Audience: employees and their families at a sports event
Message: Please accept these tickets as a token of appreciation for you.
Tone: informal, light
Timing: 2-3 minutes
What would work be without friendships with our coworkers? And what better way to build friendships than getting to know each other away from the phones and the paperwork? In a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere where there’s time to chat informally about outside interests? Please take advantage of tonight’s opportunity to do just that.
Before the game gets under way, I also want to thank you for bringing your families and for letting us get to know them a little better.
Families, a few words to you: Your husband or wife,… or parent,… or whichever family member works here,… represents the most important reason our company exists. Certainly, we operate to make a profit. But in earning a profit, we never want to lose sight of the specific individuals that make that profit meaningful. People who make work “play” in a sense. People who help us grow as a company and as individuals.
And, families, we want you to know that we see you as an important part of our extended employee family. You see, you make it easy for your loved ones to contribute on the job. By your interest in their careers—your listening, your advice, your questions. By your patience with the sometimes long hours and schedule juggling. By your understanding about short deadlines or crises. By your concern and help as they learn and practice new skills.
In all these ways, you offer support. These attitudes say to them and to us as an organization that you care.
Your emotional support—the kind you’ve demonstrated by coming to events like this tonight—make them happier, more productive people on the job. That makes you a special person to us, too. I’m sure they, as we do, appreciate your active participation in their work lives.
Audience: employees and families at company picnic
Message: We appreciate you and your family’s support of the organization.
Tone: informal
Timing: 2 minutes
Mothers and dads, tots and teens, welcome to our annual picnic. Once a year we parade the ants out of town, order warm weather and blue skies, and nominate a few “undiscovered” coaches to organize games, and then we’re under way with the picnic.
As you arrived on the scene, I hope you found something of interest—the volleyball nets, the shuffleboard courts, the swing sets, or at least the food. Of food, there’s an abundance prepared by the (name) caterers, who’ve done such an excellent job for us over the years.
Other than these few plans, the day is up to you. You’ll find sign-up sheets and our volunteer “coaches” and organizers in various locations to help you show off your athletic prowess and assess the competition. Parents, we ask that you particularly make your children feel welcome and help them discover activities designed for them.
We want you families to know how much we appreciate the mom or dad, brother or sister, aunt or uncle who works here with us every day. We play in the same way we work—with honor,… sportsmanship,… a team spirit,… appreciation of each other,… and lots of good fun thrown in.
We also encourage each of you as employees to get to know those around you. Maybe you recognize names but not faces. And as you introduce yourselves, you’ll discover the person who phones you every week with that sales figure you need. And to those employees you work with on a daily basis, take your family in tow and use this opportunity to let them see how cute Susie’s French braid is and how warm and fun-loving that spouse can be. Here’s your chance to do some serious bragging about those you love.
Mix and mingle and make the day a good one. We’re pleased you and your family came to party and picnic.
Audience: employees and their families at a Christmas program
Message: We appreciate you and wish you a happy holiday.
Tone: informal
Timing: 2 minutes
We appreciate your coming tonight to enjoy the holidays for a brief few moments with us. And the effort, I understand, hasn’t been minimal. Nothing seems to destroy the Christmas spirit faster… than looking for a place to park—particularly tonight with such a crowd. The positive side to all that parking confusion, of course, is that we are growing and prospering as individuals and as a company.
This year we’ve added our new product line, the (name of line). Our customers have given every indication of loving its new design, the benefits, and its low price tag. So the Christmas spirit around here began early in the year.
But nothing—least of all an organization such as ours—thrives without men and women who care about their jobs all year long. You are those employees. I want to take this opportunity to tell you how much you mean to the company. The Christmas spirit that goes out with the dried up Christmas tree is just as worthless as the company that does not respect the dignity of each individual who contributes to its success. Each of you is unique. And you make a valuable contribution to our total effort.
Someone has said that the best Christmas or Chanukah gift of all is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up with one another. That’s probably true.
And I would add: The next best thing is our program tonight. We hope you’ll agree. We have music, a story for our children, and a visit from Santa maybe later in the evening.
So put that overdue project out of your mind, along with the unwrapped presents. Relax and enjoy. We think the program will put a smile on your face, a lilt in your voice, and a song in your heart.
May the joy of the season make the holiday especially nice this year for you and your family.
Audience: sales reps and their managers
Message: Here’s how we plan to reward and support your efforts.
Tone: informal
Timing: will vary greatly, depending on the insertion of details about the sales campaign
I’m the one the others who have gone before me on the program have kept predicting was coming. The one with the details to tell you how to make your first—or second, or third—million. Here’s the plan to make you rich and to make us profitable. PULITZERS FOR PROFIT. That’s our slogan for the new sales campaign.
Meaning? The original Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 by Joseph Pulitzer to recognize excellence in journalism, literature, and music. But on the outside chance that our sales literature will be omitted for consideration for the traditional Pulitzer Prize, we have decided to establish our own Pulitzer. We’ve changed the selection criteria but have kept the prizes as part of the package. Here are our own Pulitzer Prizes for winning sales reps:
[Announce monetary awards and prizes such as trips, tickets, and so forth that will be presented to salespeople who excel in this new campaign.]
Do these sound worth the struggle for recognition? If so, here are the Pulitzer details:
[Insert the goals and the rules of the competition.]
No great prize—particularly the Pulitzer—is won without great sacrifice. You’ll be sacrificing chitchat with friends and a laid-back lifestyle for the next three months. But in return your Pulitzer will win the admiration of colleagues,… new business from old customers,… new business from prospective customers,… and ultimately Pulitzer profit for your pocket.
Don’t forget to pick up your Pulitzer sales literature at the back of the room. You’ll find the texts of TV and print ads, the added 800 telephone coverage to take your orders, and samples of dealer displays to underscore your efforts. Let’s go for the Pulitzer prizes and profits.
“Maybe I will and maybe I won’t” we said to the neighborhood bully who was trying to get our cooperation on his mischievous plan for something like sabotaging the cafeteria food.
That less-than-positive stance is what we’re feeling about our newest product line we want to introduce to you tonight: Maybe it will and maybe it won’t. That is, maybe it will and maybe it won’t sell itself.
That’s not to say it’s not an excellent product. It is to say that it probably won’t sell itself, because our marketplace doesn’t yet know it has a need. Our advertising people are working on creating that need. But, as always, that’s where your real sales skills come into play.
How is this product going to do in the market? If I were going to paint you a picture of last month’s sales, it would be a still life.
But one of my philosophies is that there’s no failure—just feedback. And our feedback from last month is that the market’s not beating our door down for this product at the current moment.
Now why am I telling you all this? Our usual introduction is to tell you how the product will break all records on its first time around the track.
Well, we’re just as enthusiastic about the eventual sales of this new product. But we’re more knowledgeable about the realities of how to present it to your customers. First of all, they will be unaware of the need to [overview the unrecognized customer need].
Second, they will not have heard about the process for [overview new process].
And finally, they will have trouble convincing their bosses to approve the money for the initial investment of equipment.
So we’ve prepared literature to help you explain these benefits and to overcome these issues.
[Insert highlights of the relevant ideas you plan to provide on the literature.]
The bottom line is that this product won’t sell itself as many of our other products do. With our older products such as the (product): customer see, customer buy. Not so in this case. We simply want you to be prepared to present this product with your feet on the ground while your customer’s head is still in the clouds on these issues.
We can’t promise you a quick sale. But we can predict a big sale—once you are prepared to invest the time in analyzing the customer’s situation and savings with this product. In other words, you’ll have to do your homework.
But let me remind you of the experience of Joe Namath: “When you win, nothing hurts.” You will eventually win with this product—and that paycheck will take the sting out of your struggle.
Audience: sales reps
Message: We appreciate your hard work to make us successful; we’re drowning the competition.
Tone: informal, sincere
Timing: 5-6 minutes, depending on the insertion of details of sales records set by various groups
“Never murder a man when he’s busy committing suicide,” Woodrow Wilson advised. Our competition is doing just that—self-destructing. In a period of recession, instead of putting forth more effort, it seems that they have decided the game has been rained out.
You, on the other hand, have continued to meet and exceed your quotas. You have outsold both of our major competitors—combined. I’m delighted to report that (year) was a dynamic year for us at (company). We have set several records. Let me mention who, where, when:
[Insert details of the sales records set by various groups and divisions.]
Why the continuing success when our competition is lagging so far behind? You know as well as I do that it takes more than superior products to make a successful sale. It takes superior people. Like you.
As impressive as our records are for this year, they’re history the day after they’re recorded on the balance sheets. Our history and our future as a company rest with you, our sales team.
As impressive as our team record is, we can be more. More productive. We can budget our time better and knock on more doors. Our training programs to be offered this coming year are opportunities for you to polish your time-management skills and get more hours in your week. You can learn to set priorities, favoring large-volume customers,… and to plan a strategy for add-on sales.
As impressive as our record is, we can be more. More alert to new prospects that our marketing research turns up. From the most recent advertising campaigns, we already have fat databases of prospects awaiting our attention.
As impressive as our record is, we can be more. More diligent to ask our satisfied customers for referrals to their associates who can make use of our products and services. Most will be more than happy to help us help their colleagues reach their own goals. They want their associates to get the same kind of performance they’ve been getting from our products.
As impressive as our record is, we can be more. More knowledgeable about our customers’ needs. We can continually probe to find new needs to pass on to our engineering and research staff. Today’s unfilled needs are tomorrow’s innovative products.
As impressive as our record is, we can be more. More appreciative. And this one’s addressed clearly to us in management positions. We can be more appreciative of your efforts—of what it takes to sell in today’s market.
Let me say it more clearly: We are impressed with you…. Your hard work…. Your knowledge…. Your skill…. Your drive.
History tells us that we have the competitive edge—a superior sales team that goes out every day to “make it happen.” That’s history. And we have every confidence that it’ll be the future, thanks to each of you.
Audience: sales reps
Message: You have broken records; congratulations.
Tone: informal, motivational
Timing: 2-3 minutes
They tell us that old salespeople never die—they just get out of commission. If that’s the case, you people are as young as ever because I saw some hefty commission checks leave our offices this past quarter. To paraphrase General George Patton: You have accepted the challenge, and you are feeling the exhilaration of victory.
You have broken all past records, but let me see if I can put the puzzle pieces back together long enough for you to taste the victory. In the first quarter of last year, you sold $(amount) of (product). In the last quarter of last year, we shipped $(amount) of (product). That’s more like a race record set by tortoises than hares. Then in the first quarter of this year, our benchmark was $(amount) in gross sales. Second quarter, we shipped $(amount) out the door. By third quarter, we had racked up a respectable figure of $(amount). Then somebody put the accelerator to the floor in the last quarter. You can congratulate yourselves for selling $(amount) worth of the best (product) in the nation.
And I’m left trying to figure out how you did it—where the momentum developed.
For starters, you had some specific goals for each model in the line.
Second, you had increased advertising in (title of print media).
But most of all, I think what took you to victory was your own growing awareness of what the product can do for our customers. And once you yourselves became sold, you had little trouble communicating that confidence to your customers who’d taken a wait-and-see position.
There’s one thing to be learned here for future situations: Enthusiasm doesn’t have to be assigned to the newest item on your order form. Some of you may decide to go back through your bags of goodies and see what staple products you may have overlooked. This (product) line may not have been the “firstest with the mostest.” But it certainly has been the bulk of our bottom line this past quarter.
Enthusiasm is the fuel that drives a lot of engines. This product line was simply a little more sluggish at the start. You got the lead out and the commissions started to roll in. We appreciate your efforts.
Audience: associates in immediate department or larger group
Message: We will miss your friendship; best wishes in your retirement.
Tone: informal, light
Timing: 2-3 minutes
Set up a filing system for bills and canceled checks. Re-pot the ivy. Wallpaper the hallway. Oh, excuse me, that’s my list of honey-do’s, not yours. Oh, well, I’m sure yours will be similar—and longer. After all, you’ll have more time.
But, (name), look at it this way: Retirement has cured many a businessman’s ulcer—and given his wife one! So at the conclusion of this get-together, we are going to proceed with a very moving ceremony. We plan to bronze your coffee cup and send it home to (wife’s name). She’ll need it now.
Seriously, we know she and the rest of your family are looking forward to having you available to them more often. Their gain is our loss here at the office. Truly.
You’ve had a brilliant career, spanning (number) years. First at (company), then at (company), and finally at (company). And there may even be a few other places you’ve hung around while deciding what you wanted to be when you grew up.
This is both a sad and happy time. Happy because (name) is going to have time to enjoy himself. Sad because we hate to say good-bye to a dear friend. He’s proven that many times over. Whenever we’ve needed him, he’s been there through triumphs and tears. Our minor problems required only band-aids; our major problems often required crutches. He’s supplied both and always knew which to use on what occasion.
He has encouraged us loudly and encouraged us quietly. With our successes, he has given us personal attention and company-wide attention. With our failures, he has given us solace and direction for the future. He’s been there to explain—sometimes two or three times—to answer, to guide. That’s how he’s interacted with me and that’s how I’ve heard and seen him interact with many of you.
He knows that work is more than a desk, a pile of paperwork, and some customers. By his listening and sharing of his own wisdom gained through life’s experiences, he has demonstrated a realization that work is, after all, people rather than paperwork.
Our retirement wish for you, (name), is that you enjoy what’s ahead to its fullest. Enjoy your travel, your golfing, your church work. We know your retirement will be filled with all those returned kindnesses—those listening ears, unexpected favors, care and concern coming back to you.
You’re a dear friend and a real winner. We love you. God bless.
Audience: associates in the immediate department or larger group
Message: You have made a valuable contribution; best wishes in your retirement.
Tone: informal
Timing: 2-3 minutes
Samuel Johnson wryly observed: “Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drive into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.”
Well, the world—at least ours here at (company)—is sorry to see (name) retire. And not that he’s been barking. But rather that he’s been leading the pack.
(Name), we’re going to miss that leadership. You’ve been vocal about policies that needed to be changed; management has changed them. You’ve been vocal about quality manufacturing; we’ve set up new quality-control procedures. You’ve been vocal about teamwork rather than turf divisions; we’re still working on that. But I think we’ve come a long way.
Because you have “been there,” been in the battle wholeheartedly, the demands of the job have been do-able and our motivation has been replenished with your enthusiasm,… your insight,… and your dedication.
That’s not to say, of course, that we have always agreed. We haven’t. But always, (name) has stood up for what he thought was right and best for all concerned, often in the face of heavy opposition. We agonized over delays and decisions and deadlines. We fought budget defeat, equipment deficiencies, and computer downtime. He has worked hard and long to bridge whatever gap there happened to be. There were even times we considered other careers—both of us. But the work was enjoyable because, ultimately, we were always on the same side—quality service to our customers.
I could go on to compliment (name)’s competence and his results. But then those have been obvious to everyone who has had opportunity to work with him. He has handled his work with admirable efficiency and expertise. As a result, we can say to our colleagues in the industry that our company is one to model.
Let me just sum up by saying, we as a company and as individuals will feel a great loss from your absence, (name). You command our attention and our respect.
We understand that you plan to remain in this area and continue your volunteer work with (project or organization). It’s good that you have a plan.
Let me just add a few other suggestions for these golden years: Continue to sound off in public about what our community and world needs to change. Influence our young people to apply themselves. Exercise every day. And spend your children’s inheritance!
Our best as you do so. Your rest and relaxation is well deserved.
Audience: associates in immediate department or larger group
Message: I will miss you, but I’m eager to get on with life.
Tone: informal, light
Timing: 1-2 minutes
Thomas Edison once remarked, “I start where the last man left off.” Although I’m certainly not comparing my successes to Edison’s, I do feel his modesty about those achievements you’ve mentioned in your earlier comments tonight.
Whatever I’ve been able to accomplish in these (number) years at (company) has been due in great part to the team spirit we have here. I’ve never considered myself to be a lone ranger. Whatever the project, there was always someone around—many of you in the audience. To give advice…. To lend support…. To bend the budget…. To approve the exceptions…. To applaud the results. That team spirit is what makes success sweet.
Thank you for making me look good on the projects and in the positions others have mentioned today.
Despite the enjoyment in working with you, I do not approach retirement with reluctance and regret. I’m looking forward to relaxing without fear that a customer will phone and catch me daydreaming. To eating a big lunch and not caring whether it makes me sleepy in the afternoon. To traveling without having to type up a trip report when I get off the plane. Although—I will probably miss those airfare and hotel reimbursements on my paycheck stub.
And I will miss making copies on the Xerox machine. And (name)’s weekly football statistics and predictions…. Sincerely, I will miss you all individually—your wit, your warmth, your willingness to help me out whenever I’ve called on you.
Keep up the good work here. You’ve been a wonderful team to work with. God bless.
