Friday, April 3, 2009

How to Reward Your Employees by Idea Girl Consulting March 18, 2009

I was always a Top Seller when I worked as a Customer Service and Sales Person for Sitel. I would collect my weekly prize (only 5 choices) and after the first month, I wasn't too happy with getting another pen, or notepad, or mouse pad. I decided I had too many prizes and it wasn't all that important to me anymore to keep them to myself. I decided that I just wanted my name to be in the top sellers list each month.

I started my own reward program within my team. I chose the people that never got prizes. If they got 1 sale that week, I rewarded them. It wasn't always a company prize, it was chocolate easter eggs, chocolate Santas, chocolate bars, candies, suckers, or dollar store items.

It motivated my team to get the most sales each month. When I stopped my program, the sales went down. I guess it just wasn't enough to be the top group, they wanted more. Some people told me they didn't care if they got any recognition, they were there to collect the weekly pay check. There was no pride in their work, all they wanted was to do the job, with the least amount of effort, go home and come back again.

Those people didn't last long. They either left the company after a three month period, or when it came time to downsize, they were let go first. Their stats and attendances were taken into account. Now I bet they regret the lax attitude, because job performance can affect whether you get hired at the next place.

In my case, it didn't matter. My job never gave references, it only supplied a letter stating that I had been an employee. I actually had to hunt down my Managers that had left the company for greener pastures. That worked well, until everyone of them moved to a different job. I never asked for their home number, just the work number.

In the Call Center Industry there is a high turnover in workers and in Management. Each place is different and we all get tired of the same old routine, so we look for something better. Usually we will get better wages, because we have some experience under our belts.

It really shocked me when I lived in Toronto for two years. Every single Call Center wanted you to have a University Degree. I guess they figured if you had to pay back a student loan, you were more likely to stick around. The crazy thing about it was that the cost of living in Toronto is much higher than in the City of St Catharines, yet the wages were lower in Toronto.

I couldn't understand it, and the technology they used wasn't as good as it was in the Niagara Region. It was more like they only thought of setting up shop and then dealing with all the hassles of not having an automated dialer, proper networking tools and information for those on the phones. I walked in, looked around and walked back out.

After several months I was actually blessed with a high paying job, thanks to Options Personnel. I had put my Resume online at www.workopolis.com and they found me and asked me to come in for an interview. I wish I would have done things differently, from wage expectations to amount of time on the job.

I was hired as a Temp (Maternity Leave) for seven months. It was the best job in the world, I loved it and yet I didn't last long there. I worked for William Mercer and it has since changed hands and renamed itself. I was on the 21st floor of the Canada Trust Tower on Bay Street. I was in Executive land and I loved it!

The sad thing was that I did not have a College or University degree and because of this, when my temp job was up, they had to let me go.

I was told I was the only person out of 100,000 employees that didn't have a University Degree. I was impressed, and I asked , "Why did I get the job then?" I was told, because of my years of experience in the call center industry was one reason, the other was they had run out of time and applicants and I was the next best thing to walk through the door.

I will always be thankful that the Gods were smiling down on me. I got to experience what it was to be in the "big business leagues.' I worked with CEO's, Managers and Executives from hundreds of companies.

I got to talk to them on the phone about their jobs, salaries, benefits. I was doing customer service surveys with the Minister of Defence in Canada at the time, and was later told that he never would participate for years and asked me how I did it.

Simple, I asked him about the submarine he was in that day. I asked him what it was like to be in one for hours on end and did he feel alienated from the world? I was curious about it, because I would never personally be on a submarine. I was fascinated with his job, and then he asked me after we had chatted for 30 minutes why I had called ( I really completely forgot about it, I was so fascinated with his submarine and sea faring stories) that I blanked out for a minute then told him I was doing a survey about his job.

He answered my questions, and bought a survey for $4,000 when it was published. My group was rewarded with a pizza and beer party because of our high sales. I was doing in a week, what they had set as a team goal (26 people) for the month.

I wasn't aware that I was making some people look bad. I was just doing what came naturally to me. I was put in charge of the Western Canada accounts. (Several months after I left, that division of the company closed down) It seems that no one knew how to relate to the people out West. Yet I had been in charge of the Western Accounts at a few of the Call Centers I had worked for.

I was even in charge of a special survey to Jamaican's. It was just natural for me to talk to people. I did, however, get in trouble for my high talk times. I would generate the business but my gift of gab would affect my Stats. Eventually over the years, I learned to keep my conversations to under 5 minutes, make the sales required and exceed all expectations.

I come from a family of "self employed sales people." My Mother had been a Manager for several years for various companies. My Father was a Foreman at a sock factory until it closed down, then he went into business and did carpet laying and painting.

His company name was "I'm forever kicking bubbles..." It was funny (he had a tremendous sense of humor that everybody loved about him) and the company name was catchy and with over 25 years of experience under his belt, he stayed in business until his knees gave out.

My Uncles and Grandfathers, all owned their own businesses from farming, to insurance sales, and locksmiths. My Grandfather was the "First" top seller for "The Toronto Sun" or "The Toronto Star" . I'm not sure which one it was.

Most of my mentors have passed away, but their love of business has stayed with me. I intend to teach the world the lessons learned by my family, my past work experiences and the millions of business ideas that have come to mind over the past 20 years.

I decided now is the time to share them with the world. As per the movie "The Bucket List" I never want to look back over my life and say I wasted a moment, or wish I had of done something different before it is my time to leave this earth. I do want to make a difference and I do want to teach many people the valuable lessons of life.

Restaurant Idea - March 20th, 2009

Website

Inside and Outside Pictures of the Restaurant
Pictures of the servers (First Name)
History of the Business
Owners Picture and First and Last Names
Address, Phone
Menu
Prices
Pictures of Dishes Served and the Names of them on the Menu

Homework Help for Kids - My Squidoo Site Ideas - March 20th, 2009

How to promote this site:

-Post Flyers at the Library with tear offs (www.squidoo.com/homeworkhelpforkids)_

-Post at all Schools in the Niagara Region

-Get Curriculum Ideas to put on site from the schools

-Send to Editors of the Local Newspapers

-Make Idea Girl Consulting Flyers with website addresses with details about sites

IDEAS FOR TODAY - March 20th, 2009

What the Word Employee Means to Me:

Eat Right, Think Nutrition

Make Decisions, Don't Procrastinate

Punctuality

Live a Happy Life

Open to Ideas

You can do it

Education, Knowledge is Power

Exercise, Feel Healthy Everyday

THE 4 E'S OF A GOOD EMPLOYEE - March 20, 2009

Eating - Relates to Energy

Exercise - Related to Health

Experience - Relates to Knowledge

Example - Relates to Mentor

JJ KAPPS BACKYARD BBQ STEAK & GRILL

327 Ontario St, St Catharines, ON 905-685-3307

J.J. KAPPS Backyard B.B.Q. Steak and Grill is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sample the many variety of local wines featured in the J.J. KAPPS Lounge or specialty coffees in the lobby lounge.

JJ KAPPS BACKYARD BBQ STEAK & GRILL

Linda Randall - Restaurant Review - 327 Ontario St, St Catharines, ON 905-685-3307

$10 Lunch Special Beef with Sweet Potatoes and Fries.

Sweet Potato Fries- Sweet and nice texture on the tongue. Body delights in new flavors and textures. Tender melt in your mouth roast beef. Fresh vegetables, colourful, rich beef gravy.

2 For 1 Lunch $15.00 see Rewards Network Dining for Coupons

5 out of 5 Star Rating *****
5 out of 5 Service Rating *****
5 out of 5 Price Rating *****

This meal would also be easy to chew if you wear dentures.

$10 Lunch Special

Large Serviing (take home for next day or share with spouse)
Very flavorful, good colour contrast, square white plate with green, red, yellow peppers, red onion, fresh mushrooms on a bun

It looked like it was straight from a photo shoot in a food magazine.

Hot Beef Sandwich, with choice of dessert (ice cream/nanaimo bar/fruit cup)
ice cream flavors - chocolate, strawberry, vanilla

Menu Says:
$10 Lunch Fiesta
Hot Beef Sandwich
Slow roasted Beef served open face with sauteed onions, mushrooms and peppers, topped with franks homemade gravy. Served with sweet potato fries.

Today's Ideas - March 23, 2009

-A great book to read is "The One-Minute Millionaire Challenge."

-Google Chrome is faster than Explorer and Fire Fox for loading Graphics and updating websites http://www.google.com/chrome

-Open your Tweet Deck or Twitter on it's own page, everything suspends in time while it updates, and it's annoying if trying to work on an article or surfing the net, it makes you wait until it has updated and it types super slow

-Google Chrome needs to add a mini Google Search tool on it

-Open individual windows in Google Chrome, it saves your history, so you can just click and open what you were working on before. It's extremely useful for those of us that have to multi-task first thing in the morning (I open 5 of them for each thing I'm working on - while one updates, I go to the next one)

-I need to ask a Mentor@Helium.com why I don't have any stars when I've written enough articles to earn *one star*

-I need to start writing more articles for Helium and make some money. I need 75% in marks - leap frog articles to upgrade them and get a higher mark

-If you want to write and make money sign up for http://www.getfreelancer.com you can bid on articles to write, and they are looking for marketing people as well

-Writers Digest School has tips on writing for novels and magazines
http://freelance-writing.lovetoknow.com/Writer's_Digest_Magazine

-Use Twitter Tools to create a Fan Base for Yourself. People will follow you and read what you have to say if it's entertaining and fun you can Twitter Me: http://www.twitter.com/theideagirl

Ideas for Today - March 24, 2009

-Refer to http://www.helium.com , search for "Writing Critiques Forum" - Exercises for Writers, Networking with other writers

-Mills & Boon(Publishers to do research on)
-Lens master Book market
-Read "Writers Encyclopedia from Writers Digest and do a book review
-Read "2007 Writers Market by Robert Lee Brewer and do a book review
-Movie Review: Taken
-Movie Review: I love You, Man
-Book Review: Floral Passion by Albert Van Der Mey
-Post Glimmer Train Email on http://www.squidoo.com/ideagirlwritersnews

Ideas for Today - March 26, 2009

- You tube playlist and article about how Brain Wave Frequencies and how they can improve your life posted on http://ideasaboutlife.today.com

-listen to Gamma Wave Meditations to achieve a higher level of learning

-Find out about CNN's Report on President Barack Obama's Question and Answer site

-Find Scientists and Inventors on Twitter to talk to about creating jobs for the future

-Started my first blog on Momaroo about the 1,2,3 Command for Kids, http://theideagirl.momaroo.com

-Posted my Daily Journal on Word Press Idea Girl Consulting about Brain Waves and Tweet Emails at http://ideagirlconsulting.wordpress.com

-Added fresh You Tube Video's and content to IGC - Idea Girl Consulting and I've had 73 visits to site as of 11:42 a.m. (my goal is 100 this month)

Today's Ideas - March 27th & 28th, 2009

-Mar 27, went to see The Haunting in Connecticut with sweetie and his friend.

-Mar 27, http://ideasaboutlife.today.com Movie Review: The Haunting in Connecticut

-Mar 27, http://ideasaboutlife.today.com Music Branded by God, posted You Tube Video, and my space link to two songs, two sons, new CD release

-Mar 27 Created new site - http://www.squidoo.com/collegemomshowtoguide - for College & University Students, reference Laundry, Budgeting, Check books, College Cooking Individual Serving Recipes, Harry Potter Songs from a College Student

-Mar 27 - Created new site - http://www.squidoo.com/businessideasforkids - how to teach your children about being entrepreneurs, making and managing money and more.

-Mar 27 - Created new site - http://www.squidoo.com/ideagirlhappyfathersday - gift ideas, activities for the family, crafts to make for dad

-Mar 27 - http://www.squidoo.com/ideagirlhappymothersday - gift ideas, make a card for mom, fun actiivites for the family

-Mar 28, Enjoy sunshine, go hiking, take Daisy to doggy park, go for a swim/hot tub with friends/shop for fish stand (20 gallon tank), work on 2 new Squidoo pages

-Mar 28, created new website about me http://www.squidoo.com/theideagirl

-Mar 28, created new website about squidoo http://www.squidoo.com/climbthesquidooladder

-Mar 28, from 8:30-9:30 p.m. celebrated earth hour with my sweetie, Daisy and Bugsy

-Mar 28, Blog about Earth Hour http://ideasaboutlife.today.com

Today's Ideas - March 30, 2009

-Apply for Giant Squid Status (emailed Giants@squidoo.com, Idea Girl Consulting Site/Profile Info - 50 Lenses)

-Searched Science, Scientists, Space, Obama,NASA,Inventors, Invent, Inventing groups on Twitter - Follow them to receive the latest news in space, science and politics)

-Unable to follow my followers today in email, Twitter won't let me. Made a new word.. Twoduelly - Two Duel, Me and the Computer

-Yahoo email account, signed up for ODesk, bid on a increase Twitter Follow Client $250, in 30 days

-My Blog Log - Idea Girl posts my tweets and is Googled first under Idea Girl or Idea Girl Consulting

-Test Idea Girl Consulting, comes up first on Google because of articles on WordPress and My Blog Log.

- Liz Strauss has WordPress widget badges to be used with Twitter - Downloaded the Comment Counter

Ideas For Today - March 21st, 2009

Email Contact Jason Murphy@sitel with questions and ideas for software.

Customer Service Database - What Technology does your company use?

Do the Screens change too slowly?

Is the Saving Screens option slow?

Is there a confirmation that it has been saved?

Is there a drop down box on items, and an option
to type the first letter to popup choices.

Make CSR Feed back forms (their ideas to improve the program)

Ask CSR's what tools they would like included in the program.

Find a Program that isn't closed to being upgraded.

Types of Software Required for:

Human Resources

Personality Profiles (Hiring Tests)

Desktop Publishing

Flyers

Newsletters

Internal communication for employees

Group motivation

Education/empowerment

Training modules