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Gift exchanges between co-workers can help  promote a relaxed work environment as well as add some fun and excitement into the workplace .

Gift giving  at work, like any other gift exchange,  can be fun and enjoyable . Here are some rules,  or guidelines as it were, to follow to  ensure that everyone has a good time and nobody gets their feeling hurt.

1. The reason that we have gift exchanges at work is to build relationships between co-workers there by creating a pleasant atmosphere to work in.  Gift giving in the office should not be considered  an opportunity to try and bribe your boss or anyone with expensive gifts. You can’t buy friendship, at least not the right kind of friendship.

2. Now this is very important.  If there is a dollar amount limit on the gifts to be purchased DO NOT EXCEED IT!  For some buying that one extra gift at the holidays can be financially stressful, also you don’t want to appear to be trying to buy your way into someones good graces by getting something expensive.

3. Spend some thought when buying gifts. Don’t rush into the store at the last minute to purchase gifts. Take some time to find something that the recipient would enjoy. Knowing something about the person for who you are buying a gift helps in selecting a gift that will indeed be appreciated.

4. Stay away from buying personal items such as lingerie when buying gifts for work. Perfume used by women is a personal use item. Unless you know the person well and what perfume they use don’t buy personal cosmetic items. You may love a certain perfume but others may not share your taste not to mention that giving personal gifts can often send the wrong message to not only the recipient but to others in the office or a spouse.

5. Do not leave your gift in the bag you bought it in. Gift wrapping gives a classy and elegant look to any gift when done right.  There are many simple and inexpensive ways to wrap a gift. Don’t forget to include a signed gift card when giving a gift. You will be surprised how many people include a gift card and forget to sign it.

Remember to stay within the agreed upon budget, avoid gifts that are too personal and keep in mind the tastes of the recipient not yours. Following these tips will ensure a fun and memorable time for all.

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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

When it comes time to get a gift for a family member or friend how do you decide what to get.  Well you take into consideration their likes and dislikes, hobbies or interests.

You choose something that, based on your intimate knowledge of them, you know they will enjoy.

But what about when it comes to business gifts?  How do you make a good choice when you may not know that much personal information about your recipient?  One way is to guess.  Get a gift and hope for the best.  However, you may not get them a memorable gift or a gift they can use.  It might just be something they will toss away or give to somebody else.

The best  choice for a gift is one that the recipient makes for themselves.  But how do you do that?

Easy!  Our Gift Collections make giving business gifts and incentives easy by offering the Gift of Choice. With these collections, recipients choose their own gift from a wide selection of top-quality, brand-name merchandise by redeeming them online. It’s the perfect solution for small to mid-size businesses – and virtually every budget, occasion, and event!

How do they work?

It’s simple and convenient for your business. You just:

1. CHOOSE the budget range you want to stay within.
2. BUY a Gift Collection on line or from your sales associate.
3. GIVE the gift to the recipient to redeem for their perfect gift!

Then, the recipient:

1. DISCOVERS and browses their Gift Collection online.
2. SELECTS the perfect gift from the many name-brand items.
3. RECEIVES the gift shipped right to their door, free of charge.

Here are some occasions when these Gift Collections work amazingly well:

• Sales incentives
• Holidays
• Employee weddings/new baby
• Customer thank you
• New customer welcome
• Corporate events
• Promotions
• Service awards
• Employee acknowledgment
• Safety awards

Here is what these Gift Collections can do for your business?

They can be given to employees, co-workers, supervisors, managers, customers, business associates, and service providers to help:

• Increase productivity
• Generate sales increases
• Improve morale
• Strengthen employee performance
• Create a safer workplace
• Inspire great ideas and suggestions
• Develop loyalty and dedication
• Enhance work environment

Why give these Gift Collections?

Well they have been rewarding, motivating, and inspiring employees and customers for nearly 40 years, and they are trusted by businesses because they offer:

• 180-day Satisfaction Guarantee
• Easy online redemption
• Popular brand-name gifts
• No minimum order required
• Monetary value not displayed to recipient
• Saves the time and expense of shopping for gifts

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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

Can you believe it’s been a year?

Anniversaries are very important milestones. Whether it’s a wedding anniversary or a business anniversary, neither should be overlooked. Both are meant to be celebrated!

Recognizing a wedding anniversary can be tricky business. In the personal realm, generally you are in fairly good contact with friends and/or family and know what’s happening in their personal life. This makes it much easier when sending a card or gift. However, since business may be a little more removed, you should be much more cautious if you plan to acknowledge wedding anniversaries. It wouldn’t look too good to send an anniversary card only to discover later that the marriage had ended.

For businesses, it is much safer to celebrate anniversaries related to the customer or employee relationships. Recognize customers for one or more years of doing business with your company. Or acknowledge the number of years an employee has been with you.

When choosing a gift to send, it’s okay to give something a little more personal for a wedding anniversary. Just be sure to give something that both the husband and wife would appreciate. For a business anniversary, you are better off to have a planned out award program based on years of service -especially for your employees. This will avoid any problems of one employee receiving something the perceive as less than what someone else received in the past. On the other hand, you have more flexibility with your customers. Gifts can be based on the volume of business a customer does with your company or any number of other factors.

Taking the time to take notice and make a big deal of both personal and business anniversaries will mean alot to both your customers and your employees… and will go a long way towards earning their appreciation and continued loyalty.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

Contact Sally

Good business gifts can help to strengthen the relationship. Bad gifts can just as easily break them. And no one wants to be known as the person who gave someone a lousy business gift.

According to an article in the Salt Lake City Tribune, almost half of all employees that participated in a survey about business gifts disliked what they received. The survey indicated the following:

• 59% said they did not keep the gift
• 48% did not like the gift given
• 41% said they threw the gift away
• 32% felt the gift was not useful
• 24% felt the gift was cheap
• 22% said they gave the gift to someone else

“Paper weights and calendars… with coffee mugs, stuffed animals, pens, hams and fruitcakes” were at the top of the list of bad gifts according to the article.

There is a lesson to be learned here -and it’s not ‘skip giving gifts, people are just ungrateful anyways’. Business gifts are important and when properly selected can create results that will benefit your business. The lesson here is to give gifts that are considered valuable to the people receiving them.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

Contact Sally

Most companies have one or more formal reward programs in place for recognizing employee performance. Although most programs typically recognize only a small number of employees, for those employees the experience is significant and motivating… and the public acknowledgment can help to shape the future aspirations of other employees as well.

One way to build anticipation and momentum in obtaining certain desired behaviors is to create an employee reward program through a contest of some sort. The desired behavior is typically described along with other requirements, and the rewards are made explicit. Keys to a successful employee contest include:

• Promoting the program and its purpose.
• Setting realistic, achievable and measurable goals.
• Limiting the contest to a short period.
• Keeping contest rules uncomplicated.
• Ensuring that prizes are desirable to employees.
• Linking rewards directly to performance.
• Giving rewards and recognition promptly.

Prizes to crown an employee reward program should meet most of the following criteria:

• Have lasting value.
• Reflect the effort and quality of the recipient’s performance.
• Inspire pride of ownership.
• Be useful.
• Suit the personal taste of the recipient.
• Reflect the best image of the company.

While the details referenced here are primarily focused on employee reward programs, variations can also work well with independent contractor, vendors, and even customers and clients.  Motivation is a powerful tool and when used properly can help you get the results you desire.

About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

Contact Sally

is the sound of my name. Oh wait! That’s not how it goes…

The most beautiful sound in the world to someone is the sound of their own name.

People really do like to hear the sound of their own name. Not only does it personalize a conversation, it let’s them know you are paying attention and shows that you think they are important. This is especially important when dealing with employees. You can put all the business gifts and reward programs in place, but if you don’t treat your employees with respect and your words don’t match your actions – you are dropping the ball.

Below are a few simple suggestions that can reap huge rewards:

• A good way to personalize any reinforcer is to use the person’s first name when delivering the comment. Tell him or her why the behavior or result is important to you.

• Greet employees by name when you pass their desks or pass them in the hall.

• When discussing an employee’s or a group’s ideas with other people, peers, or higher management, make sure you give credit.

• Acknowledge individual achievements by using employees’ names when preparing status reports.

• Name a continuing recognition award after an outstanding employee.

On a side note, remember not to over-use a persons name. This runs the risk of actually becoming annoying and offensive. Similarly, when using someone’s name, be genuine. It’s great to dole out compliments, but when the sincerity is lacking your employees will see right through you.

As mentioned previously, these are very simple suggestions. Any one can do them. It takes no special skills, no detailed planning. Just a willingness to look around, pay attention to the people around you, and then let them know what they are doing right.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

Contact Sally