I was reading the July issue of Direct Magazine and came across Ray Schultz’s column, "Sweetening the Pot", which stopped me cold.  Here’s how he starts his column:

It’s been said by everyone from Don Peppers to Fred Reichheld: Customer satisfaction starts with a company’s employees.

But how do you make sure that your staff fully supports your objectives?

There’s one way.

Incentives.

Yes. Companies of all types are using incentives to motivate employees, above and beyond bonus compensation.

First,
it’s always dangerous to say "there’s one way" or "the only way to" do
anything.  Not much in life is so cut and dry and when you’re talking
about directing human behavior you can be pretty sure you’re going to
be wrong to say "there’s one way" about how to do it.

Now maybe Schultz means that there’s one kind of internal marketing
program to implement to incentivize employees to further a specific
program or goal, but that’s not how the column reads.  Later in the
column he writes:

Many people have opinions on this, but only a few of these thinkers
really count. One is Don Schultz, professor emeritus-in-service at
Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Schultz feels that incentives are an element
of internal marketing, the science of getting employees to buy into
“programs and processes needed to achieve organizational goals and
objectives.”

Another is Reichheld, author of “The Loyalty
Effect” and other seminal works on customer relationship management. He
believes that “you must have loyal employees if you want to build
customer loyalty.”

Mind you, we’re not talking about cheap pens
with company logos on them. Incentive programs work best when the firm
gives away luxury items like gift cards, electronic devices and travel.

And there has to be a trophy element to them. A cash reward, easily spent and forgotten, doesn’t cut it.

So
it seems that he’s talking about motivating employees in general, about
creating loyalty to the company and by extension to the customer. Given
that I’d say that this is a much more complex issue than creating a
trophy award system.  Things like creating an environment of mutual
respect between managers and employees, offering flexible schedules for
employees with difficult situations at home and providing good health
benefits are among the many basic business considerations that are no
longer a given in today’s workplaces. 

Schultz later points out that you need to focus on the ROI of
incentive programs and he’s absolutely right, but more importantly you
have to realize that no matter how nice the trophy for exceeding a
sales quota it won’t make up for a hostile work environment or a
personal financial crisis caused by an extended illness not covered by
a company’s lousy health plan.  Simply put, creating loyal employees
isn’t so simple.

Cross posted on LowderEnterprises.com.