How Will You Motivate Your Billers In 2017?

2017 is almost and as you prepare for the teams return to work it’s a great time to get everyone’s motivation firing to hit 2017’s billing targets.

However, it can be tough to know how to motivate a team of recruiters to make more sales. Different people respond well to different motivating factors- and as a manager it’s your job to figure out a strategy that will motivate everyone, from your lowest performing billers right up to your stars- and never forgetting the core group in between!

So how do you do this? What kind of system will push everyone to new heights, without leaving the others behind? There may be no ‘one size fits all’ approach, but we’re going to discuss some strategies that can fit nicely together to incentivize your team, or which you can pick and choose as fits the circumstances.

1. Figure out who’s who.

Look at last year’s sales performance and figure out the curve. What’s the breakdown of star, core, and sub-performing players in your team? Knowing this will help you design a motivational strategy that appeals to your particular team dynamic and doesn’t leave anyone out.

 
2. Work on building trust.

For some recruiters, the idea of being valued and supported is just as powerful a motivator as bonuses. Sit down with each member of the team to find out how they would like to receive feedback and if there’s anything you can do to help them succeed.

 
3. Talk about motivation with your team.

Ask them what motivates them, how motivated they’re feeling right now, and how they get themselves motivated again when their drive starts to lag. You’ll probably learn a lot, not only about your team, but also pick up some neat motivational tricks to help the others out as well.

 
4. Don’t ignore the core players.

Frequently, managers focus their motivating attention on the star players and the poorest performers, leaving the core group—the vast majority, in most cases—out in the cold. This is a poor use of your time as a manager, as motivating the majority to perform better will have the biggest effect on your figures overall.

 
5. Create tiered reward systems to motivate the core of the team to do better.

As reported in the Harvard Business Review, core players often aren’t properly motivated towards rewards because they believe, before even starting, that the star sellers will win them all.

Instead, create a tiered reward system where recruiters win something for hitting a certain level. Each prize must be significant to work, and this system works best if each reward tier is a different kind of thing—one might be a weekend away, another a fine dining restaurant experience, another a hot air ballooning experience.

This way, the core players believe they can hit a certain tier and will chase that goal. Additionally, you should have more than two tiers as the increments help to motivate people towards the next ‘little jump’ upwards.

 
6. Don’t impose ceilings on compensation.

When bonuses are capped, star recruiters are often de-motivated, causing a larger negative effect to the business than if the ceiling was removed. You may even consider upping your compensation scheme for those that exceed targets to really fire them up.

 
7. Have regular rewards to maintain momentum.

We humans aren’t very good at motivating ourselves in the long term, so be sure to create a scheme with regular rewards to work towards. Some teams even do fun daily challenges with a free sandwich for lunch, as well as more serious weekly and monthly challenges.

 
8. Reward for effort, not just results.

While the majority of your bonus systems will reflect traditional placement successes, it’s a good idea to also implement an incentive where it is effort based, such as the recruiter who makes the most calls, receives the best feedback from clients and candidates, or has the best social media presence. These should be mini-prizes that are substantially less than your normal billing bonuses so that you don’t dis-incentivise people from chasing the main targets.

9. Keep a pipeline of good salespeople, and don’t be afraid to let habitually poor performers go.

This provides a three way benefit: you replace a poor seller with a good one, it’s an example to motivate the other poor performers to lift their game, and the rest of the team will be spurred to greater heights by competition with the new star talent.

 
10. It’s not all about the money.

Prizes don’t have to be of any ‘real’ value: in fact there are many tales about sales teams who compete fiercely over the rights to retain a stuffed doll, or a plastic trophy! All that matters is that the team accords the thing psychological value, and that whoever wins that trophy wins the respect of the manager or peers.

You know your team, but it’s time to get to know them better in order to motivate them to greater heights in 2017.

Until next time,

Cheryl