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Your company is doing a promotion for potential clients and you just got chosen to find the gifts… Or maybe you have an adult child or niece or nephew’s birthday coming up and you have absolutely no clue as to what it is they want… The truth is -gift giving can be a frustrating pain in the neck no matter what the occasion is.

Of course you want to give a gift that won’t soon be forgotten. And then there’s that dreaded ‘budget’. Not to mention that we are all so busy. The last thing you want to resort to is rushing into a store to grab the first thing you come across that you think they may possibly kinda sorta like and that you can afford.

Whether we like it or not, the gifts that we give symbolize our thoughts and feelings to the recipient.  There are different feelings expressed when a potted plant is given versus a diamond tennis bracelet. And the thought that goes into giving a dozen red roses is very different from that of giving an orbital shoe shiner.

Whatever the occasion, it is imperative that you take some time and put some thought into the gift you are purchasing. Choosing the wrong gift, especially in business, can be catastrophic. However, by choosing and giving the right one you can transform even the simplest gift idea into a memorable moment.
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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

Reward and recognition are the best ways to reinforce the importance of providing excellent customer service and a great way to get your employees attention. If you are wanting them to work towards the standards that you have set, set the goals and put an incentive program in place now. Don’t wait for the annual employee review to either recognize or reprimand employees how your employees serve your customers -generally that may be too late.

Delivering little rewards more often is a far better method and works very well for reinforcing desired behavior. Provide verbal recognition frequently. Tell your employees what they are doing the right when you see them providing good service. It’s much more motivational. And do it in front of the other employees so they get the idea too.

Pass out little rewards on the spot for small efforts and bigger rewards for efforts that are above and beyond your expectations. Your customers like to feel appreciated, and so do employees. You must reinforce the importance of good customer service by acknowledging and rewarding your employees effort to meet your standards. When your employees understand and offer the level of customer service that both you and your customers expect, and then are rewarded for it, everyone wins. Your employees get in the habit of and strive to offer great customer service. Your customers are happier because they are treated well. And both benefit you and your company.
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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 people enjoy getting extra spending money -especially around the holidays. Surveys of American workers have concluded that 95% considered a cash bonus a positive and meaningful incentive. The only problem with giving cash is that often employees simply use the money to pay bills and quickly forget the reward.

Cash or cash substitutes (such as coupons or points that can be traded for products) do, however, give the employee flexibility in deciding how to use the reward. Since it’s their choice, the likelihood of satisfaction increases tremendously. Gift certificates and gift collections have the advantage of quick fulfillment and flexible dollar amounts. They also may or may not have expiration dates and it’s very likely that they don’t have shipping costs associated with them. They can be redeemed in a wide variety of places (including the internet) for a broad range of merchandise, from gourmet food to lawn mowers.

After numerous years consulting with clients about incentive programs I have heard stories time and time again about the reward they chose themselves while working for a previous company. One story was about a step ladder they had received close to 12 years prior. All the details were easily recalled and shared -they still have the step ladder in their pantry to this day. Even today I got to hear the story of someone receiving star awards and after receiving a certain number, redeeming them for a flash light. This was after six years… Now that is an incentive that works.

Again – give cash, and although it’s appreciated it is also quickly forgotten. Give a tangible gift, especially one where the recipient gets to choose their own reward, and it’s remembered indefinitely. The choice is yours.
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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

One of the biggest mistakes a company can make when dealing with their customers is to only look at the immediate effects of a decision and not take the long term effects into consideration. We all know that it can be very costly to earn the business of a single new customer. Once we have them, we need to keep them -almost at any cost.

Here’s what happened to my husband… About two years ago he purchased a hand sprayer for the yard. When he went to use it the other day, it was cracked and no longer working properly. He was about to throw it out when he noticed on the label “Lifetime Guarantee”. So… he called the company and the young lady on the phone told him that their return policy had changed and he needed his receipt. As you can imagine, he didn’t have it. After all it had been two years and it had only cost about $4 or $5 anyway. When he told her that he didn’t have the receipt she advised him to return the item to them and they would check it out -if it fit the criteria, they would send him out a new one.

Well, he needed a sprayer now -not a month or more from now. After the call he was a little frustrated and sent an email to the company explaining the situation. He also let them know that he was just going to go purchase another one, however it probably would not be their brand.

My husband, who is quite the handyman, is also pretty frugal so he tried to repair the broken sprayer and he was able to fix it. After about 4 days went by, he received an email from the company asking him to describe the damage to the sprayer. He sent a reply to their email with the information. About 2 days later he was notified that a new sprayer was being sent out.

Now that’s customer service! He has only ever bought one thing from this company and that was 2 years ago. But this company knows the value of a customer. It is far less expensive to send a new sprayer than to stick to their return policy. Why? Because now when my husband needs yard equipment, he will look for that brand. He has already told several people what the company has done for him and will continue to tell even more. The company also knows that for every person he tells his story to, he would have told twice as many had they enforced their policy and not satisfied their customer.

As difficult as it is to get new customers, it’s twice as hard to undo bad press. If people are going to talk about your company you want them telling good stories rather than bad. Your customers are what keeps you in business. Do what you need to do to keep them happy. Bend the rules sometimes, they are really more like guidelines anyway. By doing so, you will earn a customer for life.
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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

Although it might sound funny to some, the time to start planning for the holidays is now – especially where business is concerned. Most companies start putting together their holiday budget in the 3rd Quarter. Although it has nothing to do with the “Christmas in July” phrase, I have always found it quite timely.

Now is the time to start thinking about what message you want to send your clients, your employees, your vendors, etc. Do you want to say “Thank You!” amidst the Thanksgiving holiday or during the Christmas season. A great way to separate your business from all the others is to send a “Thanks for your business this past year” gift a bit early, before it has the chance of being lost in the rush of the other holiday gifts your clients will be receiving. Or plan a special beginning of the year gift giving with a special message letting your customers know you look forward to working with them in the coming year.

Which ever you decide, do something. Do something special, plan ahead and put some thought into it. Don’t wait until the last minute. Your advanced planning will pay off in several ways -early planning means less stress during the holidays, better selection and more time to come up with some great ideas, and better pricing. Best of all, your business associates and clients will notice your extra efforts and that can make a huge difference.
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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

There is no better time than the present to do the things you need to do to set your business apart from the rest. The companies that are willing to do something that other companies aren’t will reap the rewards.

The last couple years have definitely been challenging for most, however many have actually thrived. The biggest reason for this is that they kept their foot on the gas. They didn’t let the economy dictate how their business was going to do or whether or not it was going to survive. While some companies chose to cut their marketing budgets or slash their prices (or maybe even both), other companies kept doing as they always did. At first thought, you might think that lowering prices would bring in more business – think again… Often lowering your prices will cause your potential clients to devalue what you are offering. In tough economic time, discount marketing can actually backfire. And the last thing you want to do in a time like this is reduce your marketing budget.

We are all very aware that many businesses that existed several years ago are no longer around. It’s a sad fact. If you are using financial hard times as an excuse to reduce or eliminate your marketing there is a good chance your customers and potential clients will think you have gone by the wayside. It is, however, a great time to evaluate what you are doing to market your business. Make sure you are utilizing that marketing budget and doing the things that will remind people you are still here. Build those vital relationships. Keep moving forward. Stay the course. And stay in front of your customers minds… that way you can be confident that when your products and/or services are needed, they will come to you.
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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