By Phil Villegas
With the Holiday season upon us, many dealerships are planning year-end parties to celebrate the year. These gatherings are great for employee morale and a great opportunity to socialize with other co-workers in a much more relaxed setting. Some dealerships will have their event onsite at the dealership with a pot-luck or barbecue, while others will choose to have their event hosted at an outside location.
Regardless of the location, one practice I saw a few years back from a dealer in their effort to be equitable to all their employee’s hard work was the following:
Early in December, the dealer would send notices to its vendors informing them that in lieu of any holiday gifts or baskets, to either contribute gifts or funds to be used as door prizes during the dealership holiday party. Any gifts or baskets received at the dealership would be kept together to be shared during the holiday celebration.
During the holiday party, every employee would receive a ticket with a chance to win any of the prizes offered by the dealer, donated by vendors and received/or at the dealership.
From Axiom’s side, we particularly prefer this approach since gifts that are intended to influence continuation of an existing, or the creation of a new vendor relationship are no longer directly received by the decision maker; rather many employees now have a chance to enjoy the gift.
Happy Holidays.