Incentive - April 2008 - (Page 63) THE INCENTIVE MERCHANDISE BUYER’S HANDBOOK CHAPTER 6 presenting and delivering the awards I t's all well and good to devise the perfect merchandise awards program to drive motivation and employee engagement, but it's quite another to assure quality control. There are many steps in the incentive program planning process, and among the most important are making sure that personalization and customization are appropriate to the product, the occasion, and the recipient; that the awards are presented in the best, most suitable way; and that there are no snafus in the delivery of what recipients have coming their way. CUSTOMIZATION AND PERSONALIZATION Since many managers already maintain employee worksheets with clear performance goals, it also makes sense to develop a separate worksheet for each employee listing personal hobbies, activities, and reward preferences. The goal as PLANNING WISE you’ve learned by now is to tailor, as much as possible, merchandise awards to the recipient's preferences. The rule of thumb is to find gifts that are meaningful to • Do offer a number of merchandise choices. Merchandise has real impact with the particular employee, but international participants, as it does with the U.S. audience, because it is delivered to the home and they open the package in front of the family, which builds excitement. which the employee may not purchase for himself. Personalization • When localizing communication, think beyond simple translation of words. For example, may not always be possible given find a local term for American terminology like “We want to hit it out of the park” in a the breadth of your audience. But creative piece for a program. consider boosting the perceived • Decentralize fulfillment, doing it locally or regionally. This allows for merchandise value of their achievement and customized to the interests of the target audience and eliminates issues like adaptors connection to the organization and electrical compatibility. with a sculpture, trophy, or a • Form partnerships with local experts (an incentive house, fulfillment company, etc.) weighty corporate logo useful as a who are connected to the merchandise trends of the country or region. paperweight. Logoed merchandise is particularly important in promoting the motivational program throughout its duration. A kickoff of a safety program, for example, can be reinforced with the presentation of a logoed first-aid kit (design any kick-off logoed item to the particular program). The program then can be driven with reminders such as logoed Tshirts and umbrellas, pens and hats, even little desk-set items that make an office or cubicle feel more homey— desk clocks, computer keyboard brushes, business card caddies, and the like. While promotional products used to drive a motivational program are often logoed—their job is to act as a reminder, after all—the actual payoff merchandise reward does not often carry the company marquee. Crystal vases, plaques, and trophies obviously commemorate specific achievement, and thus are engraved. However, it's often desirable to be subtle here. An expensive Waterford crystal vase, for example, that would be displayed in the recipi- Dealing with a Global Incentive Audience SPECIAL SECTION April 2008 | 63
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