Incentives

First of all, I want to send a hearty Happy Birthday to Molly in Omaha. I hope it’s perfect.

Okay, back to the task at hand. I read a lot. In particular, I read a lot about marketing, advertising and research. But lots of other things, too. And frequently, I read about using incentives in marketing and as an employee retention tool. I’ve heard about some really terrific incentive programs lately, one in particular that is really groovy. More about that another day.

What makes a good incentive program work? If people want it. (Okay, it has to be affordable, fit in the business model, etc. but really if people don’t want it, none of that matters.) Reed, my 7 year old, has some fine qualities. Lots of them. But his handwriting is scary. Mr. Cayer, his 2nd grade teacher, points it out regularly. I noticed Reed hard at work writing a letter. The handwriting was perfect. No blobby black erasure marks either. It was a work of art. So, it begs the question. What is going on here?

“Well,” Reed said, “When I told Dad I wanted an autograph from Shaquille O’Neal, he told me that there are no guarantees. He must get thousands of requests. But if you want to write a letter to him, you you can tell him about your love of basketball, The Heat, and watching him play. Then at the very end, you may ask (but don’t count on it) for an autograph. But,” he added, “if the handwriting isn’t really great, he may not even understand what you are asking.”

For Reed, the dream of his hero’s autograph is good incentive. What is your target’s dream?

Offline Experiment

I tried an experiment yesterday. Well, it wasn’t really my idea. My ISP provided the inspiration by not allowing me access to the internet. I set up my laptop with a phone line so I could check my email every 2 hours via AOL (painful, I admit). And I spent the rest of the day working on my office computer with no internet access. I wrote. I thought. I strategized. If I needed someone’s opinion, I picked up the phone. I proofread some copy via fax (if you can imagine that!).

While I admit to being really grumpy and feeling out of touch, I was productive. Most of all, I found that all those people who so desparately need my feedback, my action, my time…don’t really need me at their beck and call. Getting an email doesn’t mean it has to be done that instant. And yesterday, it didn’t.

What have I learned from this uplanned experiment? That I love the connection with other people throughout my day. BUT that it is very distracting from the work at hand. And I learned that if I control my email intake to predetermined times, I can be get more done. I don’t know that my clients and co-workers will love this new plan. But I’m thinking it might put me in control of my productivity. Might not. And I’m not even sure I can do it – seeing that mail icon sends my mouse flying like a conditioned response. But on those really busy days when deadlines are looming, I may just give it a shot.

It’s 25 degrees outside….

It’s 25 degrees outside. There is snow on the ground and ice on my driveway. So what would be a really fun thing to do tonight? I’ve got it! Let’s figure out what camps to sign up for this summer! Every year (really, every year) I am caught on the last day of January scrambling to plan the summer. It just irks me beyond belief that SIX MONTHS before the camps start, you need to sign up. And I’m not kidding – if you don’t register the moment the registration opens (that would be midnight on Wednesday for those of you who want to feel really sorry for me) you may not get your precious little fella into the camp of his choice. Talk about pressure.

This year, my guys have chosen some good ones. Tennis, basketball, Camp Invention, mixed media art… I know that the really prepared mothers (yes, you Ellen & Julie & Becky) have had their schedules figured out for weeks. Their kids probably have clean, ironed clothes too.

But what I really wonder (and wonder every year) is why do we have to plan out our kids’ lives? Wasn’t it way fun to just play in the summer with the kids in the neighborhood and go to the pool? It WAS fun. But, I know the answer. And it isn’t pretty folks. It’s because everyone else does. Yeah, it stinks. But if there are no kids in the neighborhood to play with, your kids are just going to be whining that they’re bored and bugging the %$# out of you. That’s all there is to it. So hurry up and register!