It is almost Thanksgiving and, for many of us, we will be working at our centers, at least part time as will some of our employees.
My wife works P/T at the Lord and Taylor department store will be up and at ‘em and in the store at 5:45 AM on black Friday. She says she loves doing this, loves helping people and loves the whole holiday atmosphere.
Me? I love the helping part. The 5:45 AM part, not so much!
In any case, both you and your employees are taking a very special family time and sacrificing that precious commodity to sustain and grow your business. Yes, you are paying them overtime and yes you appreciate their efforts, but how can you make their contributions to your business more meaningful to them…and to your customer.
Would buying them all a Christmas Turkey or Ham show greater appreciation? Would contributing to their favorite charity be more meaningful? Or would just giving them a $XX Amazon gift card be more valuable? Yes these incentives would be nice and no doubt appreciated, but I’ve always been a big believer in recognition of achievement. So here’s a suggestion.
Maybe place a big sign in the center with the employees’ names and pictures on it that reads:
Recognition is the least expensive and one of the highest forms of human needs that you could easily and honestly satisfy. Plus, you will gain greater customer respect when they see you acknowledging an employee; after all most of your customers are employees too.
As we say in classical marketing; it’s always about having a compelling offer delivered to the right target at the right time and at the right price that builds and sustains business.
Delivering the kind of a “recognition” message –as I described several paragraphs before – may not be, in the strictest sense of the word, a marketing message, but it is a human message; it is a human a story that differentiates you from your competition and to me, well, that is the most effective form of marketing I know!
Happy Thanksgiving to All.
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