Little Things. Big Results.

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Last week on his company's blog, Tom Miller, President of The Miller Company, wrote about an experience he recently had taking a cab ride through downtown Chicago.  He chronicles riding in a cab driven by Moon S. Choi, who was recently voted as Chicago's Best Cab and Best Cab Driver in 2010. What makes him the best? It's all the little touches that Choi puts into his cab service. Miller describes the unique cab atmosphere in this way:

" My senses painted the picture in this order - classical music at just the right volume was playing on the radio, the inside of the car was immaculate (when I got out of the car at my destination, I noticed the handle of a small hand-held vacuum under the front seat), and there was a fresh bottle of water in the side of both back doors along with a pad of receipts."

In addition, Choi takes a quicker and roughly 25% cheaper route to Miller's destination than normal cabbies. As a result, Miller tips him more than he would a normal driver, takes a picture with him and takes time to write a post about the experience. Assuming that Choi has had similar reactions, that's a lot of success for a cabbie. The secret to the success? It's nothing big or elaborate about a simple cab ride that Choi does. It's all the little details like the music, cleanliness, bottled water that make a ride in his cab so enjoyable.

Rewarding Small Behaviors

It's easy to take the little things forgranted. Small behaviors that are often overlooked can make or break things for a company. These seemingly insignificant habits or attributes of a worker over time could have a significant impact on a business. Re-enforcing those small positive behaviors with recogntion or a reward will see a positive return down the road. Little behaviors added up create an overall image of an employee or company. Take a look at Choi. Playing soft classical music, a small bottle of water and the quick route were tiny little thing in of themeselves. However, combine those things and they create an overwhelmingly positive customer experience, paying off much larger returns for Choi in the long term.

It's a culmination of small behaviors and actions that help achieve company goals. In basketball, the ability to be able to shoot free throws seems insignificant in relation to ball-handling, size and footspeed on the court. However, free throws have helped make or break championship efforts for some basketball teams. An automaker employee's lack of attention to a certain detail can result in a recall costing millions of dollars.

How are you rewarding the little things your workers do right?

Does focusing on tiny matters help the big picture? 



Dyson's Urban-Friendly Device: Merch Monday

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It's hard to make mostly routine household items sexy but history proves that Dyson has a knack for accomplishing that feat. They've made noise with what is essentially a blade-less oscillating fan and their "Airblades" provide one of the faster hand drying experiences in modern public rest areas.

Dyson's real talent is found in vacuums. Their new DC26 Multi-floor Vacuum is proof positive of that innovative skill. 

Also known as the Dyson City, this vacuum minaturizes floor cleaning. For those of us who live in large metropolitan areas, space is often an issue and storing a vacuum is a simple task that quickly becomes a burden. It's small size (able to fit on a sheet of paper) makes storage in small urban living spaces a non-issue and works on multiple floor surfaces.

Can a vacuum this small still suck? The Dyson City comes with the same Root Cyclone technology that is found in its older brother vacuums - technology that allows the device to never lose suction. According to a recent Mashable article, some of the other features included in Dyson's new gadget are standards like a quick-release bag-less canister and exhaust filtration and a futuristic look that give it a great aesthetic appeal.

Household items are quickly rising redemption products in our current industry. Will the Dyson City see the same traction when it finally hits the US market?

A More "Social" 2010 Motivation Show

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Our booth in actionWhat a whirlwind of a week last week was.

Participating yet again in the Motivation Show at McCormick Place, we brought not one but two booths to the show this year. In addition to our recognizable conference area seen at the show the last couple of years, we also brought to the table a merchandise booth, showing off some of the hottest new trends in merchandise programs this year.

We also had the good fortune of being able to be positioned near Helping Hand Rewards, a socially responsible initiative founded by our current CEO Michael Arkes. Michael has done a lot of great work getting HHR off the ground the last couple of years, so it was a thrill to see him recognized by the IMA with a Circle of Excellence 'Social Responsibility' Award. Running HHR as a completely separate entity from Hinda, he's done a lot using his business know-how to help positively impact those less fortunate. Paul Hebert, managing director of I2I, even featured HHR on his monthly Influence Insiders monthly podcast. 

Social at the Show

We blogged a couple of weeks ago here about seeing social media at the show. In comparison to lastGiving the legs a breather year, there was definitely a great increase in participation through social channels and the Twitter hashtag #moti. Us along with Helping Hand Rewards initiated a geolocation effort, setting up Foursquare check-ins for our respective booths. Others also used Foursquare to check into the Motivation Show itself, resulting in a fierce competition for mayorship between @drewhawkins and @incentintel.

This year we tried to emphasize more sharing than marketing. We shared pictures of the show on Twitter and Helping Hand Rewards even uploaded some viral video of the show through YouTube, marking each video with the #moti hashtag. Others even shared learnings from keynotes and sessions on Twitter for those of us who may not have been able to attend. Though there were probably only around 20 people actively sharing, it showed a giant leap in our industry's adaptation of social media.

All in all we had a great time at the show this year. Of those of you that attended, what did you think of the show?

The LCD Price Dip: Merch Monday

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According to a recent CNN report, an oversupply of LCD TV panels is resulting in a drop in television prices. Seeing how the holiday season is just around the corner, this couldn't come at a better time! Prices are roughly 5% lower than they were this time last year and aren't expected to stop there. Researchers are predicting prices to bottom out around 12% lower than they were at 2009's lowest price points.

Should we really be surprised?

Electronic products go through different price cycles and LCD TVs aren't any different. As production increases and quanitities become more and more abundant, prices almost always drop. The technologies and materials for LCDs are becoming cheaper and more efficient, helping aid the price drop. With 3D televisions coming around the corner at their higher price points, regular flat panel pricing should absolutely be taking this dive. 

Will dropping prices increase the popularity of LCD TVs during the holiday season? What do you think?

Why Social Responsibility? Why Now?

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You know you've got a buzzworthy term when it becomes a widely-spread acronym. CSR - or corporate social responsibility - is one of those buzzworthy terms.

CSR is a widely used hashtag on Twitter and a concept big companies are jumping on almost as rapidly as social media. Consumers, potential hires and even other companies measure another company's worth in regards to its triple bottom line. Why has CSR taken precedent all of a sudden in regards to good business practices?

In many regards, brand image has a lot to do with it. Situations like what has happened with Enron/Adelphia-like companies (and more recently BP) have lowered the level of trust the public has with corporations. Lower trust = lower consumer confidence = lower brand value. Taking steps in social responsibility helps re-establish that trust, raise your brand value and build up that consumer confidence.

So how have some companies jumped in on the socially responsible bandwagon?

Of the bigger brands, Pepsi launced its Refresh Project. The company has sponsored a viral effort to encourage the sharing of good ideas that will help better the world we live in. If the idea receives enough votes, Pepsi donates money to start-up that idea and aid its launch. In this process, Pepsi has given away over $20 million to socially good ideas. This has helped Pepsi grow its digital fanbase and will most likely convert into more sales for the company. 

Other companies are incorporating social responsibility in their corporate gifts. In this Incentive Magazine article, Marriot utilized giving a washer basket from World of Good - a social enterprise helping overseas artisans create more sustainable lives - in their corporate gifting program. The article also discusses how other companies are utilizing products made by social enterprise groups to improve their employee incentive programs and boost their socially responsible practices simultaneously.

CSR promotes better business practices and is becoming less of a novelty and more of a necessity in today's world. More consumers (and employees) are seeking out more than just a good product - they are seeking companies with a solid triple bottom line.

The social responsibility train is moving full steam ahead. Are you on it?



How Did This Socially Responsible Incentive Thing Start?

Continuing on with our social responsibility theme this week, we're continuing on talking about the socially responsible initiative Helping Hand Rewards. The following is originally posted here on their blog.

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Who would’ve known that a dinner conversation with friends would spark a new initiative in the

incentives industry?

Back in 2003, Michael Arkes and his wife went out to dinner with friends Lauri Alpern and her husband. Lauri had just started her job co-directing a Chicago-based social enterprise The Enterprising Kitchen (TEK). Lauri explained the social purpose of TEK and how they helped homeless, at-risk or recently incarcerated women with employment by making soap products. She said they sold a lot of product but really weren’t making any money. Michael offered to help teach her how to replicate their sales success but do it in such a way to make money.

Over the next two and a half years, with Michael’s help and expertise, TEK increased how much they made by almost $500,000, which increased the number of people they were able to help from 28 to 78.

It was a great start but Arkes knew more needed to be done in regards to marketing.

“We were only selling to people that we knew, which I realized wasn’t sustainable. They needed to start marketing to potential prospects to sell more.”

However, being a small non-profit, there wasn’t any marketing spending being done for the sheer fact there wasn’t any extra money to do it. That’s where his new idea for Helping Hand Rewards came into play.

“I decided to start Helping Hand Rewards,” said Arkes. “ I could spend the money on marketing and business development. The idea was that the enterprises could pay me a commission on sales that we generated through Helping Hand Rewards.”

With that in mind, Arkes set out to find other social enterprise partners. His thought was that if he could do this for TEK, he would be able to help other enterprises as well. Also, having a wider assortment of products to offer under the HHR banner would appeal to a larger prospect base. Through hearing about social entrepreneurs in periodicals to referrals from the Social Venture Network, eight additional lines were ultimately added to the Helping Hand Rewards product mix over the last couple of years. Arkes now says the focus has shifted away from adding more groups and more onto growing sales of the enterprises Helping Hand Rewards works with.

It’s amazing how one casual dinner conversation could spawn an entrepreneurial interest that is helping better others’ lives everyday!



Socially Responsible Noncash Rewards: Merch Monday

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Merchandise Monday is typically posted on things you find around the home. We've talked iPods, TVs, vacuums, and even air cleaners. Some of your more typical merchandise incentives that could be used to motivate your workplace. However, what if your employees knew their rewards also contributed to making someone else's life better?

That's where Helping Hand Rewards comes in.

Washer BowlYou've probably heard about HHR through their blog, an Incentive Magazine or even from stopping by one of their booths at a trade show. If you aren't aware of what they do here it is in a nutshell: Helping Hand Rewards partners with several different social enterprise groups and uses their products in recognition and reward product assortments. For many of these social enterprises, the revenues generated from products sold help them re-invest more money into creating more opportunities and aid for those in need.

The products aren't just unique because of the causes they support. They're actually great products! Take a washer bowl from an HHR Artisans group. This bowl is created from finding recycled washers on workroom floors in India. The washers are individually welded together to create a beautiful bowl. Other products have similar fascinating Bright Endeavors Candlesattributes. For instance, a line Bright Endeavors candles are made from a water soluable soy-wax cased in recycled wine and beer bottles. Not only do the profits of those candles help their organization, the product is earth-friendly (like many of the other HHR products too).

There are far more stories behind all of the HHR partners and their products. All of them worth time checking out. If you're at the Motivation Show this year, stop by and learn more about the organizations at Booth #4503.

Continuing on this week, our blog posts will continue to focus on corporate social responsibility and how it can relate to our industry of employee recognition, rewards and loyalty. Stay tuned this week!