Appreciation is Timeless.

The first business I ever ran was called Dave Romeo Bass Tournaments. One of the lessons I quickly learned was that no matter how many people entered the tournaments, only one person was going to win — or two in the team competitions. In the first year, people who did poorly during the tournament often packed up early and went home. That led to a very bare winners circle. It was anticlimactic and the few people who remained could feel the emptiness. I had to figure out how to entice people to stay.

Since I always asked my sponsors for more items than I needed, I was able to offer 15 draw prizes per tournament, which included fishing reels, embroidered jackets, and an electric trolling motor. Even if someone caught nothing all day, they could still leave with a really nice gift. This led to nearly everyone staying until all of the festivities were over.

I also needed to find a way to keep my contestants coming back each year. This was especially important in my adult/minor competitions when many of the teenagers aged out and got interested in dating or getting a part-time job. The solution to this problem came from creating a Hall of Fame. There were all different categories and even people who’d never won a tournament could win in categories such as perseverance or teamwork. As a result of adding recognition, many people left feeling like winners. I haven’t done these fishing tournaments in 29 years and yet, I still hear from some of my contestants who still display their prizes and trophies in their homes.

When I started doing my seminars, I also created a Hall of Fame. I asked a local trophy company to build my Hall of Fame legacy trophy so that I could recognize people for their outstanding accomplishments and to create my Ultimate Service Provider of the Year Award to spotlight people who truly go above and beyond. Ever since then, I’ve been able to find new ways to recognize people who have now been coming to my seminars for the past quarter of a century.

I’m still inundated to this day by clients who are looking for employees. One of the biggest steps you can take to keeping people employed with you is rewarding and recognizing them for their accomplishments. It’s even better if you can do this in front of their peers, their supervisors, and even their families. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Men will die for a ribbon.” Make sure the people you count on know just how much you appreciate them. And remember that even when you can’t reward someone financially, you could always recognize them publicly.

“Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.” – Mary Kay Ash

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Stumbling Onto Success. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Stumbling Onto Success on Thursday, August 24, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.