“The 4 Seasons of Success” Business Connect Contest

“The 4 Seasons of Success” is the Business Con­nect™ contest that can earn qualified participants great prizes throughout the year.

“The 4 Seasons of Success” Business Connect contest coincides with our fiscal year quarters, and winners are selected at the end of each quarter.

Each quarterly season will focus on communicating different products and services. Season One, for Fall FY 2008, runs from October 1, 2007, to December 31, 2007, and is designed to promote USPS^® Free Package Pickup when discussing domestic and international pack­aging with customers.

Competition Rules

1. Qualified participants include postmasters, station managers, managers of customer service, branch managers, and supervisors. Customer relations coordinators, small business specialists, and busi­ness development team members are not eligible to enter, but they will be critical in the support and suc­cess of participants.

2. Activities throughout the competition will automati­cally count towards monthly program targets, but to qualify for the contest, activities listed as require­ments for that quarterly season must be completed and documented in the Business Connect Data Cen­ter. (An activity can be an individual meeting, group presentation, or lobby event.)

3. After each quarterly season (i.e., after December 31, 2007, and March 31, June 30, and September 30, 2008), we will enter the names of all qualified partici­pants (i.e., those who have met the minimum activity requirements) into a prize drawing for one Grand Prize winner and 50 runner-up winners.

4. Bonus Points: For every sale for at least $10,000 in estimated annualized revenue, the qualified partici­pant will have his/her name entered an additional time into the drawing. For example, a qualified partic­ipant who doesn’t make a sale for $10,000 will have his/her name entered once in the drawing (for having completed the requirements); a qualified participant who makes one sale for $10,000 will have his/her name entered twice (once for having completed the requirements, and once for the $10,000 sale); and a qualified participant who makes one sale for $10,000 and one sale for $20,000 will have his/her name entered three times (once for having completed the requirements, once for the $10,000 sale, and once for the $20,000 sale). After each quarterly season, all successful candidates who complete the criteria regardless if selected as a Grand Prize winner or a runner-up winner will earn 20 bonus points towards the Chief Marketing Officer’s Growth Award.

5. Additional seasonal rules:

a. Season One, for Fall FY 2008, runs from October 1, 2007, to December 31, 2007, and is designed to promote USPS Free Package Pickup when discussing domestic and international packaging with customers.

b. Participants must complete five Business Con­nect activities in which three activities discuss domestic packaging and two activities discuss international packaging. To help highlight the value of USPS Free Package Pickup service, participants can use the Business Connect Free Package Pickup Postmaster Kit. (See the article about the kit starting on page 49 in this issue of the Postal Bulletin.)

c. To be credited, participants must document their activities in the Business Connect Data Center by 11:59 p.m. CT on December 31, 2007.

6. District recognition: At the end of the fourth quarterly season, each of the top three districts with the most Business Connect activities to target and each of the top three districts with the highest year-to-date sales (based on the Business Connect Activity/Revenue Ranking Report) will receive $1,000 towards a district celebration.

7. Prizes: A drawing will be conducted after each quar­terly contest to choose one Grand Prize winner and 50 runner-up winners.

After Season One, a qualified participant will have his/her name entered into a drawing for the Grand Prize — a trip for two to Anaheim, California, for the National Postal Forum to be held May 18–21, 2008. This Grand Prize will include airfare and hotel accom­modations for 4 nights, as well as two passes to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Also, 50 runner-up winners will be selected to receive a gift card for a prize selection of their choice ($50 value).

For more information about “The 4 Seasons of Success” Business Connect contest, see the article about the Busi­ness Connect Free Package Pickup Postmaster Kit starting on page 49 in this issue of the Postal Bulletin.

For questions about “The 4 Seasons of Success” Busi­ness Connect contest, send an e-mail to BusinessConnect@usps.gov; in the subject line, please include the word “Contest” and your district name (for example: “Contest — Houston District”). Manual offices that don’t have computers should contact their local dis­trict marketing manager.

— Customer Development,
Customer Service, 9-27-07