1. LOTS OF PRAISE – everyone loves to be commended, acknowledged and praised. It typically makes employees feel good (and motivated), especially if done in front of other employees (e.g. at a staff meeting or just out in the open). If the praise is coming directly from the CEO, GM or some other top dog, the value of this praise grows phenomenally
2. TAKE THEM TO LUNCH – surprise them occasionally with a group lunch at a nice restaurant. Make the invitation as personal as you can (ask them face to face if possible).
3. HAVE QUIRKY ANNUAL AWARDS – a little trophy or certificate for creative-sounding categories such as “Most Helpful”, “Biggest Smile”, “Most Likely To Refill The Coffee Machine”, “Most Addictive Laugh”, will likely get your employees smiling and motivated.
4. PARTIES & PICNICS – spend some money on food, drinks and entertainment for them. Let birthdays and other special occasions be cause for an outing. For example, you could set aside three hours out of every month to have a picnic for all the persons celebrating birthdays in that month.
5. EXTERNAL INCENTIVES – working for the company should have added benefits outside the office itself. Forge business relationships with product and service providers that will be of benefit to your employees. For example, discounts for gym membership at selected gyms, coupons for car repair shops etc.

• Have some fun. Have them do something work-related but outrageous that will surely bring some laughs and smiles. An impromptu tug off war between two units in the parking lot maybe?
• Think Young. Don’t ignore your youngest employees, they could very well provide some brilliant ideas for the growth and expansion of your company. Seek them out. Mentor them. Kick back with them. Get them into a room and ask them to lead in creating ways for your company and customers to benefit. Ask them to come back and share concepts and prototypes directly with you. Help them act on some of the ideas that may emerge.
• Take Risks. Everything HASN’T been done. You can still revolutionize, you can still find new, interesting and exciting ways to do things. Try to find something that will increase morale, give you a new edge, maybe a new personality, and of course would be a nice little feather to have in your cap.
• Extend vacation time. It’s recession time, sales are down, sales staff are getting depressed, call them up for a meeting and have them take out their calendars and pick a few weeks to take for vacations. Change focus!
• Be nice. Go out of your way to do nice things for your staff. Bring them a book or DVD they are interested in. Compliment them in front of their spouse. Buy a small gift. The better you make your employees feel, the more likely it is that they’ll be energized about work.
• Go out your way to praise employees. As bad as things may be, there must be something positive than you can say for e.g. in a team meeting. It should never be all about cracking the whip, because small positive things can have big, positive effects on our business.
• Pay Employees to Quit. During the first month of training, Zappos offers new employees $2,000 to quit, plus their time worked. It sounds expensive, but in the long term, it’s apparently not. Zappos wants people to there because they are passionate about customer service and because they like the culture. They don’t want people who are just here for a paycheck. Those people generally end up leaving six or nine months down the road and by that point, you have invested a lot of time and money in training them. On top of that, if they are not really a culture fit, that can breed negativity, which can spreads rapidly. That costs the company way more than $2,000.
• Train and retrain your employees. Training may sometimes seem like such a small thing, but it is actually the first step in empowering people to do their jobs well.
• Everyone is a salesperson. Reward employees who deliver leads that turn into clients or product sales. The notion should be reinforced that everyone is in sales and marketing, regardless of his or her job title.

We hope you found these tips useful! Success!