The best marketers are said to be those that utilize all arsenal in their possession to improve the business, with employees being one of the most important tools.
When children in the family help or do something right, they are always appreciated by either a gesture or a gift to show that what they have done means a lot. This encourages and motivates the kid to keep doing things right. Great marketers look after their employees in a similar way.
Successful marketers are now realizing that the “Get it done right away, or else” approach to managing their staff is not effective any longer. Slavery is no longer acceptable in the marketing world or in any form of business for that matter. The manager of today is the partner with the employees and not above them.
Recognition in the form of letting workers know that their efforts are appreciated is crucial to the success of a business and encourages higher performance levels, by promoting sales and encouraging customer confidence.
Most employers do have yearly performance evaluations and salary increases; however, the workplace today is motivated by the thinking, “What do I get from this?” Immediate gratification is also expected in certain types of work, such as marketing, upon reaching or going beyond the targets expected of them. Therefore, waiting for the whole year to pass by, before rewarding a person’s efforts is not really enough to recognize performance.
Employee recognition does not have to be an expensive proposition and can be in any form but has to be sensible. If the reward is perceived by the employees as silly, it will totally dilute the motivation factor. Management has to provide some sort of value in their recognition.
There are several ways of rewarding top sales performances. Cash still seems to be the most obvious choice as it can help the employee in many ways; however, some studies revealed that recipients forget about the award after spending the money. A recognition gift such as a plaque or something else, other than cash provides the benefit of reminding the employee of their achievements.
Many surveys reveal that many a time, employees feel neglected, which is the attitude prevalent in a large percentage of the workforce. It is common to hear employees complaining that they do not get any positive reinforcement for good performance.
Companies with reputation for good customer service always put a lot of stress on recognizing good performance at every level. A totally customer driven company not only ensures that these people are rewarded but also makes sure this recognition is publicized, not only to the people in the company but also to the community. Top executives have programs to honor individuals for their performances and when it is done in public, this serves as an advertisement letting people get a glimpse of the company’s ability to keep their employees motivated.
Another intelligent thing that is done by many marketing management people is to display the “best customer service” or some such award that has been given to an employee, to the public, with the view that this will increase confidence levels in the services as well as the products of the company. They encourage their employees who receive the awards to display the award either on their desk or in some other prominent spot.
Recognition awards do the job of communicating a strong message to the customers that the company, the products, the employees and their services are the best. This is the reason a recognition award not just boosts the employee’s performance but also has the potential to boost sales by promoting new business leads and generating more sales.
Management experts say that employee attitude has a great deal of influence on customer retention. This is the reason many companies provide recognition awards and incentives to sales employees in the frontline. Evidence reveals that these incentives encourage the sales personnel to provide better service to the customers and improves their performance levels.
Recognition with goal alignment is the first and foremost thing for an organization, whether it is to improve working conditions, to increase retention or to improve customer service. Employers need to recognize these top employees by having effective recognition programs in place.
According to management pundits, employee recognition serves as the best marketing tool than anything else ever can. Putting it to best use is the only way of taking the organization to greater heights.
