November 2013

Check Out Our Team In Action!

Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about behind-the-scenes at our Renton Production facility.  This week I'd like to feature our Issaquah Showroom and Customer Service Team.

Come visit our showroom located 15 miles east of Seattle, WA.

Our Showroom

If you would like to see samples of our beautiful trophies and awards, our Issaquah Showroom is the perfect place to browse.  Our spacious 1200 sq foot showroom offers samples of both our sports trophies and our corporate awards.  We have been serving the communities of Issaquah, Sammamish, Bellevue, Renton, Newcastle, Snoqualmie and North Bend since 1987.

Meet Our Customer Service Team!

When you come to our showroom, you will be greeted by one of our knowledgeable and friendly customer service staff. Learn more about them below.

Margene has been with our company for 10 years!

Margene has been with Trophies2Go for 10 years.  Not only does she help customers both in person and on the phone, but she also researches and writes descriptions for many of the products we offer.  A woman of many talents, Margene also does bookkeeping, billing and HR tasks for our company.  She also follows up with many customers after ordering to see if she can help with anything else.

Janice, who has been with T2G for 6 years, is our Customer Service Lead and resident Canadian.  If a detail needs to be added or changed to your order, Janice is the one to see it gets done.  She also runs our 'Awards for A Cause Program', where we donate a portion of proceeds from featured awards to charity each quarter.

Mika on the phone helping a customer.

Mika works part time in customer service and has been with Trophies2Go for 3 years.  In addition to taking care of our customers, she also runs a successful real estate business.  She is passionate about giving great service and her customers love her!

Have an old trophy that needs the newest winner etched onto it? Mike is our go-to guy.  He engraves most of our perpetual trophies and plates.  He's also our "work husband" who does all of the odd-and-end chores we need done to the showroom.  He has been with us for 7 years.

Our President Jeff is the company's strategic thinker and resident goof ball.  He's a fun loving guy who works harder than anyone I know but doesn't take things too seriously (unless he’s in a competition, then he's pretty intense!)  If there’s a fire to be put out, Jeff's our man.

Janice & Jessica at the 2012 Seattle Komen 3-Day Walk.

I, Jessica, also work in Issaquah, as the Social Media and Marketing gal.  With Margene and Jeff's help, I also bless new products and ax old ones from the website and showroom.

That's the Issaquah Trophies2Go Team in action!  We love helping you create the perfect memory with an awesome award! Whether it's trophies for a team, a longest drive award a golf tournament, a fantasy football championship trophy, crystal awards for an annual Gala, or a plaque for an ongoing Employee of the Month program, our Issaquah staff can help you choose the perfect award in time for your event.  We are experts in our field, as you are in yours, and take great pride in creating meaningful awards customized just for you!

Cheers,
Jessica

The week before last my blog topic was about Making Sports Trophies Meaningful.  This week I’d like to touch on corporate awards and how to make a memory in the workplace that lasts a lifetime.

Not only are these crystal awards beautiful, but they represent the success and hard work  of the recipient and company.

The corporate awards season begins soon.  Many companies and organizations will be ordering End of the Year Awards, Employee of the Month Plaques, Sales Awards, President’s Awards and so on.  Below are some ideas for making your corporate award as meaningful to the recipient as possible.

What Not To Do:

Last year, a friend told me a story of an award her husband received at his work.  He worked extremely hard during the poor economy to reach his quota, and ultimately was a top sales person in his department.  He received an award, and it was mailed to his desk at work.  That was it.  No words.  No thanks for a job well done.  No peer acknowledgement.  Even though the award was a lovely crystal trophy and probably cost the company a fair deal of money, it lacked the effect that it was designed to do – to motivate and to recognize.  In fact, it did the exact opposite, as her husband was rather mad that management in the company didn’t acknowledge his extra effort.  Since then, he has moved on to another job within the organization.

Don’t let this happen to your company!  Don’t lose good people because they weren’t recognized for extraordinary contributions to your organization.  If you go through the work to set up an awards program and the time and expense of ordering awards, be sure to follow through on the presentation.  This is what really makes an award meaningful and shows true appreciation to the employee.

Four Steps To Making Corporate Awards Meaningful

Step 1: Set up the awards program with measurable outcomes.  If you have goals and metrics associated with your awards, it makes award giving clear and predictable.  Read my past blog on Recognition Awards - Formal vs. Informal for specific ideas.  Our President Jeff is a Certified Recognition Professional; if you have any questions about creating a new program or modifying an existing one, feel free to contact him at [email protected].

Step 2: Choose your engraving wisely.  What you say on the award has an impact.  Be sure to spell the person’s name correctly.  For ideas, read a past post on What Should My Engraving Say.

Step 3: Plan the presentation of the awards.  Where they are presented isn’t as important as how.  Some best practices include:

- Make it a crowd.  Whether at a gala or a team meeting, be sure to include other staff at the presentation.  Acknowledgement in front of peers has two benefits.  It increases recognition value for the award recipient and it also motives others to strive for the award in the future.

- Bring in the VP.  The award should be presented by a senior level person in the company.  It means more when coming from management, as it shows caring and buy in from the upper echelons of the organization.

- Timing is important.  Present the award as close to when the achievement was earned as possible.  The longer you wait to present, the less impact the award has.  Especially with our instant-gratification-social-media society, fast action is important.

Step 4: Plan what you will say and practice.  Some key things to remember:

- Pronounce the person’s name correctly.  Basic, but this small detail matters.

- State how the award was earned.  Discuss what the person did to help the organization and how that’s important to the overall mission, vision and goals of the company.

- Keep it brief.  With awards presentation, less is more. Keep the speech to the point yet heartfelt.

Awards earned at work are something the recipient will cherish for many years to come.  Often they represent a defining moment in an employee's career.  Make the accomplishment count by going the extra mile to plan ahead to make it meaningful.

Cheers,
Jessica

For Insider’s Only!

Where all the magic happens!

Have you ever wondered how your award is made? Come behind the scenes for a virtual tour of our production facility! After you press the “Place My Order” button on our website, your order goes directly to our customer service team, located in Issaquah, WA.  Many of our trophies contain separate pieces that must be screwed, glued, or taped together.  We check to make sure we have all of the necessary pieces in stock.  Janice, Mika or Margene looks at your order and double checks the inventory needed.    After that, your order is processed at our production warehouse in Renton, WA.

The Process At Our Production Facility

Paul engraves trophy plates on the rotary engraver.

It takes many caring hands to create your awards at our Production Facility.  First, the individual components of the trophies are “picked” by our production team.  All of the pieces of your awards are placed in a box and checked off a list.  Once completed, the order goes one of two ways.  It  moves to either our Rotary Engraver or our Laser Engraver.

Rotary Engraver
If the order goes to the Rotary Engraver, it is most likely engraved by our expert engraver Paul.  Since 2005, Paul has been designing and engraving awards with his diamond tip rotary engraver.  His machine engraves brass, aluminum and medallions.  He is extremely thorough and accurate, and he knows precisely how to lay out designs on metal. Most trophy plates pass through Paul’s machine before they are attached to an award.

Edzel assembling a medal order.

After the rotary engraving is done, the awards are assembled by master Edzel.  He is a whiz at building every kind of trophy, plaque or award imaginable!  Most often, he screws all of the pieces together, attaches the engraving, and cleans the trophy.  At this point the order is ready to be shipped to you!

Laser Engraver
If the order goes to the Laser Engraver, it is most likely engraved by Laurie.  She is an amazing artist with an eye for design.  Laurie programs your artwork and message into her computer, then runs your acrylic or crystal award through our laser engraving machine.  Many of our awards are then masked with tape and sandblasted, followed by cleaning and careful packaging.

Shipping
Once your order has been engraved and assembled, it is invoiced and passed to Chris, our extremely conscientious shipper.  She packs all orders with care to arrive to you safely.  Her goal is to make sure that your awards are in the same condition when they arrive to you as when they leave our warehouse!

Manager Tom & Oscar in Vegas!

All of this couldn’t happen without the oversight of our hardworking production manager Tom.  He sees that all pieces are there for every order, and that each trophy we make arrives by the guaranteed delivery date.

Our team at Trophies2Go cares about your order just as much as you do.  We know how important and special your event is, and we take the honor of making your awards seriously.  To see more of our staff in action, watch our ‘Day in the Life of a Trophy’ video.

Thank you for taking a virtual tour of our production facility!  If you or your group would ever like a real tour, feel free to contact me to schedule at [email protected].

Cheers!
Jessica