to have employees who are doing all they should be plus a little more to make your business successful in every way. The real question is, how does one make that happen?
Well in most cases business owners try to provide more money as far as salary and bonuses are concerned. However, one must wonder if this really does the trick. After all, if the employee gets more money for simply going through the motions, why should they do any more then that? That is the real downfall to raising salaries without having something in return.
What you are really looking to do is motivate your employees to make sure they are getting the job done and going above and beyond the call of duty. Now you could spend thousands of dollars and send them all to a seminar hosted by some over priced, capped teeth, infomercial reject and hope that does the trick. In most cases this will do nothing more then make the employees resent you for taking away their free time to go to the seminar.
There is a solution that will work. What about offering an incentive program for those that reach a certain goal? Sure, you say, and I am made of money. Well you do not have to be made of money to create a winning motivational reward program that will have the employees jumping at every chance to win.
The solution is all about travel and vacations. Who does not love the chance to get away? We all do. Seeking out some peace and quiet, away from the rigors of the daily grind. Your employees are no different. They would love the chance to get away and you can now give that to them without spending a load of cash.
The secret to this system is in the packages or vouchers. Instead of paying for a vacation out of pocket you simply buy a package deal by way of a travel voucher and award the winning employee with that. Sound simple? Too good to be true? Well it is simple, and it is true.
Using a company like that deals in travel vouchers only, you can easily create a high quality vacation employee motivational program and save a lot of money doing it.
You want to make sure that you are purchasing in bulk only. Buying these kind of deals by the piece will cost you more money then you could have ever imagined. The more vouchers you purchase the better the deal becomes. In many cases the companies offer volume discounts when you make a larger purchase. So instead of purchasing enough for one round of incentive programs you should go with two or more. With that you will get the best deal and save a good amount of money in the process.
Tips on How to Make Sales Incentives Work for Your Business
“Tips on How to Make Sales Incentives Work for Your Business“
Your company’s sales team is arguably the most exposed and hardworking group in your workforce, and that’s just one reason why they need to be given the RIGHT incentives REGULARLY. And so yes, not just any incentive will do. What works for one company may not work for yours so it’s important that you take the time to know your sales team well and determine as well just what you’re capable of giving them.
Factors to Consider When Determining What Sales Incentives to Give
AGE – People’s likes and dislikes as well as their goals tend to differ as they age, and thus, it’s important to give sales incentives that will suit your sales team’s age range. If, however, they’re composed of different generations, then you need to choose something that will be ubiquitously desirable.
GENDER – Gender-specific sales incentives are tricky because you could be sued for discrimination, but they’re arguably more effective as well since you’re giving your sales team – man or woman – what they really desire. One way of solving the discrimination problem is by giving them the option to choose.
BUDGET – Naturally, giving away sales incentives shouldn’t bankrupt you. Evaluate your finances then determine just how much you’re able to spend. Having a budget will also challenge your mind and imagination to think out of the box and be resourceful.
Tips on How to Create Effective Programs for Sales Incentives
Sales Incentives Have Two Faces – And they’re called cash and non-cash incentives. It’s important that you offer both. Like it or not, people are generally easier to motivate if you’re offering both money and recognition in exchange of showing better job performance.
Motivation Comes from Within – Before creating any sales incentive program, you must also understand that no matter how hard you work on setting goals and determining prizes for employees, there won’t be any changes made if the employees themselves aren’t’t ready, willing, and able to change. Thus, be ready to be confronted once in a while with a few bad apples here and there. And when you do, don’t blame yourself: it’s those people – and not your program – that’s at fault.
Separate Sales Incentives for Short-Term and Long-Term Goals – You must prepare separate and appropriate sales incentives for your short-term and long-term goals. Cash and similar monetary incentives work better for short-term goals because they work like confectionaries by providing employees with a temporary boost of physical and mental energy. Stimulants for intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, will definitely work better for long-term goals because it gives your employees a reason to continue working the way you want them to.
3 S’s for Sales Incentives – When creating a sales incentive program, always make sure that it adheres to the 3 S’s rule: short, sweet, and simple. Anything complicated can discourage your sales workforce from bothering to change. And if you offer something sour instead of sweet, who’d want to work for it?
Take Advantage of Your Affiliations – If you only rely on your own resources to provide for sales incentives for your workforce, your options may be greatly limited. Thus, consider taking advantage of your affiliations. Negotiate with them for mutually beneficial contracts. Exchange favors.
Evaluate, Evaluate, Evaluate – And lastly, don’t stop monitoring the results of your sales incentive program. If you notice something that seems to have lost effectiveness, determine its causes then modify, eliminate, or replace it with something better.