Did you ever think about an employee incentive program?

Give this a try…

Set some specific goals with an appropriate timeline. The goal could be something like increased sales or increased productivity, over a one month period. Then pick some rewards or even ask the employees to choose items like jackets and work shirts from a group that you have already pre-selected.

Then you will add your embroidered company logo and maybe even a special tag line created just for this challenge.

Start the program so everyone on the team knows the rules. As the members earn the items, create some kind of special ceremony for handing out the rewards and giving attention to that individual.

As the team member wears the item around work everyone else on the team knows that they hit their targets, thus giving them more attention and recognition. Remember, most people are motivated by emotional factors and not money. The added feeling of accomplishment received by being given the special reward along with repeated attention it bring when worn at work, will continue to motivate that person beyond just the date the item was given out.

In this case everybody wins!

Then you buy it, take it home, and wash it.  That’s when the trouble becomes apparent.  The threads start to unravel.  Now the logo doesn’t look so good.  The edges get jaggy and the rest of the logo doesn’t seem quite as tight.

Many embroiderers, especially new embroiderers, fail to use a locking stitch at the end of satin stitches. Satin stitches are the type of longer stitches that make up the bulk of embroidered text and some designs. They are usually 1/8″ or 1/4″ in length.  If these are not locked down at the end of the letter or logo the stitch will unravel in the wash or when pulled on.

To prevent this problem with embroidered shirts, the person creating the logo can add three small stitches, thus making a knot that will hold the top thread and bottom thread in place.

Click here for some examples of fashion golf shirts, performance sport shirts and woven dress shirts.  Each of these shirts will stand up well to professional embroidered logos!

Consider a salesperson at your company.  Maybe that person is you.  Maybe it’s someone else.  Regardless of who the salesperson is, no doubt they have a lot to say about what they can offer potential new customers.  Can you imagine how ridiculous it would be if they tried to put their entire sales pitch on the chest of a shirt? :)  The more text and information you add to the embroidered logo the messier it starts to look.  

For many the first step in the sales process is to sell the sales person.  The next step is to sell the company.  Keep embroidery logos clean and sharp, simply allowing the logo to catch the eye of your potential customer.  A great shirt should catch the eye of a prospect and make it easier for them to strike up a conversation with you, “Oh do you work for…”

If the logo looks like it contains more information than a Google search result, it will be sloppy and hard to read.  What does that say about the person and the company?  Allow the embroidered shirt to start up a conversation and let the sales person do the selling.

Need an embroidered cap or embroidered knit shirt, check out these products that can easily support your logo!

A great way to help visualize the size is to print your design to the size you think you might want the final version to be.  If you cannot print that big, use a photocopier to enlarge to the desired size.  You can even enlarge a business card size logo to 12 inches wide through several enlargement cycles.  If the design has to be larger than the output paper then enlarge and print portions onto 2 or more sheets.  You can cut out the appropriate parts and tape them together.  Once you have a reasonable representation of the logo at the desired size, place it on the garment and see what you think.

Going through this process, and then viewing against the garment, will give you a good feel for whether the size you chose is appropriate.  If you like the results, great!  If you don’t, then try a different size.  This is much smarter than creating a run of t-shirts or golf shirts and then deciding that your logo should have been a different size.

Here some examples of silk screen t-shirts and embroidered polo shirts that would be great with a logo.