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…that is the question.  Or is it?

Incentives have been used by businesses for years to motivate their employees to produce more – more products, more sales, or even to offer better customer service. They are also used to build business relationships, honor and encourage loyalty, thank buyers for large and/or frequent purchases, and to welcome new prospects. By implementing programs that focus on motivation by reward on both sides of the coin, the benefits are real:

• Productive, engaged employees who work harder, produce more, and stay with the company.

• Satisfied, loyal customers who buy more and tell others about the company.

Motivated employees are productive. Sales programs and internal competition for a prize considered to be highly valuable are very effective. Salespeople especially have clearly defined goals with measurable results, making incentives a major strategy. When an employee is singled out for doing a good job, they feel good about it. When they receive a gift to mark their achievement, they feel even better. As a result, they will display more loyalty and be more conscientious on the job.

Appreciated clients are loyal. When a new customer gets a smile and a handshake, it builds their relationship with the individual and the company. When they receive a welcome or thank-you gift to mark the occasion, they feel even better about it. Once again, human nature takes it back to basics: People like to feel valuable, important, and appreciated. When a company not only delivers their products and/or services to a client, but goes beyond to give them a tangible sign of how much their business means to the company, good things happen for everyone. New accounts are open, customers become loyal and stay, customers buy more, and the company sets itself apart from the competition.

Incentives are the classic dangling “carrot”. It’s human nature – we’ll work harder if there’s a reward that we find worthwhile at the end of our efforts. As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink… however, if you salt the hay he will be thirsty when he gets there. Salt that hay, dangle that carrot – incent and get results!
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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

Imagine… Your name was just called, you are the lucky winner of the raffle, you rush to the front of the room to claim your prize. It’s an envelope and you wonder what’s inside as you excitedly walk back to your seat. You can’t wait to open it to see what you won. Is it a gift certificate to a restaurant, a gift card to a local store??? Guess again – it’s a discount on products or services…

If you’re like most, your mood just went from happy and excited to disappointed. You went from winning a special prize to getting a discount. If you are lucky, it just might be for something you were planning to purchase anyway. However, that’s not usually the case – now, to claim your ‘prize’ you have to spend money you had no intention of spending to get your reward. Or… you do nothing and you won nothing – bummer. What a waste!

Now let’s look at this same scenario from another angle. You are representing your company or the one you work for. You are the person giving the door prize away – you need to market your business, right? Offering a discount or credit towards a purchase will bring in a sale. What’s the problem?

The problem is not in offering a discount or a credit towards a purchase, these are great ways to market your business. The problem lies is using a discount as a gift. Gifts are just that – gifts. They should not require the recipient to have to do anything in order to get their gift, especially not have to spend more money. They should not have strings attached.

Giveaways, raffles and door prizes are a marketing expense and need to be treated as such. When marketing your business the last thing you want is for a potential customer to go from being excited about receiving something from you to sheer disappointment. Obviously this is not good for business.

Invest the time, and the money, into selecting gifts that people will want to receive. Choose something that will have them go from excited about winning to ‘Wow! This is really cool!’ While it’s true that offering a ‘cool’ gift does not guarantee the recipient will ever do business with you, they will talk about what they received. They will tell their friends. They will remember. And that is good for business.
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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