|
|
Clocks are a longtime favorite in service awards programs. After all they’re practical, decorative, and great reminders of time spent with the company. But when searching for incentive program ideas, there’s no need to stick with the old fashioned mantel clock standbys. Shake up Father Time with a different view.
Take it Outside - These days many people are looking at their back yards as an extension of their living quarters. Outdoor fireplaces, more comfortable furniture, and built-in barbeques are all the rage. To add another facet, recipients might enjoy choosing this indoor/outdoor City Centre clock by Howard Miller. Dials on the front and the back add a certain old world charm. And of course it’s water resistant.
Wall Flowers - The kitchen is one room of the house that can’t be without a clock. This charming wall clock by Bulova adds a beautiful grape motif to its weathered 18″ dial.
Table Time – Here’s a unique spin on the clock. This “Clocktail Table” will always let guests know it’s time for a visit. Perfect for living room or rec room. And it’s battery operated, so you won’t have to figure out how to wind this baby up!
Retro’s the Rage – For those who want to add a bit of time gone by to their desk or office, this beautiful piece offers an antique walnut finish and a cool 1940′s design reminiscent of Philip Marlowe’s office.
Milking the Company Theme - Okay, we couldn’t resist. No, not everyone is going to moo over this one (there we go again), but if your company has a theme like cows perhaps, it’s always fun to offer items within your service awards program that reflect the company spirit.
Extreme Home Style – Everyone enjoys watching Ty Pennington work his magic on a home makeover. Now you can add a bit of his style to your program with this Ty Pennington design waterfall fountain clock. The textured glass back panel beautifully enhances the cascading water, and a recessed bottom mounted lamp illuminates the glass fountain panel and accentuates the flowing water. Sure to add a bit of relaxation and a zen moment or two.
Incentive program ideas are sometimes hard to come by. It’s nice to keep the favorites such as clocks and other timepieces on the list, and adding a fresh and unique twist to the selection makes choosing that much more enjoyable for everyone! For more great ideas (or just to chat. We love to chat.) you can contact us at 1-888/664-6449 or send us an email and we can help you find more timely ideas!
 Been Lazy About Social Networking? You’ve put it off as long as you can stand it. Adding online social media to your business has been on your to-do list since the over-30 crowd started venturing onto Facebook, but it seems like a daunting task. You? Tweet? Perhaps you thought it best left to the likes of Ashton Kutcher, but let’s face it – these days businesses need a social media aspect. Your potential clients and customers expect it, and after all it’s not that scary. We’ll walk you through the simpler aspects to get you started. Before you know it, you’ll be opening up your business, large or small, to a much broader and international audience.
Twitter: I start here because although it may initially sound confusing, Twitter is probably the simplest social networking tool to handle once you’ve spent about 10 or 15 minutes playing with it. Basic setup is easy and quick and tweeting is simple: You write something – anything – in 140 characters or less. You can announce a sale at your shop, share a company goal, or talk about the weather. And since you can add a link to your company’s website within your tweet, you’re able to share who you are with lots and lots of people who have found you on Twitter and have decided to “follow” you. When you get an email letting you know you’ve got a Twitter follower, be sure and follow them back. It’s all about the give and take, and the more followers you have the broader your reach. You can check out our Twitter page to see who we’re following and who’s following us (right-hand column) for a quick and easy way to follow some interesting companies and HR professionals around the globe.
Facebook Fan Page: If you already have a Facebook account, then this one’s really easy. Just visit someone else’s Fan Page (here’s ours) and click on the link in the bottom left-hand corner (Create a Page for My Business) to get started. Facebook will walk you through the setup. You’ll notice on our page we usually announce whenever we have a new blog article so our Facebook Fans will know it’s time to swing by for a visit. But you can use the Facebook Fan page to announce whatever you’d like about your business. You can add links, product photos, video of your unique machining processes, etc. If you don’t have a personal Facebook page, you’ll need one to set up the Fan Page. It doesn’t mean you have to jump into Facebook headlong, however. A simple personal page is fine – you don’t even need to open it up for others to get into unless you really can’t resist the temptation. The point here is to add a layer of contact with your business that many potential customers want and will be happy to use.
Forums: If you’d rather just talk back and forth and share your expertise, you may want to check out the world of forums. It seems they exist for everything on the planet. Let’s say your company sells cat toys. Google “cat forums” and you’ll get 154 million (not kidding here) to choose from! Pick a few out, sign up, and search for areas where you can comfortably discuss the subject with those who have left questions that you can answer, for instance. While many forums poo-poo having you blatantly hawk your wares, you’ll still be able to share your knowledge and, when appropriate, mention your company products or services. You may find you’ll get yourself a nice following within some of the forums, and that means yet one more way to effectively reach out.
Blogs: Admittedly, you’ve got to really enjoy writing, or have someone in your staff who does, but having a corporate blog provides a great way to communicate with current and potential customers and anyone else in your business. Again, share your expertise. If you’ve got that cat toy company, you’ll probably want to blog about cat care, cat hair, cat pajamas, etc. There are some fantastic corporate blogs out there that receive huge amounts of followers. Everyone from Southwest Airlines to Coca-Cola to (ahem) General Motivation Company have added blogging to their social networking repertoire. You need not blog daily, but a once-a-week post can certainly add a fun and informative layer to a growing company.
These few suggestions just scratch the surface of adding online social media to your business, but they’re certainly good places for any company who’s ready to venture out. The important thing is to start! Even if you aren’t the sort to add your kids’ photos to Facebook, Twitter about your dinner, or blog about your family reunion, you’ll find a great advantage to looking at these networks as free and useful business tools. And make sure to let everyone know once you get going! Put up Facebook and Twitter links on your website, add a blog link to your email signature, let customers know you’re out there in the forums. Potential business is out there and it’s looking for YOU in these very places. It’s just a matter of hooking up.
 Having the right tools for the job is important. We’ve all found ourselves with a box before us, taped up tighter than Fort Knox, and we have nothing sharper than a house key in our pocket. Well, General Motivation Company is known for having the right tools. That’s why we’re giving away the handy set pictured to the left. Our multitool and folding utility knife set have beautiful hardwood handles. The multitool contains needle nose pliers, screw driver, bottle opener, even a powerful LED flashlight and a nylon carrying case ($60 retail). Both items will be personalized with the winner’s name and logo. All those handy features mean you won’t be without the right tools again.
If you’re a business owner, or if you work in human resources or public relations, then you know perhaps more than anyone the importance of having the right tool for the job. Whether you’ve got a service award program that needs a serious makeover, or if you’re searching for just the right promotional items to get your name out there, you could think of us at General Motivation as your multitool. We have an endless selection of items, and if you think of something we don’t have, we’ll find it for you.
Want to enter to win our Wood Handled Multitool and Knife Set? Just follow the simple steps below. If you just can’t wait to win, give us a call at 1-888/664-6449. We’ve got the tools to help you out.
Multiple Options for Multiple Entries:
1.) Leave us a comment telling us your most indispensable tool at work – or the one you wish you had! (***You may enter once a day, but please list a new item you like each time.) Remember, leave an interesting comment. If we cannot contact the winner, you might be chosen instead based on your comment.
2.) Blog about, Twitter, Subscribe and/or Become a Fan on Facebook! Get an extra entry for each of these activities. This time just leave a separate comment for each (only one time for each extra activity completed), giving me a link to your blog post, your Twitter name, and/or a note saying you’re an FB Fan and/or subscriber. SUBSCRIBE HERE!
(Psst! Our Twitter name is hrhelper.)
You have until midnight EST on Friday, July 9, 2010, to enter. Winners are randomly selected.
 - by Margaret Moore
It is rare today to find someone who isn’t struggling with some aspect of health and well-being: stress, overwhelm, low energy, weight fluctuation (mostly upward), health, etc. I am writing this series of brief pieces to offer insights on what it takes to get over and beyond such struggles, changing or even transforming on a small or large scale. I get as much out of writing these pieces as anyone reading them – we all need regular doses of new inspiration and ideas. Fortunately, the knowledge base on how we change is ever growing.
My first piece last month started on motivation and in particular the importance of the inside out approach — finding one’s heartfelt desire for a life improvement that serves as the light in dark moments. The brighter the better. This burning desire helped a schizophrenic woman get out of a psychiatric hospital and onto her feet living independently as a manicurist, enjoying the satisfaction of producing prettily painted finger and toenails. While there is much more to share on motivation, it isn’t wise to do that until we bring into the picture a second and equally important dimension: our confidence in being successful at whatever it is we want to change.
Whether you think you can or think you can’t you’re right – Henry Ford
When we really want to do something, and we also really believe that we can do it, the synergy of motivation and confidence creates an upward spiral that is unstoppable. However, self-doubts (AKA “I can’t do it”) stop us in our tracks. While good intentions abound, we drive with the brakes on when our confidence is low. A famous coach, Dave Buck, once said that what draws a client to a coach is that the coach’s certainty is greater than the client’s doubt. Confidence is often the missing ingredient on the road to change.
So even though I would have loved to win an Olympic medal in cross- country skiing in my 20s and I love the feeling of a strong rhythmic glide through snow, I did not have the requisite physical talent. So my confidence in succeeding was a zero out of 10, taking my motivation to zero too. Most smokers really want to quit smoking but they doubt their ability to break both the physical and psychological addiction, borne out by failed attempts. So instead of keeping the motivational fire lit, they light a cigarette, enjoying the temporary bliss of a mindful moment while feeling badly that they lack the confidence needed to quit for good.
In the medical expert model, health professionals have long focused on providing knowledge and advice. While knowledge is valuable and it can increase both motivation and confidence, it is just a start. One of the reasons that most people regain the weight they lose within two years of dieting is that while they worked diligently to lose weight, they didn’t grow the skills and confidence needed to maintain their lighter weight. Many invest in personal training sessions and learn how to lift weights safely, adding strength and tone, but don’t gain the skills and confidence to work out on their own.
I am coaching a client named Susan who has Stage IV breast cancer, and when we started she had come close to giving up on forging a new life. She first decided to commit to finding and following a new life purpose, tentatively at first. Having had a long career in commercial real estate, reinventing her professional life at age 50 seemed way outside her comfort zone. Susan took some initial steps with an open mind and carefully recruited a supportive social network, attending diligently to keeping her fears at bay. She boldly reached out to a national conference on integrative oncology and soon had created a team and vision to start a nonprofit and raise funds to allow cancer patients to get access to resources to support thriving, just as Susan is modeling. Susan’s motivation outpaced her confidence initially. And then by breaking the journey into small steps that worked well, her confidence caught up within a few months. Even her bone tumors have regressed, enhancing her confidence further. Now Susan is unstoppable.
Whether we’re getting fit, learning how to meditate or cook or developing a new track in life, it’s important to build both confidence and motivation, so like Susan we’re driving to wellness without the brakes on.
Author Bio: Margaret Moore (Coach Meg) writes for the Huffington Post. She is a personal coach in health care.
|
|
