We all want recognition as a great colleague, employer and corporate citizen, don’t we? (Even if it isn’t the ONLY thing we want recognition for!) Getting noticed is a sure-fire way of creating golden opportunities later on. This is the first of five simple tips on getting noticed.
Simple Things to Get Noticed #1: Get You and your colleagues discounts in local stores.
This is real simple, and very effective. Everyone loves a discount, especially if it’s on the things we buy the most. So why not visit your local stores, especially delis and coffee shops, and negotiate a discount for people from your organization.
The most effective way is to agree with the proprietor that anyone who produces a company id cards gets the discount.
Typical discounts range from 5% to 20%.
The best kinds of stores to approach are:
- Coffee Shops
- Delis
- Restaurants
- Clothing/apparel
- Travel
- Electronics
- Music
How To Approach Proprietors
Take a walk into a local store and ask for the proprietor, and mention that you believe that you can drum up more customers if they were to offer a discount to colleagues who produce an id card (show them yours). You won’t be able to guarantee an influx of customers, but it does mean that the effect of the discount can be measured. You should offer (at least) to send an email to your colleagues about the discount, or better still, have your HR dept or office manager do this.
Tell the proprietor that you will come into the store regularly to update them on the progress, and to see how many of your colleagues have come in to take advantage of the discount. You could offer to provide the proprietor with a printed spreadsheet to record custom from your organization.
If the proprietor rejects your offer to start with, then you could try to negotiate discounts on specific products or product-lines. This gives the proprietor an opportunity to discount high-margin produce and also cross-sell high-margin produce. For example, coffee can be bought with a 10% discount, but not pastries.
Securing Your Recognition
Whether it’s your personal email, or from a central department, make sure that it’s YOUR name that is associated with getting the discounts. Also, see if you can get this mentioned on your company intranet and posters on your office walls. Oh, and tell people about it!
If you enjoyed this tip to gain recognition in your workplace, then make sure you subscribe to my RSS Feed to be informed when Simple Things to Get Noticed #2 is published!
