stars who color their hair purple and tattoo their bodies and we hold these
people up to our children as role models, then we should also give champi-
onship rings to the real heroes of this world. People like you who are reading
this book, people who are teaching entrepreneurship, people who are helping
parents put kids through college and showing how to bring spouses home
from work so they can be with their children are the real heroes. You deserve
the recognition. This business is about the stuff of which dreams are made, so I
encourage you to become a dream maker.
If you’re missing a great recognition program, then I suggest you start
one. Here are a few recommendations on how to get going. First, start a recog-
nition journal. Make a list of different contests and promotions you can run to
increase sales, recruiting, new pin levels, and so on. What is worthy of recogni-
tion? What is it you want to focus on—a retail contest, a recruitment contest?
My philosophy is: If it can move, measure it, promote it, and reward it. Simply
put, if you measure it and reward it, people will do it. Select a promotion that
is easy for the participants to understand. It should be something they can
measure with ease. If you make it too complicated, people won’t perform.
Second, determine when you will start the promotion, how long will it
run, and how often you will recognize accomplishments. Starting dates are
important to maximize your objectives. Consider what else is going on at this
time in the company. Are there any promotions that would conflict with this
one? Is this a good time of year, or are there holidays that would detract from
(or add to) the promotion? Many companies go through slumps during June,
July, August, and December, yet these are always some of our biggest volume
and recruitment months because we line up specific promotions with fun re-
wards during these times. I suggest keeping promotions under 90 days while
having weekly recognition benchmarks. The more often you recognize, the
better the performance you’ll receive. Long promotions lead to greater
chances of burnout.
Next, determine what awards will be given for the promotion. I suggest
you set up a promotion budget in proportion to your income. Doing this will
ensure you have allotted a certain percentage of your check every month to
grow your business. As your income grows, so does your promotion budget,
which in turn causes your check to grow even more. Awards should be of
value and motivate your team. Make sure the awards will give you a return
on your investment. In other words, the promotion should pay for itself. If
not, either choose another award or reconsider the promotion. Cash is not
recommended as an award. Studies show that people who receive other types
of awards outperform those receiving cash by 50 percent. People will spend
the cash to pay bills and never have a memory or reminder of what their
achievement or award was. People collect mementos, not cash. Memories of a
great trip will last forever. Awards with your company’s logo or symbol are
great for keeping the accomplishment and vision alive.
140 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO NETWORK MARKETING