By Stan Rosenzweig

For businesses trying to motivate everyone to pull in the same direction for the common good, it's not as easy as it is at the upper end of major league sports. Why? Because, we can't all open George Steinbrenner's checkbook and pay each of our players $30 million bucks to be happy.

That's ok, though. You have an equally strong motivator to money. You can give them the gift of joy. As baseball great Carl Ripken, Jr., says, to motivate people:

• Celebrate the individual.
• Make it fun.

So, what you need to do is provide a workplace where people:

• Enjoy coming to work.
• Are respected as individuals.
• Think the world of you.

Do that and they will knock themselves out for you 24/7 and you'll get as much out of them as old George gets out of the NY Yankees. Come to think of it, looking at this season, you'll get more.

And when prospects meet your employees, they'll respond and become more inclined to deal with you than those miserable grumps down the block.

A few years ago, I had this point hammered home to me when I was working with a client with a $3 million annual long distance bill. The final choice of carriers was between MCI and AT&T (This was before Bernie Ebbers and Worldcom, and AT&T was still the number one carrier).

To win the business, MCI sent a Lear Jet to bring me and my client to Atlanta. We toured the MCI network operations center where everyone was upbeat and energized. They were happy and full of spirit. What a great day that was.

A few days later, we drove to meet AT&T at it's New Jersey operations center where everyone we met was very professional, but kind of slow moving, if you know what I mean. We felt that, except for the sales people, there was no spring in their steps. There was no excitement in their voices. They all were there to do a job, but nobody had any energy because, I presume, nobody celebrated them as individuals, as Ripken would say.

My client felt that if a problem ever arose he preferred a team he could rely on to go the extra mile without whining. So MCI got the deal.

I see companies every day with employees who have that beaten down look. They work for national financial services companies, as well as local medical offices. Senior managers, owners and sales people are upbeat, sure. But make no mistake, if the back office isn't feeling good, it's gonna cost you.

So start smiling and patting people on the back… and, buy all means, mean it.

============================================================