On the Road with Motivation Excellence: August 2021

On the Road with Motivation Excellence: August 2021

Things are changing quickly when it comes to travel. At Motivation Excellence, our goal is to keep our followers and clients informed on the latest protocols, trends and tips. In our On the Road series, we’ll highlight our own travels for leisure and business, as well as report on current client trends in the incentive industry. Look for the latest On the Road post at the end of each month. If you ever have travel questions during this uncertain time please reach out to us at ME@MotivationExcellence.com. We’re happy to be your virtual shotgun or plus one!

Taking it Easy in Aruba

Traveler: Brad Hecht, VP Travel
Destination: Aruba for Leisure

This was my first trip back to Aruba in more than 25 years, and I was pleasantly surprised! It wasn’t as windy as I remembered it and the area has grown nicely with great options for activities and dining. Service was great, every meal was excellent and the sun and sea were brilliant!

Traveling to Aruba with the current safety protocols was straightforward and reasonable. U.S. travelers need proof of a negative COVID PCR test within 72 hours to board the plane. Once on the island we needed to show proof of our negative test a few more times and proof that we purchased the mandatory Aruba supplementary health insurance. Airport personnel also needed to give us “clear to check-in” cards for our hotel stay.

Once we jumped through all the COVID protocols, our time on Aruba was unencumbered by the pandemic.

Coming back to the U.S. was a little more involved (read painful). An antigen or PCR test was required before checking in for our flight. These are often offered right at the resort. With all the extra stops and checks at the Aruba airport, it’s suggested you get there four hours pre-flight, which makes for a somewhat wasted travel day.

Key takeaways:

• The stay was worth the extra travel precautions
• The stray cats were not concerned about COVID at all

Experiencing American History & Sights

Traveler: Rhonda Brewer, VP Sales
Destination: Multiple states on the East Coast for leisure

Taking a trip to the Northeast in August could not have been more perfect; History, a beautiful coastline and scenic mountains, all in one trip! Add in being with great friends and working toward completing my goal to visit all 50 states, it was a bucket list moment for me.

Places we visited include:

• Boston, Cape Cod and Newburyport, Massachusetts
• Newport and Jamestown, Rhode Island
• Cape Neddick and Ogunquit, Maine
• Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• Mt. Ascutney area, Vermont

We hiked, biked and ate our way through this amazingly beautiful part of the United States. A couple noteworthy highlights include eating at a “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” restaurant called Red Arrow Diner (fabulous breakfast!) and seeing Zac Brown at a sold-out concert at Fenway Park (we’ve all missed live music!). Toasting to friends at the Cheers bar was a treat too!

Key takeaways:

• Tourists were out in full force enjoying great sights right here in the USA
• Self-guided tours are pretty easy in this area
• I’d highly recommend this area for business groups or leisure travel – lots of education, activities and venues
• Check masking and vaccination requirements for the states and counties you plan to visit ahead of time – where we visited, we had no issues, but we all know how quickly things can pivot.

Client Trends

Currently, we have multiple clients running end of the year incentive programs to capture Q4 growth potential in markets like veterinary and dental. Some are using lifestyle upgrade packages from our MaxRewardsYourWay offering, while others are rewarding increased sales with bonus award points to use in our online award options. Reach out to us at ME@MotivationExcellence.com if you have needs for a Q4 reward solution.

Coming Up Ahead

• We have a client taking 250 top customers to Wynn in Las Vegas for an incentive/appreciation event in September. Check back for our next On the Road blog to get an update on how it went!
• We’re also looking forward to industry events in San Diego and Paris this fall with SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence). We’ll give you the recaps in future On the Road posts.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride with Motivation Excellence as your guide!

Going for Gold; How Regular Recognition at your Company Makes Everyone a Winner

The 2020 Summer Olympics (held in 2021) just wrapped up and I’m sure you can still see the gleaming faces of medal winners on the podium. That’s the ultimate recognition; winning a gold medal in a sport you’ve trained in and persevered through! Obviously, for most of us, that’s not a realistic attainment, but even a gold star can turn someone’s day around for the better. That’s the brilliance behind recognition. It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing gesture. There are many degrees between a pat on the back and promotion to Vice President of Awesomeness (if that’s not a title, it should be)!

Motivation Excellence offers a wide variety of ways to recognize and reward important people in your business structure from employees to valued channel partners. In this blog, we’ll outline why having a recognition strategy in place is so important. Visit our website or reach out to ME@MotivationExcellence.com to learn more.

It’s About Trust, Motivation and Connection

Would it surprise you to hear that employees who receive recognition from their superiors actually trust their boss more? In this linked Forbes article, 90 percent of employees surveyed indicated higher levels of trust with the “higher-ups” if they had been commended for something in the past month. 

The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) reported that when employees feel their work leadership appreciates and recognizes their efforts 93 percent say they feel like they fit in at their organization and 91 percent say it motivates them to work harder for their boss and their colleagues. 

We know that the amount of telecommuting rose 115 percent between 2005 and 2015. Given the pandemic of 2020, work-from-home situations have risen even more dramatically across the country. Implementing a social network for recognition with your off-site staff is critical to keeping them connected and engaged.  Northstar Meetings Group released 20 ways to show appreciation to a spread-out workforce during and after the pandemic. Several of them call out the importance of taking time regularly to recognize employees’ successes and sharing positive stories through a social recognition network. 

It’s About the Why Behind the Recognition

For the person being recognized, it’s about feeling respected for their skills, included in the company culture, and acknowledged for their work. For the company offering the recognition, it’s about promoting a positive culture, highlighting the core values, and building lasting relationships with the people who make a difference to the bottom line AND the overall atmosphere of the company. 

Recognition can have both soft and hard costs, and both can give a super boost to retention rates, productivity, and workplace happiness. You might be surprised to hear that the vocalization of appreciation for good work can mean more than a monetary supplement. 

Here are some reasons why to show recognition to someone important to your organization:

• Birthdays
• Revenue-based accomplishments
• Training achievements
• Demonstrating company values
• Going above and beyond expectations
• Increasing new client contacts
• Kudos from customers
• Meeting or beating established goals
• Work anniversaries

It’s About How Recognition Happens

Knowing who you are recognizing, is as important as how you are showing them appreciation. A combination of verbalizing your kudos (either in writing, or in person, or both Epic Work Epic Life gives some great through-starters to authentically show appreciation for people’s accomplishments), and tying a reward to the recognition is a great way to make sure your intent comes through loud and clear. A reward does not have to have a cash value either. Depending on who the audience is, tailor the reward to fit the job level, demographic, and scope of accomplishment.

Here are some ways to recognize someone:

• Congratulate them on the internal company social site
• Give a day off
• Award accomplishments with pre-determined reward packages
• Reward top performers with a group travel experience or a travel getaway package
• Offer an award point platform to earn and redeem points as desired
• Increase flex working options
• Cater in a lunch for the team
• Plan an off-site experience
• Support a favorite charity
• Create incentive programs
• Show appreciation through saying “thank you,” or “good job!”
• Surprise stellar performance with a gift card of their choice

Hopefully, you now have a great understanding of why recognition is important and how you can administer it. Of course, Motivation Excellence is here to help you get started by offering suggestions to implement a Q4 spurt program to help you achieve your goals! You may not earn an Olympic gold medal, but your company will see the benefits to productivity, retention, morale, and trust in leadership! That could be even better!

From Mystery Destinations to Alternative Awards: Options to Keep Your Incentive Program Alive & Well

We’ve been down this path before. Surges in COVID cases cause some people to be hesitant to travel now, or even plan travel a few months ahead. Companies are faced with deciding when employees will be back in offices AND when people will be traveling again for business. Perhaps further down on the list is deciding when to revive your highly motivating group travel incentives. According to the Incentive Research Foundation, 80% of U.S. employees surveyed found group travel to be highly motivating, so don’t let your revival fall too far down that list!

Motivation Excellence has good news for business leaders out there wanting to get their reward and recognition programs back on track, yes, even with group travel!

In this white paper, we’ll give an overview of how and why “Mystery Destinations” work. We’ll also give other options for rewarding experiences outside of group travel, if you’re still not ready to commit to that quite yet. As you begin to shore up budgets and plans for 2022, do not overlook this critical piece to increased productivity and improved company culture!

“Mystery Destinations”

This is a tried and true concept we’ve used many times during the history of our company. The benefits to you greatly outweigh the risks, and during this particularly fluctuating period, it can be a great fit for safety-minded business leaders who still want to use a group travel incentive.

Instead of contractually committing to a property and destination more than a year out, our Mystery Destination solution allows you to book much closer to travel. This significantly lowers the risk of having to cancel.  After talking with you about budget, time of year and location preference, length of stay and probable number of travelers, we start monitoring several good-fit destinations and watch for hotel room booking “holes.” Knowing you want good weather and outdoor activities in June, we could be watching Denver, Orlando, Austin, Texas and Cancun all at once.  In the meantime, we start a creative engagement campaign with participants to get them to start guessing “where in the world” they’ll end up if they win. 

Benefits Include:

• Securing great purchase value by filling unused room blocks
• Less worrying about attrition and cancellation clauses
• No hotel/DMC deposits needed until closer to actual travel
• Monitoring of destination “issues” allows you to book at the safest choice 4-6 weeks before travel
• Engaging participants is very fun, clues are generic and the reveal can be very creative

Risks Include:

• Losing out on first choice of property/destination
• Activities may be harder to schedule the longer you wait to book

Overall, our “Mystery Destination” solution can save your hopes (and maybe even some cost) of a group travel program in 2022 and beyond, as long as you can be flexible. You can watch a short webinar on this topic, featuring one of our hotel suppliers, on the Newsroom tab at MotivationExcellence.com. 

“Alternative Rewards”

If you are not ready to host a group travel experience just yet, you still need to reward the people in your company that make a difference. There are nearly unlimited possibilities when it comes to providing alternative rewards to group travel. 

Our biggest piece of advice on this is to make it personal. Giving your employees the ability to create a reward meant only for them is undeniably motivating and memorable. An emotional connection between the reward and the company that provided it is rekindled each time the employee sees it or remembers the experience. Motivation Excellence has several ways to achieve this type of connection.

• “Concierge Shoppers” are available to help select participants who have earned rewards to redeem them in a way most befitting their desires. It could be a down payment on a vacation home, or custom-made jewelry, or even home improvement projects. We literally helped purchase a cow at auction for a participant once – give us your dreams and we’re ready to help make them come true! 
• “Your Day, Your Way” is an option where earners can design a local getaway using their rewards and our Personal Shoppers. We’ve partnered with dozens of hotels across the U.S. and Canada to help craft unique packages that can include activities like a chef’s table, whiskey tasting or spa treatments. It’s perfect for the winner who wants to share their award with a small group of friends, creating lasting memories for years to come.
• “MAXRewardsYourWay” is the perfect way to reward top performers through aspirational lifestyle upgrade packages. We can create a variety of packages to fit your budget and because each is filled with name-brand items coveted by many, this option is highly promotable. Think kitchen appliances and gadgets, fitness room improvements, the latest trending entertainment devices, individual travel packages and more! Each package can also be customizable if the winner already has one or more of the items included. 

We also have a wide selection of merchandise, gift cards, travel and event tickets and experiential activities in our online award offerings. Through COVID-19 we’ve had to transition several travel programs to online award platforms. We found earners were thrilled with the opportunity. 

“I always wanted this guitar, but could never justify the purchase before this award program!” 

 

“What an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience my wife and I will have when we get to travel the Danube one day.” 

 

“I had new windows and gutters installed in my home and am thrilled that I (and my husband) will never have to clean a gutter again!” 

 

“I would never spend this kind of money on myself normally. This was the perfect opportunity for me to get (luxury accessories).” 

“This would be an amazing program to introduce annually. Making it this personal was meaningful.”

One client, with more than 120 winners, was so pleased with how this turned out in 2020 in lieu of their spring travel to Hawaii, they opted to do it again instead of traveling to Lisbon in the spring of 2021. The results were phenomenal. 100% of their winners redeemed their allotted award. This is how it broke down in 2020:

• 70% utilized our concierge shoppers to create totally unique reward experiences
• 15% booked future travel using certificates or our online booking tool
• 15% redeemed their points in our online offerings for merchandise, special events or experiences

With all of our reward programs, engagement remains strong. There is an almost even split between redemptions for merchandise, individual travel and event tickets versus gift cards with the former taking a slight edge. Throughout the pandemic, the most popular redemptions include new electronics and individual travel packages. 

We recently dedicated a short webinar to the importance of finding the right rewards to enhance your incentive program. You can watch it on our Newsroom tab at www.MotivationExcellence.com. 

Hopefully, you see now how you can still keep your group travel dreams alive despite our current situation OR easily decide to shift to alternative awards that are personal, meaningful and memorable. 

Rules for Successful Programs (Incentive, Loyalty, Rewards)

As you embark on launching a loyalty or incentive program, we know one of the most important factors to its success is the rules structure. Some of our clients want to write the rules themselves, while others look to us for expertise. In either scenario, we work together to create meaningful parameters that sets up success for you and your participants.

We recently recorded a less than 15-minute webinar looking at what goes into writing program rules and why they matter. Be sure to check it out in our newsroom at MotivationExcellence.com. Bob Graham, VP, Client & Technology Solutions and Rhonda Brewer, VP, Sales join me to discuss the vital ingredients to creating meaningful program guidelines.

The process always starts with in-depth conversations with you. There isn’t a set roadmap to follow, but rather a journey of discovery that could take some time. We look at the market, your competition, performance goals, past issues and future possibilities to name just a few avenues we explore.

There are key things to look at in a few broad categories that are universal. Below we list those and give you a real-life situation to illustrate them better.

Goals:

We need to pinpoint what you want or need to get out of the program. Is it increased mindshare, more revenue or stronger channel relationships? Are you hoping to reward loyalty, improve employee tenure or recognize achievements? It could be any of these, multiple options or something entirely different. Without clear goals, the water gets murky from the onset.

Participants:

Here we need to know your target audience. It could be employees, contacts in the distributor channel, customers or sales members. Knowing the audience helps us determine the best way to motivate the desired behavior change. The audience can vary from essential workers to top performing employees or channel partners. The rewards can equally vary from a 5-star group travel experience to gift card options to trending merchandise and lifestyle upgrade packages to individual travel and Concierge Shopping experiences. We have a 22-minute webinar on award options and whom they’re best suited to in our newsroom as well. Matching the participants to the right rewards increases engagement and the success rate of a program!

Client Y is a large medical testing company that wants to reward two different employee groups. First, they want to make sure they’re rewarding their top performers in the sales department. Second, they also want to make sure their entry-level couriers are encouraged to report possible revenue-changing activity out on their routes. With very clear-cut participant groups we know the motivation for each will likely be different, as well as the budget allocated to them. With two vastly different demographics, the rewards must be commiserate and aspirational for both. The sales team will have a longer earning cycle, but the couriers business intel can be rewarded more immediately. These groups will have two separate rules from which to play. The reward for the top performers in the sales department is a 5-star, group travel experience for at least 5 nights. This experience is filled with once-in-a-lifetime activities, networking with fellow winners and access to the top executives in the company. The reward for the couriers is a points-based program where they can redeem for a wide variety of trending merchandise, event tickets and individual travel options. Couriers can save up points for something truly memorable, or spend them on smaller treats as they see fit.

Hurdles:

You know your goals and your audience, but what obstacles will hinder their connection? Recognizing internal and external hurdles is important to designing a program structure. Sometimes it’s not having access to customer information like who the decision maker is. Industries with a lot of turnover in the distribution chain have a hard time keeping external data updated. A company trying to increase longevity of its own staff knows that turnover can be a hefty obstacle internally as well. Budget constraints are also important to recognize up front, as that affects how you connect with your audience and the types of rewards you want to offer.

Client Z is in the electrical supply industry. They have hundreds of thousands of customers but their internal tracking system is antiquated and decentralized. They want to identify customers who are large enough to assign a salesperson to them to help grow the account. They don’t have the budget to overhaul their tracking system. These are two huge hurdles! Offering a points-based reward program for internal sales representatives might be a cost-effective and motivating solution to start centralizing data.  In addition, adding an element of competition among branches could spur more activity. Developing a far-reaching engagement campaign to capture basic customer information is another tactic to start building business intelligence. Knowing this is going to be a long journey is important as well.  

Measurements for Success:

Finally, we need to understand how you define success. Does it have to hit a certain ROI or percentage of overall sales? For employee retention, what’s the golden length of time an individual stays that makes the program worthwhile? Without metrics – soft or hard – the success of a program isn’t tangible. If you can’t measure the outcome it’s hard to make meaningful adjustments to the program rules. Metrics can be very bottom-line type measurements tied to sales numbers, new customers or percent of market share. They can also be tied to engagement ideals like website visits and read email percentages. You can also measure an emotional connection. Has participating in this program made someone happier, feel better about their job or motivated them to improve? We have a whole blog with insight from Bob Graham on how important metrics are for measurement.

Client Q is part of the fencing industry and wanted to build stronger relationships with its customers, as well as, increase revenue across the board.  New owners, acquisitions and mergers in recent years led to some organizational adjustments and lack of consistent customer interactions. The solution included a preferred buyer incentive program where customers earned a travel experience that included an on-site Buying Show with our client’s best vendors. Customers have access to show-only deals, networking time with other fencing contractors and company executives. There are training sessions, interactive social functions and world-class entertainment. The results not only have showed increased revenue since the program started 10 years ago (including year over year sales growth), but also increased engagement from customers who want to attend each year. In fact, this client’s million dollar customers grew from 12% to 25% of their attendees. Those are some great metrics for measurement!  

Overall, having the proper rules in place not only creates incredible benefits for the current program but far into the future too.

• Minimize risk of going over budget
• Drive desired behavior changes
• Create a predictable return on investment
• Build goodwill within the channel

For more examples of how successful rules influences actual programs, please visit our Case Studies page on MotivationExcellence.com. We are here to help you create a meaningful, robust and successful program! Please reach out if you have any questions: ME@MotivationExcellence.com.

Showing and Gaining Respect, A Blog in Less than 450 Words

It’s all about the golden rule, isn’t it? Treat others the way you’d like to be treated. That is the bottom line regarding respect. Of course, there are other important ways you can show respect to others and lucky for you, we’re going to outline some of them right here! The best part is, when you show others respect in simple ways (Inc.com will give you 99 of them), you gain it right back!

And because we respect your time, this is going to be a rather short blog. If you take the time to read it and the links embedded, you’ll be well on your way to showing and earning reverence right away!

After doing research, I’ve developed my own acronym of sorts to help me remember to be on my best behavior at work and in life. We all need reminders!

Respond kindly
Exercise active listening
Support others
Praise appropriately
Encourage discussion and different opinions
Communicate politely with your voice and body language
Treat others how you’d like to be treated

Go ahead, and come up with your own meaning for each letter of RESPECT. It’s a great way to flex those mental and empathy muscles!

Respect is a critical aspect to positive company culture. Even when you can’t quite put your finger on it, you know when you feel disrespected. That feeling does not often motivate anyone to do anything but respond in kind, which exacerbates the situation. According to The Balance Careers, showing respect, and in turn receiving it, increases productivity and encourages teamwork. Focusing on this from time to time is a great exercise for all companies large and small.

From making eye contact to using respectful body language, we all possess the ability to practice showing deference, esteem or polite indifference. In fact, when you take the time to purposefully initiate and exercise respectful behaviors you might be surprised at how much you enjoy the results. PersonalDevelopFit.com dives into great ways to do this. The next time you are going into a meeting with one or multiple people resolve to be an active listener, leave your phone alone and contribute positively to the conversation.

As a final thought, don’t underestimate the power of gratitude and appreciation when it comes to showing this topic. A well-placed and meaningful “Thank You” will endear you to the recipient and pave the way for a respectful relationship going forward.

As promised, this is a short one. Now go off and exercise respectful interactions. The world will instantly be a better place!

Get to Know ME with Rhonda Brewer

It’s time to Get to Know Rhonda Brewer, our VP of Sales at Motivation Excellence! She’s one of the new kids on the block with our company, but has been in this industry for a long time. Read, and watch the 3-minute video, to learn more about Rhonda and her verve for life and travel!

What’s your title and how long have you been at Motivation Excellence?

Vice President, Sales and I have been with MEI for almost a year and a half.

What does your job entail?

I get to lead a team that is responsible for business development with our customers and prospects to help them engage further with their channel partners, customers and employees through incentives, loyalty and employee engagement programs. We also help them identify the right rewards for each program whether that be points, merchandise or incentive travel. We also help our clients with all aspects of meetings and events.

What’s something special about working at Motivation Excellence that you’d like to share.

What makes MEI special is the “we are all in this together approach” and truly everyone pitches in where needed to do what is best for our clients. We make decisions quickly and everyone’s voice is heard to be able to make a decision.

What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?

I am pretty much an open book so not sure if there is an unknown talent but according to my husband I can roll my tongue and he can’t! 😃 Also, I am hoping to finish all 50 states by the end of this year. I’ve made it to 45 and will have 48 by the first part of August.

What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?

I am a very self-motivated person by nature. In my work life I love collaboration, I love watching a program from start to finish and seeing the successes, I love winning new clients so they can experience all we have to offer and that keeps me motivated. Personally, I think you have to take care of yourself first in order to be able to accomplish all you want and take care of others. Then, setting goals and achieving them is very satisfying.

What do you enjoy doing outside work?

I enjoy spending time with family and friends at home, at the lake or traveling, as well as running and working out.

One thing that always makes you laugh is?

My sweet dog Cocoa.

What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic?

A new job here that I started 3 weeks prior to the lock down, stayed consistent with working out and had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with family.

What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?

I don’t think I had any unusual jobs. I was a life guard at a campground for 6 years and started when I was 14. On my breaks I worked the concession stand or cleaned bathrooms. I also had my own business for a few summers in college teaching swimming in the summer in our backyard.

This month, our theme for social media is respect. How do you incorporate respect into your personal and working life? What’s the number one sign of respect to you?

The number one sign of respect for me, as well as how I try to incorporate it into my life, is living by the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Get to Know ME with Brad Hecht

It’s time to get to know our Vice President, Travel, Brad Hecht, a little bit better! He’s a long-timer with Motivation Excellence. He’s got a lot of frequent flyer miles and he shares his destination picks in the linked video. Take a few minutes and watch that and read his answers to our questions below. Thanks Brad for sharing!

What’s your title and how long have you been at Motivation Excellence?

Vice President, Travel – 22 years.

What does your job entail?

Responsibility for all facets of our travel business including travel presentations, purchasing, contracting, sourcing, Program Management and Coordination, client facing travel technology, and onsite operations.

What’s something special about working at Motivation Excellence that you’d like to share?

Our employees are amazing!

What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?

I can hold a handstand in a pool in perfect form for a long period of time.  Wow, that’s really odd, isn’t it (maybe random)?

What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?

To be a positive person for myself and everyone around me.  That energizes me.

What do you enjoy doing outside work?

Golf, pickleball, hiking, biking, attempting to be a wine snob.

One thing that always makes you laugh is?

The TV show “Two and a Half Men.”

What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic?

Getting outside every day to free my mind, exercise or hike to do a refresh.

What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?

As a high schooler, I was a lifeguard at a Holiday Inn near Six Flags over Mid-America.  They didn’t have room service but the celebrities coming in to perform all wanted it, so I was the person to handle all room service when celebrities came to stay.  Boy, do I have some interesting stories!

This month, our theme for social media, metrics for measurement. How do you measure success (could be on the job or personally)?

Exceeding the expectations of everyone around me as often as I can, including family, friends and clients.

Measure, Track, Adjust, Measure, Repeat…Why Metrics Matter to Your Success!

Guru is a Sanskrit term for mentor, guide, expert, or master of a certain field of knowledge. There are gurus for everything, including business metrics for measuring success. His name was Peter Drucker and he is widely acknowledged as the inventor of modern business management. One of his most famous quotes is:

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

– Peter Drucker

At Motivation Excellence, we have our own guru of measurement. His name is Bob Graham and he’s the Vice President of Client and Technology Solutions, but honestly, when we introduce him we say he’s the “king of data” or our “rules aficionado.” At any rate, you can tell, we respect his expertise in this area. As our “passionate advocate” for this blog, Graham says establishing and measuring critical data points is essential to the success of incentive, employee, and loyalty programs.

“Metrics allow our clients to know if they used their budget, internal resources and relationships in the channel effectively. That doesn’t always mean financial metrics. Without metrics, you don’t know if you were successful in moving the business forward or achieving the intended goals.”

Start at the Beginning

Understanding your starting point is the springboard to moving forward. If you don’t know where the starting line is, how can you know when you’ve crossed the finish line? This is important not only to a myriad of business applications but personal ones too. Whether you want to increase sales, improve partnerships, lose weight or run faster, knowing where you are now and where you want to be eventually is the first step toward making informed decisions that can lead to success.

For our clients, Graham states it’s never a one-size-fits-all solution.

“Since each company’s goals are different and the way they operate is different (even in the same vertical) we need to start fresh with each client.  Identifying the goals, understanding the data and performance needed to achieve those goals are the starting points to build the measurements.”

Graham continues that understanding what will motivate participants to reach the goals is another important factor to consider. Another factor? Avoid setting unrealistic goals.

“Setting mutually beneficial expectations through the program rules that achieve the goals and provide a meaningful reward for the participant through the program structure, award selections and communications is the balance that creates the optimum results.”

Focus on What’s Most Important

When used well, tracking metrics can be very motivating, even for those struggling or those already excelling. Setting up short, medium, and long-term goals gives you metrics to track and adjust at each level. Don’t get overwhelmed tracking EVERYTHING. Focus on the most important objectives and pinpoint the metric that gives you the most information.

As with most personal and professional development skills, there are many tips on how to become better at selecting and measuring metrics for success. Whether you’re a CEO trying to break into the top tier of your vertical, or a weekend warrior training to compete in a triathlon, finding your critical metrics will put you on the right path from the beginning.

Repeat Your Success

There’s a saying in the carpentry world, “measure twice, cut once.” In the business world, when it comes to metrics for success a better saying might be, “measure often, adjust as needed, and build your success more than once.”  

For us at Motivation Excellence, when our clients succeed, we all feel a sense of accomplishment, which feeds our desire to repeat it over and over. That’s a metric of not only customer satisfaction but also employee fulfillment. Remember, Graham says not all metrics are tied directly to financial numbers.

“Success is when our teams are successful at exceeding our clients’ and participants’ expectations and building great programs that achieve our clients’ goals. Equally as important, each team member needs to enjoy their time at work and feel they are contributing.”

When you look at satisfaction, fulfillment, lasting relationships, and retention (of both customers and employees), you will see the higher the metrics rise the more successful a company is from the bottom line up! For someone trying to achieve personal goals, you’ll notice each metric hit creates momentum toward the next measurement. The trick is finding the correct metrics to measure, selecting realistic goals, and following through with consistent tracking. What is your plan for measuring success?

Get to Know ME with Susan Rizzi

We’re excited to have you Get to Know Susan Rizzi this month! She has longevity when it comes to her careers, that’s for sure! Read below to find out how she helps our participants and her family thrive. Thanks for sharing Susan!

What’s your title and how long have you been at Motivation Excellence?

Customer Service Representative; in 3 weeks it will be 20 years!

What does your job entail?

All aspects of Customer Service, such as answering phone inquiries, email inquiries and Concierge Shopper requests. I also work with suppliers to resolve issues, review invoices, and obtain merchandise quotes for concierge shopper requests.

What’s something special about working at Motivation Excellence that you’d like to share?

What makes ME special is the family atmosphere, the willingness to help each other out at any time.

What’s your favorite part of your job at Motivation Excellence?

Working in Customer Service is a very rewarding position. What I enjoy the most is working on an issue and being able to turn it around into a positive experience for the participant.

What’s an unknown or odd talent you have?

Storytelling. I can make a simple walk on the beach into an exciting adventure for my grandchildren.  A hike in the woods can be more interesting with my crazy imagination. I also have a great talent for playing practical jokes on the family.

What motivates you to accomplish things in your life (work or personal)?

Work: knowing that I can make a difference in the experience our participants have when they contact ME. Personal: teaching my grandchildren that they should embrace who they are and that they can be and do anything they want to do in life! This motivates me to be a positive and supportive person in their lives.

What do you enjoy doing outside work?

Spending time with my most Awesome grandchildren, and their parents of course.   Gardening, fishing, vacationing in the OBX.

One thing that always makes you laugh is?

Spending time with my family.  We refuse to let little things upset us, and with so many different personalities, it becomes very amusing!

What have you done that helped you get through the pandemic? 

Played board games with my family through Zoom.  Worked on home projects, painted, decluttered and organized family photos…bins of family photos.  Binge watched documentaries on Netflix.  Hoarded toilet paper, Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer! 

What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?

It was not an unusual job, but being a Hair Stylist for 38 years definitely was the most interesting.  Oh, the stories I could tell.

This month, our theme for social media is EQ, or Emotional Intelligence. How do you relate to this theme?

Emotional Intelligence is an ongoing learning experience. In my years, I have learned that it is not what is said to someone, but the way in which it is said. A voice inflection, a condescending remark, or even a physical stance can give off the wrong impression. It is an individual’s choice on how they respond. We need to keep in mind that we do not know what is going on in a person’s life or what causes them to be “on guard.” Be patient, be a good listener, sometimes all a person needs is to have someone listen to what they have to say and acknowledge that they are heard.  Good thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds!

The PDQ Guide to EQ Versus IQ; Why EQ is a Better Predictor for Job Success

May is mental health awareness month. It’s also a time we celebrate moms, often our emotional support advocate. Finally, for students and teachers it’s the end of the year, which usually brings on extra stress. This is the perfect month to talk about EQ!

What is EQ?

We know that IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient. Have you heard of EQ? It’s your Emotional Intelligence. VeryWellMind.com likens it to book smarts versus street smarts.

IQ looks at:

• cognitive abilities
• memory
• reasoning
• visual and spatial processing
• general knowledge of the world

EQ looks at:

• identifying emotions and motivations
• perceiving how others feel
• self-regulation and awareness
• empathy
• communication skills

Both have significant roles in our lives, and there’s a lot of discussion about which one is actually a better predictor of success. Having a high IQ certainly sets you up to a certain level, but EQ proponents will argue that a high emotional intelligence score puts you ahead of the pack when it comes to leadership and rising the ranks.

World Economic Forum recently reported very interesting statistics regarding EQ. RallyBright.com echoed the findings. It’s a top skill to have for career success.

• Those with high EQ are 127 times more productive than those with low EQ
• EQ is responsible for 57% of job performance
• When compared to someone with similar IQ and technical skills, EQ accounts for 90% of why someone gets promoted

Why EQ is Important

Now that we’ve established what EQ is, let’s look at how it can create a better trajectory for your career (or life in general, really). Psychologist and author, Daniel Goleman, is a thought leader on EQ. He details the five characteristics of high EQ and how they equate to better leaders.  You can hear him talk in depth on this topic in a March Sounds True podcast.

TalentSmart, an EQ training company, found that EQ also equates to a higher salary. According to their research, people with a high degree of emotional intelligence make an average of $29,000 more per year than those with a low degree of EQ. In fact, they report that every point increase in EQ equals a bump of $1,300 to an annual salary.

Maya Angelou is quoted as saying, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This is what emotional intelligence is all about. If you leave someone feeling good about themselves, their project or just life in general, they’ll remember that sense of good will and appreciate interactions with you.

Think about it. Whom would you rather work for: a negative, insulting, know-it-all, or a kind, inquisitive and compassionate person? As a leader, do you know the names of your employees’ kids? Are you empathetic to struggles at work and at home? Do you understand what motivates each team members’ best performance? If you answered no to any of those questions, it’s time to work on improving your EQ score!

Boosting Your EQ

While your IQ score might not change much over time (although you can always be a lifelong learner), you have the power to increase your EQ through practice and mindful decisions. Start with taking an EQ quiz or two to gauge your starting point.

The Institute for Health and Human Potential has a very quick (less than two minutes) quiz to get you started. Psychology Today has a much longer version (45 minutes) if you really want to continue this journey.

There are also a variety of tips to increase your EQ score over time. Inc.com shares ten strategies to enhance your EQ no matter your starting score. They include:

• Communicate assertively (not aggressively, or passively)
• Respond rather than react
• Be an active listener
• Learn self-awareness
• Be sociable and approachable

Research shows companies who hire employees with high EQ see major increases in total sales and productivity. In addition, 90% of top performers earn high EQ marks. This so-called “soft skill” has the ability to bring in hard results while improving company cultures. If you want to find yourself at the top of your career path, EQ will be one of the best skills to develop!