Recognition Top 50 – Part 1

1. A company sends birthday cards with Barnes and Noble gift cards to ranking field reps
2. At a Wisconsin-based company, the most popular column in the company's newsletter is about the current competitions, with winners of previous competitions showcased
3. The marketing department sends a broadcast voicemail daily (Monday - Friday) with a motivational message, success story, or whatever helps the field enjoy what they do
4. The CEO travels twice a year to conduct town meetings around the country, inviting local leaders ahead of time to meet at a special pre-function, then recognizing them and meeting their guests
5. A Connecticut-based company singles out top-performing field reps at its quarterly regional meetings and has them get up in front of the meetings and explain what they are doing
6. A Florida-based company opens the books to its field advisory council, sharing the revenue analysis and relevant profitability elements, helping them see how their performances affect the results and linking performance to operations
7. One company sends a box of specially designed business cards with a special logo representing the leadership roundtable upon achievement of director rank
8. A Texas-based company uses a three-and-a-half foot gorilla to recognize the month's top enroller. The gorilla arrives and stays with the top recruiter who receives instructions to forward the gorilla when the new winner is announced.
9. Several companies hold a special reception at their annual convention to allow field reps to meet and mingle with corporate employees who are working behind the scenes
10. A Utah-based company found that field reps became more and more creative after their online suggestion system was launched. Finding that their suggestions were recognized and taken seriously encouraged teamwork and fostered strong loyalty
11. A Utah-based company recognizes field leaders with awards such as Most Helpful Consultant and Nicest Consultant. Corporate front-line employees vote for the field reps they think should win the titles, and executives make the presentations
12. A Texas-based company uses field surveys to gather rankings of upline leader qualities and behaviors, including how well the leaders train, support and communicate. Leaders are then rewarded based on the results
13. One executive has a system for identifying field reps that go above and beyond the call of duty, then goes out of his way to thank people for their work in the field, using voicemail, calls, personal notes and e-mails to express his appreciation
14. The CEO of an Idaho-based company still calls and personally congratulates top-rank achievers when they first cross the finish line to their new rank
15. The ten members of an active field advisory council are seated in order of their prior period's productivity, from first chair down the line
16. A sales director's field team is spread all over the country, so she disciplines herself to be on the phone with them randomly and joins conference calls.
17. One company sent an email to its entire organization inviting recipients to applaud the accomplishments of its National Directors (top field reps) at 3 p.m. Easter Time Zone. At exactly that time, throughout the company (and reportedly throughout the country), people took a moment to clap their hands.
18. A company headquartered in Southern California encourages e-mail recognition, but with the following tips: (a) embellish praise with specifics, (b) act immediately, (c) say it right the first time, and (d) follow up face-to-face when possible.
19. Advice from a sage: start small and build. Small changes can have an immediate impact and give you momentum, and if you wait until you create the perfect program, it may never get implemented.
20. A Utah-based company assigns a special account manager to qualified field leaders. The SAM is responsible for providing priority service to a specified number of leaders, possessing high-level decision-making responsibilities
21. A CEO sent a personal letter to the family of the company's top sales leader thanking them for the sacrifices over the course of an intense year of sales travel.
22. Morale in the office and in the field increased as one company launched an e-mail based suggestion system, carefully managed the input, and recognized contributors.
23. Some companies invite field reps to meet their front-line customer service reps when the field reps visit the office. A special tour and script increases the impact.
24. A San Diego, California firm provides postage-paid "spotlight cards" for field reps to complete and send in should they wish to spotlight great contributions at the office and in the field. The company specially recognizes recipients.
25. A Dallas, Texas firm offers three-day weekends to field reps who meet production milestones. They send a check and gift vouchers to represent a generous day's pay and a family evening of dining and entertainment.