Tagged: recognizing salespeople

January 14, 2013

The Number 1 Thing Your Employees Want More Of…(No, It’s Not Money)

What’s the number one thing talented employees want? To be praised and appreciated for what they do. Research studies continually show that this aspect of a job is the one that most determines whether or not you retain your top performers. Why then do those same research studies find that it is also the area employees say managers neglect? We all know that praising our staff is important and most of us feel that we are doing it on a regular basis. So again, why do most employees say they aren’t getting it? Probably it is because we don’t do it the right way. In fact, many managers are really bad at it. I know what you’re thinking, “Can praise ever really be bad?” Isn’t it like pizza, even when it’s done badly, it’s still pretty darn good? Actually, praise delivered in the wrong way can have the opposite effect of what you intended. More about that in a minute…

Praise, The Addictive Drug

Praise is absolutely critical to a person feeling positive about his work. Gallup found that 69% of employees prefer praise and recognition from their managers more than financial rewards, and 82% percent say when they receive praise it inspires them to improve their performance.

How much praise does someone need? Gallup suggests that most people need daily praise in their work environment. In a study* published in American Psychologist, researchers found that top performers experienced a positive to negative emotions ratio at a minimum 3:1 and as high as 11:1. This means that for a person to “flourish” he/she needs to experience at least 3 positive interactions for every 1 negative. When you think about how much negative feedback a salesperson receives every day, it becomes more apparent why sales managers in particular, need to supply the positive feedback in order to stimulate those positive emotions. That is where praise comes into play.

When you praise a person it obviously produces positive emotions. This causes a chemical reaction in the brain and a release of the chemical called Dopamine. This is the powerful and addictive chemical that when released, makes a person feel joy, pleasure, or pride. When Dopamine is released, it is exactly the same chemical response that happens after taking cocaine. If you praise someone for a particular behavior, Dopamine is released which gives the person a “high” and makes him want to repeat the behavior to induce that feeling again. And, praising your employees is a lot cheaper than cocaine.

All of this may sound very time consuming. How are you going to find time to praise all of your employees on a daily basis? First, YOU are not the only one who can be doling out the praise. Encourage a culture of peer recognition and praise. Getting praise from a co-worker can produce the same rush of emotions as it does when a person receives it from a boss. Secondly, it’s likely that you interact with your employees many times throughout the day and probably over a hundred times a week. Praising someone can take 10 seconds.

The more difficult thing is remembering to do it. When you see or hear about something praiseworthy make a note or enter it in your calendar or to-do list so that you don’t forget to deliver the praise. A helpful tool is a Praise Log. It’s a simple way to keep track of who and what you want to praise. if you track yourself with this tool, you will find it becomes second nature and you will develop your praise muscles!

How To Give (And NOT Give) Praise

Be Specific. Praise needs to given for a specific behavior. Passing someone in the hall and saying, “Hey, you’re doing a great job, I appreciate it,” is NOT praise. In fact, that is the type of thing that will have the opposite effect on a person. Now that person is wondering, “Does she even KNOW what I do or care?” Instead, try something like, “I really appreciate the way you took care of Client XYZ’s issue with billing. I know that was difficult and I just wanted to thank you.” When you are done, leave – don’t go on to bring up other work situations – that can be done separately. You want the person to have a moment to digest the praise and feel the release of Dopamine.

Go To Their Turf. Don’t call your employee into your office to deliver praise. It’s more effective if you make the effort to go to them. Besides, everybody’s stomach drops with a summons to the boss’ office even if you haven’t done anything wrong (it’s like that feeling when you see a police car behind you and are nervous even if you aren’t speeding). If you can’t deliver it in-person then write a handwritten note, email, text, call, or leave a voice mail message. In-person praise is powerful but I also think it’s good to mix in written praise as well. Written notes can be saved and pulled out and re-read when you need a little pick-me-up.

Be Sincere. Seems like a no-brainer, but don’t praise someone if you don’t genuinely feel appreciative. Most salespeople have a very well developed B.S. detector.

Be Timely. Try to give the praise as close to the action that warranted it, to reinforce the behavior.

Praise Something Less Obvious. Yes, you should praise a salesperson for getting a great sale. But it is also important to praise some of the “little things” that a person does that helps get to the accomplishment. Praise the behaviors you want to see repeated.

Praise Along The Way. Don’t always wait to praise an end result. Give praise for continuing work on a difficult task. This type of praise encourages a person to keep pushing and not give up.

Praise Everyone. It’s important to praise all of your employees, regularly. This includes your veterans as well as rookies. Don’t think a veteran sales person doesn’t need it – I guarantee you no matter how much praise the person has received, it’s like jello, “there’s always room for more.” What if you have an employee and you can’t find anything sincere and genuine to praise? Fire the employee – she is in the wrong position and deserves to work in a job where she can shine.

Praise Is Not Deli Meat. Therefore, praise should not be “sandwiched” between corrective feedback. Praise should ALWAYS be given without any “buts” or other information attached to it.

Manners Are Not Praise. Saying “thank you for getting me that report” or “thanks for your help” is not praise. It’s good manners to say these things (which are very important of course) but don’t confuse it with praise. Saying, “thank you for getting me that report and outlining your ideas the way you did; it really helped me understand the issues better and make a better decision” is praise.

Get Over Yourself. Sometimes managers are uncomfortable giving praise. They feel it comes across awkward or they get nervous. That’s ok. You still need to give it. Like anything else, practice makes it easier. Remember, this isn’t about how YOU feel, it’s about the person you are praising.

Commit to making praising your employees a top priority. You’ll boost those positivity ratios and you’ll see a boost in your team’s productivity as well.

“The two things people want more than sex or money are recognition and praise.” – Mary Kay Ash, Founder Of Mary Kay Cosmetics

*2005, American Psychologist, Barbara L. Fredrickson and Marcial F. Losada study

How To Be A Good Boss Infographic:

October 7, 2012

20 Low-Cost or No-Cost Ways To Increase Employee Engagement

You want your highly talented, top producing employees to stay? Give them more money, right? Well, not necessarily. Sure offering a fair, competitive salary will help attract great talent. To retain great employees they need to be engaged (no, not to each other). What is an engaged employee? Here is how Gallup defines the levels of employee engagement⁸.

• ENGAGED employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive innovation and move the organization forward.

• NOT-ENGAGED employees are essentially “checked out.” They are sleepwalking through their workday. They are putting in time, but not enough energy or passion into their work.

• ACTIVELY DISENGAGED employees aren’t just unhappy at work; they’re busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish.

WHY IS ENGAGEMENT IMPORTANT?

Just a 5% increase in your employees overall engagement converts into a 25-85% increase in profit.¹
Companies with a high percentage of engaged employees have almost FOUR times the “earnings per share” growth rate as other companies in their same industries.²
Companies with high numbers of engaged employees have 13% lower turnover rates.⁶
Increases in recognition and praise leads to higher employee engagement which leads to lower turnover, higher customer loyalty, and increased overall productivity.²
66% of employees cited “appreciation” as very significant motivator to performance.⁶
Engaged employees are twice as likely as those who are actively disengaged to recruit people to their company.²

Now here are some scary statistics to consider:

72% of American employees are either “Not Engaged” or “Actively Disengaged”.²
79% of employees who quit cite a lack of appreciation as a key reason for leaving.⁴
70% of top salespeople say they left because of a breakdown in their relationship with their manager.³

What Causes Employees To Become Disengaged?

Through research, Gallup has identified 12 questions that they’ve shown relate to employee engagement (The Gallup Q12⁷). Do you think your employees would answer “yes” to these?

Do you know what is expected of you at work?

Do you have the materials and equipment to do your work right?

At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?

In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?

Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?

Is there someone at work who encourages your development?

At work, do your opinions seem to count?

Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?

Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?

Do you have a best friend at work?

In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?

In the last year, have you had opportunities to learn and grow?

Not sure how engaged your employees are? A good place to start is to survey them. You can create a survey at no cost at http://www.surveymonkey.com. Or, do an internet search for employee engagement surveys as there as scores of companies who specialize in this area.

20 Ways To Increase Employee Engagement:

Here are some no-cost or low-cost ways to increase employee engagement. Not all of these will be right for your particular situation, but some of these are things that everyone could, and should, be doing.

1. Give each employee a sheet to fill out and ask them what are the ways they like to be recognized (public, private, peers, managers, CEO?) and 5 ways they like to be rewarded.

2. Give meaningful, specific, timely, sincere THANK YOU’s to your employees on a regular basis. EVERY EMPLOYEE SHOULD RECEIVE SOME SORT OF RECOGNITION OR APPRECIATION ONCE EVERY 7 DAYS AT A MINIMUM.

3. Peer-to-peer recognition. Allow your employees to award “bonus bucks” of play money to co-workers for a job well done, helping others, reaching a goal, etc. Create a “prize closet” where employees can choose prizes with their accumulated “bucks.” Prizes can be movie tickets, restaurant gift cards, company shwag, car wash coupons – get creative!

4. Post thank you notes to a person’s office door or cubicle.

5. Reward a job well done with a special parking place. Maybe yours?

6. Reward employees by offering to do one job task that they dislike the most in their jobs, for one week.

7. Write a note to the spouse of a high performing employee, praising the great job he or she is doing.

8. Create an “ABCD” award – going Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.

9. Publish individual as well as team accomplishments in a company newsletter.

10. Establish a company social network (see www.Yammer.com) where employees and management can communicate successes and important information.

11. Put up a large bulletin board and allow employees to post things of personal interest, successes, and notes of thanks and encouragement.

12. Always start a company meeting, large or small, with some sort of team or individual recognition.

13. Create a traveling “trophy” that can be passed from employee to employee for meeting certain criteria.

14. Celebrate employees’ hiring anniversaries with the company – reward retention and loyalty.

15. Recognize a great performance with a standing ovation.

16. Give certificates for free car washes – or wash the car yourself! Great for salespeople.

17. Create a “recognition book.” This can be as simple as a spiral bound notebook. Employees write a thank you and give recognition to a co-worker and “pass it on.”

18. Put up a large whiteboard with dry erase pens. Employees can write successes, thank you notes, or encouragement. Erase it each week and write new ones.

19. Have the managers cook breakfast at work for a team that hits a particular goal.

20. Make sure each employee has a weekly individual meeting with his or her manager where goals and expectations are being discussed as well as asking employees for input and ideas.