Corporate Gifts: What About ‘Thanks for Just Sticking Around'?

An additional interesting finding from the Bersin study is the acceptance value of peer-to-peer awards compared to the more traditional “top-down” awards that are often viewed as being politically motivated. Fawbush has seen that in their own culture at BIC Graphic.

“At BIC, we have our own peer-to-peer awards that generate a lot of pride and engagement—definitely a strong way of building company morale. We are seeing an overall rise in recognition spending as the economy improves. Companies are launching new programs more than ever as part of an effort to remain an employer of choice and to retain the talent they have.”

Josh Bersin, of Bersin and Associates, has a Top 5 list of the best activities in award programs:

1) Recognize people based on specific results and behaviors.
2) Implement peer-to-peer recognition—not top-down.
3) Share recognition stories.
4) Make recognition easy and frequent.
5) Tie recognition to your own company values or goals.

I might add a sixth: Make sure you’ve clearly identified the intended use and audience, so your supplier is aware and can provide a proper risk assessment of the materials used in your award and incentive sales effort.

How about you? Are you looking at awards as a growth area in sales and marketing for your business?