Most Innovative Ways to Recognize Your Employees

I posted the below text about a year ago to get some feedback, when I was switching my site, I rediscovered it and wanted to share again. Hope you enjoy it and it gives you some great ideas for saying "Thank you" this year. Recognizing your employees (when done properly) is an incredible element of your culture. It can be a driving force that leads to the most amazing results. Your employees end up feeling like what they do matters. Happy employees lead to happier customers and better results for your company, it’s a Win-Win-Win situation. Every company takes a different approach to how they recognize their employees. I want to know what is the most innovative or unique employee reward you have given, received, or heard about? Here are some examples to get you started (these are actual awards used at YUM!):

• "Show Me the Money" Award: A CFO handed out a piggy bank full of money and a copy of the movie Jerry Maguire to the people in his department who added value to the company's culture
• The Magic 8 Ball Award: A Magic 8 ball is handed out to employees who do not take no for an answer and who go above and beyond to make the ‘magic’ happen.
• The Footprint Award: A plaster footprint was given to people who left a positive impression.

In no set priority, I have come across the following ways to recognize and reward employees:

• Cash
• Extra paid time off beyond vacation, etc.
• Employee of the month
• Rewards in kind like dinner for 2 in a fancy place
• Recognition in front of the whole organization
• A weekend outing
• A limo for the evening When I ran my manufacturing business times a simple thank you was very effective.

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An ad agency I worked with gave star awards; a plaque and a star named on your behalf and a gift certificate for dinner for two and tickets to a then-current star trek movie...it was a while ago but very special at the time.

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I do not support such an approach at all. It is a win-lose mentality, while some guys win, others would feel like having lost. It would foster competition and rivalry within the organization - hardly a desirable effect. Instead, I would propose treating all employees as humans and giving more freedom and responsibility (if desired) to performing people.

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Quirky or funny awards don't cut it. Money...is a waste. The winner just goes and buys a TV and never gives the source or reason a second thought. Time off...sends the message that the place sucks and getting away is a reward. An appropriate reward and recognition program begins with management asking "What do we want people to do above and beyond...?" Then rewards need to be established that raise the profile of the winners...AND allow the company/government agency to brag about the employee's outstanding performance. In other words...an integrated approach that is ongoing and strategic. As well, this process can be used to determine whether front-line managers are 'walking the talk' by allowing employees to recommend their bosses. You'll soon find out which managers are duds.

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We have done a couple of things to recognize our employees.  One way is to have a reception with finger foods.  We have drawings (movie tickets, cups, etc.) for basic accomplishments (completing classes, etc.) and then provide special gifts (leather planner, etc.) for major accomplishments (earned degree, certification, etc.).  The employees enjoy getting a special invitation to attend the event. Another way we handle recognition is by posting names and accomplishments in a prominent place in the building.  It's sort of like a Hall of Fame.

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There are dozens of ways but I advocate that the best ones include the family, or at least the spouse of the employee. All sociological evidence and the latest NeoroLeadership research, confirm that the positive affirmation of 'status', one of the most important domains, should include family in recognizing performance and promoting the most positively rewarding and sustainably motivating response. Taking a high-performance employee or team out to dinner with peer groups and spouses will light a fire in those individuals that money, bonuses, shields, commendations, or medals will never achieve.

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Human satisfaction is directly related to Maslow's need hierarchy. As you know this hierarchy included five steps. First Step physiological needs Second Step: Safety needs Third Step: Social needs Fourth Step: Esteem needs Fifth Step: Self-transcendence Depending on the employer's position should be an act of adapting to this steps rate. For example: For low positions (worker etc.) first, second, and third steps rate high fourth, and fifth steps-low but should be felt to this steps satisfaction. Or high position ( General manager, CEO, etc.)The third step is low for competitions fourth and fifth steps should be as possible as high. But real situations should adjust of the company,  company culture and also geography of the companies situations.

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Try recognizing people for admitting to honest mistakes that everyone can learn from. This removes the stigma of honest mistake-making, encourages people to take calculated risks (rather than stay safe), and gives everyone the benefit of the experience. When people realize it is safe to come forward, there is much less possibility that you will be blindsided by a big boo boo that everyone was afraid to talk about.

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Gift cards work well.  They can be purchased in just about any denomination. Stores love to be included in incentive/rewards programs because the cards bring traffic into the store(or online) and ensure that purchases will be made (often exceeding the denomination amount). Depending on the nature of the business, some stores will donate the gift cards especially if they believe that the employees weigh heavily among their own target group.  An office supply store might want to partner in such a way with a tech consulting firm. A sporting goods store will see an opportunity to link up with a fitness chain.  Etc, etc, ...

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A Virgin office I visited had a great 'shout' system; all staff was invited to nominate anyone who had done something special - nothing to do with targets - but had helped someone/gone out of their way to do something - all in keeping with the company vision. Special forms were then put into a box and a team nominated by the staff chose the winning nomination who then had a prize of a weekend away with a partner. There were concerns initially that the staff team would choose 'daft' nominations, but that hasn't happened and it's worked really well.

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I've led the development of employee recognition programs in 2 different companies. The premise in both was that anyone could recognize anyone else for "a job well done", for "going the extra mile", etc. Besides monthly, quarterly and annual awards, we had postcard-sized "thank you" cards printed that you could send to someone in your office, in another office, to a client, etc. to simply say thank you. It was amazing how many of the cards ended up being hung on cubicle walls. And since so many people have a competitive streak in them, earning the cards was motivation. Once people saw that someone in the next cubicle was papering their walls with thank you's, behaviors started to change/improve to try and keep up. Other awards that were well received were the ones that could be shared with family and friends.such as event tickets, dinners, etc. For our monthly, quarterly, and annual awards we developed a catalog for people to choose their gifts from. The type of award had a pint system which allowed them to select from items of that "value". They could also save up their awards to purchase larger point value items. This way they are receiving something they want instead of what we "think" they want.

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Quite often it is employees' families that are the backbone of employees who "give that bit extra" and occasionally it is them who can pay the price in so much as not as much time at home or mum/dad being in front of the computer for longer. Recognizing their contribution is a great way to reward and enhance your brand as an employer. The whole work/life balance thing has almost become a cliche. There is no one size fits all answer, as it means different things to different people. Therefore an employment agreement that recognizes individuality has to be the way ahead. The draconian mentality of working longer hours, and having workmates clockwatching is becoming a thing of the past. Please see Grant Thornton's website for insight into a great employee options package. GT has a very low turnover and is a high-performing business in their space.

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I think the key is to keep rewards and incentives locked into the ethos of the company, the general age/gender of the employees, and the type of business being pursued. You would celebrate target-driven sales staff in an entirely different way to HR or other back-office staff, for example. I used to work in the pharma industry and bringing family into the rewards caused huge problems as many of the (married) regional sales personnel were sleeping with each other, and this simply caused conflict and argument (and, ultimately, HR issues for the company). As the old joke goes, "how is it possible to be a winner and a loser at the same time?" A: "Employee of the month". ______________

If I were to take one thing and change it to make a radical improvement in employee recognition leading to improvement in performance. I would take the stingy 60 minutes a year devoted to the annual review make it 75 minutes, spend 15 in the annual review and distribute the remaining 60 at 5 minutes a month. The recognition does not have to be all positive. The basic recognition that performance counts enough to pay attention to it all year is a vital form of recognition. Benefits are good performance recognized, validated, and encouraged. Poor performance is recognized and improved immediately. If you believe great performance is important, so will your employees. The expense is an extra 15 minutes for each member of your span of control. Get rid of the idea that recognizing a good job creates a demand for more money. People hunger for recognition. Daring? No. Obvious? Yes. Easy? No, but immensely rewarding.

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I once received a $100 Amex check from the manager of my husband's department. That year the workload had been high, long hours involved. At the holiday time, the department gave these gifts to spouses of high performers with a card explaining how thankful they were for the time they had allowed a family member to be away from home activities... An interesting idea.

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Whenever you recognize, make sure you are specific about what the recognition is for. Not just "that was great" but "that was great because of x and y - I really like the way you helped that customer etc" This way you encourage the exact behavior to be repeated.

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One of the most simple management tools I've used for years....."There's always a reason for an 'apple pie'. Just throwing in a bunch of apple pies, drinking a cup of coffee, and celebrating something nice... hope you'll complete your list and I'll be anxious to follow this discussion. It's the most important thing in retention...acknowledgment of people. Give them a sense of accomplishment, that their contribution was valuable.

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One of the best ways to recognize a person or team is to include them in the decision-making process. Nothing says you are valued better than implementing someone's concept. Thus, one of the things we ask participants in our training to do is to decide how they will provide recognition...and that is not just from top-down, but also bottom-up and peer recognition. Just encouraging them to work as a team to formulate a strategy empowers individuals at every level and is, in effect, a recognition that their input is valued. Some of the ways that they have come up with include a "Kudos" box where anyone could drop in a note of appreciation for anyone else on the team. Those are then read at a staff meeting. Another that was similar was a special note card that team members could fill out and give out. Another company decided to give out Hersey Kisses. All of these are small but we're very effective at creating a culture of appreciation flowing in every direction.

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Perhaps "Tell Them" is a simple approach. Everyone in the organization recognizes each other at the time when someone has an impact on their day. It forces everyone to be more aware of each other, improves communication, eventually limits negativity as colleagues and managers are always cognizant of contributions. No big award ceremony, but a continual ongoing recognition of how a person contributes. It requires a bit of promotional work and an info session. I have started meetings with Tell Them, focusing more on successes so the challenges are easier to address. It is easy to implement at a low cost It follows a bit of the FISH Philosophy.

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Here's what I have done: Gone to the store and bought a large plastic tub, dry ice and ice cream then wandered the halls (with help) singing "I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passing by..." Sponsored impromptu chair races in the hallway. Took the whole group for a long lunch to go kite flying on a nearby beach. Random donut or pizza days. Karaoke in the Cubicles day (singing our achievements) A bell for coders to ring when they check-in code. Keep it random and not part of a "program", programs breed cynicism.

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It might be a little bit obvious, but the best and most innovative way to reward employees might just be to make it personal. Put in some effort to find out what matters to the employee, and then find something that will match him or her. Something that can often enhance the effect is to make it a public acknowledgment of your appreciation. Saying 'Thank you, I really appreciate what you did here' - being specific and meaning it, is a very powerful way of acknowledging somebody. And how often does it actually get said?

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Instant - don't take too much time to recognize - Applause at group level and broader levels depending upon amplitude of performance - In-person - not through non-living machines! we are dealing with human beings here - Cash or kind depending upon what will value the most for that person being recognized

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Let me add a few suggestions with a little European twist on how to possibly recognize your employees - A paid sabbatical leave (x weeks) after 5 years with the company to run a project for the community (choice of where to and how left to the employee: they feel good and so do you) - An annual award linked to a "best project challenge", translating into a weekend to a resort for the recognized person and his/her partner - Take your team to a sports/mini-engineering challenge/tournament away from the office for 2 days (the teambuilding effect is fantastic; each individual feels recognized and communication flows particularly well after that) - Say "thank you" - Organize a "TGIF-let's have a drink together" event on a monthly basis (we all run after time so taking a bit of time to talk to and with your co-workers will make them feel they are part of it).

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EMPOWERMENT I’ve earned some experience in this subject and I’ve found that probably this is the most motivator element that we can give to people. Responsibility, recognition, and authority. The way to implement it is another story, I believe that perhaps there are a thousand ways. I use only one. Start with the top to communicate what you are doing, create change agents with the bottom and then bring them to the top, for recognition. All the work with the bottom must be done with external people so that they feel supported by some Senior Manager (SM). Usually, they will feel that they are not working for top people, but, at last, for them …. If you do implementation projects you can find that the most usual phrase people say when asked “why do you do this is?” is: “I don’t know, it’s for them, the top guys”. So, when you released their power to do great things for the company, they will do it …. And, in the end, they will be the most motivated people you can ever find. The change agents: they can be a lot and they depend on the type and organization's needs … one that I most like is the improving ideas, at its best employee empowerment can ever get. You can read more about this case in the book “Berrett-Koehler Publishers - Ideas are Free How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations” … People from the last company I’ve implemented, at the end of the project, has recognized the project as the most successful project they have ever seen, the Top Client has said “this was the most outstanding project I have ever seen….” …. Very nice!!! So, the formula is not complicated and if you do it, with any kind of change agents, expect a great reward from your employees …. MOTIVATION …. Don’t forget, the SM is not there to help implement anything from the TOP, but the other way around …

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I know an elementary school teacher who gives her good students a little card that says "Caught being good." A more publicized version would work for adults, many of whom are just tall kids.

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1. We have an incentive plan, and those outstanding employees would get a bonus monthly. Together with that, I write a "thank u" note to outstanding employees, 2. Invite employees to conduct internal training, sometimes we call it "topic sharing", it's not as official as training, but it's a good way for employees to review their work, share their practices and receive applauds from others. 3. Invite those who have good achievements and have high potential to attend our internal management team meeting and sometimes lunch. 4. Give external training opportunities to employees

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I have been writing individual birthday cards to employees for ten years; once a month sit down with a list generated by HR, a quick Dear.... and a signature at the bottom. One staff member said it was the only thing she received for her bday that year; others point me out to new employees to say "You'll always get a bday card from Coleen." And I don't pop them in the mail; I have supervisors hand-deliver them or leave them on a desk when a person is out of office...doubles the surprise! They love it! ______________

The most important part of Employee Recognition is actually RECOGNIZING your employees.  Know who they are (I actually worked for someone who would call employees by each other's names) and know what is important to them.  When you walk by someone's desk, look around.  If they have a picture of their prize chihuahua with a blue ribbon, don't ask them about their family. Make a nice comment, or ask them about something in their area that looks important to them, then listen to what they tell you.  This will let them know that what's important to them is important to you.

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Recognition and appreciation can be a simple thing as easy as a daily thank you. When I do volunteer work, the thing that always sticks out for me is how often the people within the organizations stop by to say thank you for being there to help where ever I can. Yes, we get paid to do the daily grind, but employers are asking more and more of their employees, and in that focus seem to forget that it is at the cost of a personal life. Most people don't need to be right; they just want to know they are appreciated. With acknowledgment comes respect, with respect comes value, with value comes honor. What company doesn't want Respect, Honor, and Value as felt from inside the organization out?

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I have used a great organization here in Australia called Red Balloon Days. They provide incentives and vouchers for staff that is based on experiences. Cash bonuses are fun but they get absorbed by credit cards, mortgages and are easily forgotten. The experience on the other hand creates memories and a positive link between an individual or team performance and the reward. Our staff loved to get the vouchers which they could also use with their family and friends i.e. hot air ballooning or speed boat rides, Harley Davidson rides, sports car for a weekend, or a visit to a candy factory. The best thing is that they can choose the reward that suits their circumstances based on the value of the voucher (and they can save vouchers up for bigger experiences).

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I've been interviewing thriving companies for my upcoming book, and here's what I've discovered that the best do for employee recognition. I'll offer three: 1. The Pride Patrol at Sky Lakes Medical -  When a coworker (or anyone within the company) sees an employee offer service that is above and beyond, they have a phone number to call, which creates a quick telephone tree to pull together about three or four leaders - that patrol of people often includes the CEO). They approach the worker in front of their peers and direct bosses, offer congratulations, a balloon, and candy. It's very quick and sends a big message. 2. The PRS Guitar method - Paul Reed Smith has nearly every person who touches their guitars as they are built, write their names on the inside of the guitar before it is sealed. It's a subtle thing but the sense of pride and valuing of the work done is highly meaningful and promotes incredible workmanship. 3. My tip from years of training - Describe, Describe, Describe - Tell your employees what your eyes are seeing and how you're feeling. Do NOT just say, "You're doing a good job." That's just lip service. Describe specifically what you've noticed the employee is doing. People want to know that they matter. A woman in one of my classes recalled a time when her boss leaned over her cubicle and said, "Have I ever told you how much I appreciate you?" She was flattered and said, "No. What is it you appreciate?" Her boss got flustered, he didn't know what to say, mumbled a bit, and walked away - talk about demotivating! It requires managers and leaders to notice what's going right, and the results are stellar.

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One really unique gift to reward the entire group is to bring in a special speaker and make it like in Dr Phil or Oprah where everyone in the audience gets a free signed copy of the speaker's book.  I've had companies hire me for this and it worked out really well as audiences were really happy.

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To motivate employees, create a BLC culture on a daily basis. Belonging: People want to belong to something bigger than them. That’s why they belong to families, religious and civic organizations, and companies like yours. Having a sense of belonging assures commitment. What are some actions you can take to create a sense of belonging? -  Each morning that you see an employee, say “Good morning.” (You’d be surprised how many people tell us that their boss doesn’t acknowledge their presence.) -  Sponsor business functions that include employees’ families. (Make them voluntary, as some employees would rather spend their time away from work—away from work people.) -  Be available to talk with employees. Get to know them as “whole people,” not just as job descriptions. Learning: Everyone wants to continue to learn, grow and develop. In these fast-changing times, you can’t afford to. Even if you stay in the same position for years, the requirements of the job will keep changing and you must also change just to keep up.  Here are some actions for providing a learning culture: -  Provide feedback on performance and coaching to employees on an ongoing basis. (Saving it up for the surprise end-of-the-year performance evaluation is counterproductive.) -  Sending employees to training is only one way to develop people (and not always the best way). Consider coaching, shadowing, temporary assignments, and participation on problem-solving teams that keep employees focused on the job and are cost-effective means for development. -  Delegate one of your responsibilities that have become routine to you but that would be new and challenging to your employee. Contributing: Lastly, everyone wants to know that his or her coming to work every day makes a difference. They develop pride in knowing that they have contributed to helping the company achieve its goals and move toward its vision. Below are some ways that you can provide a sense of contribution: -  Articulate clearly how what individuals do contribute to the success of the organization. (“Here’s how what you do matters…”) And then do it over and over again as they continue contributing. -  Thank people for a job well done. (An attitude of  “Why should I thank them; they get paid to do their jobs,” gets you compliance. It buys you arms and legs, not people who want to go the extra mile.) -  When individuals go the extra mile, write a personal note to them, take them to lunch, put a memo in their personnel file, recognize them at a staff meeting, present them with a certificate—just to name a few ways.

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Try these ideas on for size: To really answer your query effectively, I would need to know your company's size and approximate location. Size is critical because what will work well in a small-to-medium-sized organization might not be feasible in a large company. Location is important (the "snow trip" might be of questionable value in Alaska; a day in the country might work well in a major urban area.) Do your best to determine the time demands of each position (not an easy task, but necessary). Then: * Ask each employee the question "If you had an extra-long (4-day) weekend--Friday through Monday for example--what would you like to do with it?" * Give each person a day off for their birthday. (If the birthday falls on a weekend, give the following Monday.) * The company's anniversary is a short workday or the weekend following is a three-day weekend. * Offer cross-training job-development training. * Offer time off (with pay) for employment-related educational opportunities. Completion of class with a grade of B or better might be considered for a raise if the education has a definite benefit to the company. * I've used one-weekend-day company social events (Picnics and carnivals, for example) very effectively in organizations with 20 employees (A Saturday at Knotts Berry Farm) to 8,800 employees (Taking over a community park for a company picnic). * Hiring a bus for a surprise one-day snow trip worked well in an organization with 14 people. * Setting up 10 x 4 work weeks and A/B teams schedule so the company continues to function efficiently. (Modified schedules work for most urban fire departments.)

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I have my own Irish Food Business. Recently I was working in Minneapolis visiting my client Lunds & Byerly's Grocery chain. Whilst there, I met the President of a technology company. For his employees, we decided to have a TEAM BUILDING cooking class... So last week 27 people sat in an Irish Cooking class and during that time, I mentioned someone's birthday and created the birthday boy chair !! The CFO was teased....the accountant was picked on !! the sales guy was asked to come up and assist etc. It was 2 hours of fun...we tasted Irish drinks and ate what I made....throughout, I used their internal sales strategy and tailored it to fit through message points about building your business.........It was a really fun afternoon.......

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I first learned how powerful inspiring a company's employees through their passion was when I was working for a training company marketing their events. I was at one of the events "doing my job" when all of the sudden the event leader calls me up on stage. I was a little shocked because I had always preferred to stay behind the scenes. When I got up on the stage the event leader looks out into the audience and says, "Who here has benefited from this event and knows that their life and business will forever be improved by being here?" Pretty much the whole audience raised their hands. Then she looks out into the audience again and says, "Every one of you out here today needs to thank this woman right here." I was kind of shocked. I was thinking why in the world do these people have to thank me? They should be thanking the leader for giving them great content. Then she says, "Without this woman, none of you would be at this event and none of you would be able to make the changes you have learned here today." All of a sudden the whole audience stood up and was smiling and cheering for me. I looked out and saw complete gratitude on their faces. It was at that moment that everything I had done had finally seemed worthwhile. Up until that point I had sat in my office and crunched numbers and created marketing campaigns but I never took the moment to realize the end result of all my work. After that, I got words of praise, thanks, and hugs from soo many people. It was this one moment, this one act that put my whole job into perspective. It gave me purpose. It inspired me to go to work every day and do what I needed to do because I knew I was making a difference in other people's life.

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The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce has a weekly award that is passed from staff to staff.  It's called Fobio (he/she was named after the fobs that we are now required to use to access our office space).  And every week the staff member who currently has Fobio chooses the next recipient for the following week and must email the entire organization with who and why that person deserves the honor. There is a lot of fun involved with Fobio; generally, the staff member who has Fobio for the week dresses he/she up to as a various character.  It has been a very successful way for the Chamber to acknowledge outstanding staff members.

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Here at Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com, our most outstanding employees are recognized through our high-profile “V-12 Award” program, named after the powerful and rare automobile engine. Each winner receives a bonus check, a collectible car model, and a distinctive fleece sweatshirt. Winners are named and their accomplishments are prominently presented at semi-annual off-site meetings attended by essentially all 400+ Edmunds.com employees. The applause can be deafening, and every winner walks to and from the stage simply beaming.

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The best way for corporations to show appreciation to employees is to be caring about their welfare. Historically, self-help books have been utilized in the industry with considerable success. Reader's comments and reviews of "secrets" may be seen at: www.secretsfromthesofa.com. The dissemination of a self-help book to employees could have a profound effect on the employees and their families. Additionally, happier, well-adjusted employees are more reliable and productive. It is a win-win situation all around.

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I represent a client who not only offers his employees hundreds of thousands in continuing education but this past month made available "Wills" for their family at no cost.

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At PPAI, we've seen many cases where a company used promotional products to give an existing employee program a facelift. For example, we had a client use different promotional products to draw attention to their staff performance program.  The organization's campaign slogan was “I’ve Been Spotted” and it was printed on a different promotional product each quarter with clever wordplay customized for each item.  For example, an imprinted ice scraper read, “Break the ice…nominate!” and a highlighter pen announced, “Make nominating the Highlight of your day.” The items encouraged employees to nominate each other for superior job performance. This program, built on team encouragement, created a contagious atmosphere to not only exhibit performance that might get you spotted but to look for and encourage team members to demonstrate “spottable” performances as well. Program managers reported a dramatic increase in participating employees with incidents of recognition running 12 times higher than the previous program. Three hundred and forty-six employees were “spotted” at least one time during the campaign; under the old program, it would have taken more than 28 years to “spot” this many employees.

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Innovative ways to reward employees: 1) company-owned beach house or mountain or lake house - and each family gets a free week or weekend there a year 2) winner of the most sales get two weeks at the beach house/mountain house/lake house 3) special parking place 4) a limo driver takes you to work for a week 5) lunch in their honor with people saying nice things 6) finding out their favorite hobbies and sending them to the convention - like Star Trek, Star Wars, stamp collecting, baseball legends autographs, etc.

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Mike Mountford, CEO of AllAmericanDirect.com likes to play fun, motivational games with his staff to keep them excited about their jobs and reward them for their hard work. Here are a few examples: • He has hosted a 70 person Monopoly game for his staff. Every time an employee was able to get a referral from a happy customer they are invited to roll the die and take a turn. • Recently, they set up a horse track around the office in honor of the Kentucky Derby, and every time an employee received a transfer they were able to move their horse closer to the finish line.

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One of the things that we do with our staff is providing them all with complimentary massages every month.  They absolutely love it. And we do the same for our clients since we’re in the business of providing relaxing massages to their staff to help them feel appreciated for all their hard work.  We found that this initiative increases productivity, morale, and de-stresses them.  There’s a lot of research out there (I can share if needed) that proves that these initiatives actually save companies money.  We found that during this time, the staff is asked to do more with less and this definitely helps.

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This information is about Curt Finch, CEO of Journyx. Briefly, Journyx is the first company to provide Web-based time-tracking, project accounting, and resource management solutions that guide customers to per-person, per-project profitability. Late last year, Curt came up with a very creative way to motivate his sales team. Curt bet them that they wouldn’t exceed their quota for Q1 by 33%. Instead, they blew the doors off and beat their numbers by 45%. Since he lost the bet, he held up his end of the bargain and dyed his hair blue for a week:

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