Rewarding users and teams for being smart?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

So after reading shove_this_job's post about a user who learnt, I wondered if there was a carrot equivalent to the banhammer-stick.

Some way that TS can provide a tangible reward to users and teams who are thinking clearly when they call, have all the information needed to fix a problem, or (if you have internal corporate stats) hardly ever call at all.

I'm not exactly sure what we could offer on that level - a flag on the userID which says "They called once and were smart"? Most helpdesks don't really charge directly for calls, so it's a bit hard to offer discounts or free calls. (It'd be nice, though - charge users, teams or areas per quarter for the number of unnecessary calls, with necessary calls free and brilliant calls eligible for a refund, or something.)

Aside from a little mini-trophy which says "The IT department loves you!", I'm coming up a little blank on appropriate 'carrots' - which is a pity, because few people like a division which only has sticks.

Anyone seen an helpdesk which managed to offer both stick and carrot?