It’s the 2004-2005 Plateau Award Collection

The 2004-2005 PFI Plateau Award Catalog is hot off the presses. This new edition continues the PFI tradition of offering new and exciting enhancements that are certain to make your clients and their participants take note. This newest version is again made up of thirteen individual award collections. The delivered sell price for each level remains the same. The biggest change we’ve made is that we’ve added 367 new selections and have increased the number of items in the most popular levels.

The new Plateau collection is again available bound as a complete collection or you can put together any combination of the thirteen individual collections that best meets your clients’ needs or budgetary parameters. Individual levels are also available and can be bound with PFI stock catalog covers including the new Holiday Gift Cover. Here is a breakdown of this new collection:

The 2004-2005 Plateau Award collection is better than ever before and provides you and your clients the right award solution to achieve performance improvement goals. If you’d like a sample or samples of the new catalog contact us:

E-mail: Sales @spihq.com
Call: 1-800-292-7371 ask for sales
Fax: 216-881-7413
Website: www.pfi-awards.com


Take A Closer Look At Service Award Program Opportunities

Did you know according to a 10-year national study conducted by Perspectives Resources Inc. a majority of employee recognition programs are outdated? More importantly the study concluded that many programs actually de-motivate employees. It is generally believed by industry professionals that companies across the U.S. spend in excess of $500 million annually on service award programs that are ineffective.

There are still hundreds of service award programs that are using corporate logo’d merchandise and jewelry, two award concepts that fail to meet employee expectations. Recently, the Employee Needs and Wants Recognition Index, (ENRI) which measures the effectiveness of recognition programs, showed that only 4.2 of employees polled would choose logo jewelry over lifestyle merchandise. A total of 70% of employees would choose something other than what they are offered. The most popular awards identified include electronics, cameras, camcorders watches, crystal, china, silver, kitchen accessories and sports and outdoor equipment. It may seem too obvious, but the most valuable and appreciated awards are those the recipient would most like to own but could never justify buying for themselves.

In addition to looking at the awards employees are offered, take a closer look at how they are presented. Many companies have all merchandise shipped to their office where it is presented personally to employees. This can be awkward and time consuming. Some companies simply send employees a form letter and with a gift selection form. Again, research and experience has proven years of service awards should be presented in front of peers, with someone from management who is known, recognized and respected by the employees making the presentation. This does not mean you need to have an awards banquet; a small departmental ceremony can be just as effective.

Reflections Addresses The Needs
Of Today’s Service Award Programs

Service Award programs have never been easier to sell when you promote PFI’s Reflections program. Reflections is an elegant, flexible employee service award system designed to be cost-effective, simple and timesaving for your clients. They can reward years of loyal employee service with an extensive selection of awards including jewelry, watches, artwork and lifestyle gifts, chosen to fit their budget. And the best part is it features the awards and the presentation concept that overcome the elements of what make so many existing service award programs ineffective.

Fourteen Levels Add Up To Flexibility
Reflections service award level selections are presented on beautiful four-color awards sheets that can be easily customized or enhanced with custom award selections. A total of fourteen award levels will allow your clients to match the right selection to the appropriate level of service within their budgetary parameters.

Personalized Presentation Packaging
One of the most important aspects of the Reflections Award System is the Presentation Kit, an elegant, memorable package of materials employees receive on the anniversary of their employment. Each Presentation Kit includes 3-4 sheets featuring the complete award selection, an attractive, personalized Certificate of Appreciation and an award order form. Clients also have the option of inserting an additional letter or message of congratulations. These materials are all inserted into an elegant folder designed with a die-cut window to display the recipient’s name and years of service. The award kits can be shipped directly to individuals or bulk-shipped to one or more locations for special presentation by local management or at special events.

Turnkey Administration
One of the greatest features of Reflections is that the program administration is hassle-free. There are no costly set up, programming or processing fees. The client’s time commitment is minimized while program results are maximized. Your client simply provides a database of qualified service award recipients to PFI. They can provide names by level of service or simply their starting date and we take care of the rest! Clients can request any one of three reports. An Activity Report shows open and shipped orders by award level. A Redemption Report shows how many awards have been selected for each level of the program. A Non-Response report lists all individuals who were sent a Reflections Award Presentation Kit did not order their award.

Manage Your Next Service Award Program Online with Reflections
Honoring and awarding employees for their years of service to an organization should be easy, taking little time and minimal effort. Now with a click of a button, you can see just how easy the Reflections Online Service Award program makes it.

The new Reflections online website features the online screens as service award recipients see them including:

 Congratulatory Welcome Screen
 Certificate of Service – in printer-friendly format
 Reflections Online Gift Collections featuring fourteen service award levels
 Online Order Services

When recognizing the contributions and commitment of your valued tenured employees, the awards you present and how you present them directly impact the company’s image. The elegance and simplicity of the Reflections Online Service Award solution will clearly reinforce the image of quality and professionalism your valued employees deserve. Check out Reflections online at www.awardlink.com; type in “Award” for program number and “Demo” for your personal identification number.

The Time For Reflections Is Now!
With the current economic climate and challenges to business combined with the need for many companies to update their Service Award program, now is the time for recognizing and rewarding loyal employees. Reflections offers a simple solution. Share our Reflections with your clients—it’s a win-win proposition.

Service Award Quick Tips

Here are some quick tips which when implemented will improve the effectiveness of a service award program.

 Use an innovative award presentation. The recognition experience you choose will greatly enhance the perceived value of your program, the award you’re presenting, and the importance of the achievement you are recognizing.

 Make the presentation an experience for the recipient, include their peers.

 Include traditional and lifestyle award selections that reflect the culture of your organization and the diversity of your employees.

 Use quality brand name awards that positively reflect the values of your organization.

 Allow your recipients to include their family in the award selection process.

 Have the gift delivered directly to the recipients home; it's a very personal point of recognition.

Calling In All Points

December 31 is drawing near and it’s time to take a look at the programs you have in place and see how many points are out there unredeemed. You can impact your end of year revenue by focusing on non-redemption and employing any one of these simple redemption stimulator solutions.

“Change Makers”
A “Change Maker” is any “low value” award that enables award winners with minimal point account balances to use up their earnings. The PFI Plateau Level One brochure at $17.50 per selection, or the first level of Reflections could be used to present participants with an enhanced selection of low-point valued merchandise. You could also pick out a list of low value awards from whichever PFI catalog is being used and send all participants a letter reminding them to redeem their points now.

Segment And Promote Redemptions Based on Point Balances
Take a close look at your database and see how points balances are distributed. Is there a concentration of points at any certain value level? If there is, segment the participants into two or three groups based on the number of points in their account. Send a promotional letter to everyone with a point list of “change maker” awards. For those with larger point balances, follow up an initial letter with another promotional offer such as a sweepstakes or discount offer.

Present a Sweepstakes Bonus
Use an incentive within an incentive by offering participants special sweepstakes awards (personal electronics work great). You could offer award entries based on orders placed or award entries to the first 100 orders placed.

Simplify Order Redemption
Make it easy for participants to redeem their points. If the program is on a bank account system make IVR (Interactive Voice Response) ordering available, or IVR is already available, promote it. Offer online award selections and ordering.

Communication Redemption Reminders
There is no limit to the creative ways you can send redemption. What you communicate, how you communicate, and how often depends on your understanding of why the redemption is slow. Here are a few examples:

 Create a series of promotional mailers that remind participants' points equal rewards. Use clever or humorous headlines like “you’ve got a point. Use It!”

 Use mail merge to communicate an exact balance or total number of points unredeemed.

 Send a mailer promoting the kinds of awards other participants have redeemed. Include a list of the most popular selections.

 Send a new catalog or award brochure or plateau brochure.

 Send an order form or send an order form and a pen for filling in their selection.

Point Sharing And Point Transfers
If they are not already doing so, ask your client to allow their award winners to pool their points or to transfer small balances to someone else.

Getting participants to redeem their points can be a challenge. But if you correctly identify the factors which are adversely affecting redemption and use an appropriate strategy or strategies, the results will be motivationally rewarding for the winners and financially rewarding for you.

Housekeeping Notes

PPAI Show
Plan now to attend the PPAI show in Dallas from January 12-16. If you go, be sure to stop by the PFI booth #2257.

Holiday Hours
Remember PFI will be closed the following holidays:

Christmas
Wednesday, December 24, 2003  Thursday, December 25, 2003
Friday December 26, 2003

New Years Day Thursday, January 1, 2004
Friday, January 2, 2004

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