3 Ways to Show Sales Associates Your Gratitude

1. Help associates in need.

With $500 in seed money, Anthony Vulin, broker-manager at Keller Williams Realty Los Feliz in Los Angeles, created a fund to help sales associates in a financial jam. Now all associates at Vulin’s company can contribute—with no pressure—by checking a box at closing and designating how much of their commission they’d like to contribute. The typical donation is $50 to $100, says Vulin, and the average grant is from $300 to $400. Vulin and several of his associates decide which requests will be granted from the fund, which has roughly $5,000. "Real estate can be up and down," he explains. "But the need has to be because something unexpected came up." In one case, an associate needed surgery and was out of work for a month. The fund granted her several thousand dollars.

2. Pamper them.

Brandon Green’s most popular perk is a surprise on-the-spot trip to a local spa for a manicure, pedicure, or massage. "Sales associates walk in the door, and I thank them for whatever they’ve done," explains Brandon Green, GRI, principal broker for Keller William Capital Properties in Washington, D.C. "Then I tell them I’ve already booked a spa treatment and that the spa is ready for them right now." Each spa gift costs Green less than $100 because of a deal he’s arranged. "In my office, the men love it as much as the women," says Green. "It shows associates how much I value what they’ve done, and the value is far more than if I gave them a $100 bill."

3. Give a hard-worker award.

Too often, top producers get all the awards. Recognize others, too. "We give what we call the Bulldog Award," says Daniel J. Beirne, GRI, ZipRealty’s broker of record for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. "It goes to someone who, under the most adversarial situation, took the bull by the horns and worked really hard." Recipients have included a sales associate who worked at the hospital to close a transaction while her daughter was gravely ill. "Nobody expected her to work," says Beirne. "But that was her way of dealing with the situation." Another sales associate was rewarded for her commitment to home ownership for lower-income families.