Employee recognition and on the spot rewards   inspire teams to act on the behaviors your company desires. Whether you expect associates to suggest other items at checkout or greet customers within five seconds, or any combination of expectations, offering incentives right away is fun for both the winning employee and others on the team who see the prize delivered.  Best of all, rather than wait, the winning employee receives the prize immediately.   Over the years we have many on the spot prize programs and some have been more successful than others. Here are five tips to make it successful:

1.  Simple success criteria such as friendly greeting, offering  an upsell and thanking make it easy for employees to win.  Why?  If what they need to do is easy to remember, the associates are more likely to do the behavior and win prizes.  Simplicity also means keeping it to about three things.
2. Clear and easy ways to win make for more wins. For example, for a shop’s success, the employee could mention any upsell (combo or any size drink).  Keeping the ask simple means that employees do not need to remember specific phrases or scripts. Requiring them to do so lowers success rates.
3. Additional monetary items or gift cards, as opposed to logo items or t-shirts, motivate. We have found that programs which offer monetary/gift card prizes are more motivating to associates than company branded items, for the very reason that each winning associate can then choose his/her own prize.
4. Consistent programs translate into higher success numbers. At times, companies change criteria while the shoppers are in the field.  Perhaps they did not inform us of all types of units, or all situations that could occur, or they discontinue an LTO, for example. When these events occur, they can be demotivating for associates. Locations may lose out on a chance for a prize due to no fault of their own, and employees become disappointed.
5. Clear communications mean more success.  Our experience shows that the most successful programs involve managers and upper management who send emails promoting the mystery shop program and prizes, discuss the program at meetings, and use printed materials at locations to remind associates of what they need to do, how to win and what they will win.