December 2007

Staff incentives – it is not rocket science

It is sometimes easy to forget that recruitment sales professionals are actually sales people. Why is this? A lot of the work is incoming, so it is often easy to become an order-taker. Part of the reason for this is that sales are generally encouraged by a financial reward and if the reward isn’t there, why make more money for the company you work for? If the sales representative can see a cash incentive for selling, it’s fair to say that about 99% of the time they will sell more.

MatchWork frequently reminds partners of this and helps out where possible.

At the end of 2006 we suggested to one of our partners that they increase the price they charge for the CV matching service so that they can give “cash-back” to the sales staff for each sale. This new method worked really well and generated a 151% increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2007 compared to 2006.

“Our new approach produced a win-win situation. Sales representatives are driven by commission. Commission is driven by sales. The two go hand-in-hand and therefore help to maintain a positive and successful sales floor.”

Publisher, Commercial Manager, March 2007

As well as encouraging partners to reward their sales staff, MatchWork also believes in incentivising sales in every way possible. Often we take the sales teams and managers out for a meal and drinks if they manage to hit a certain target. This not only gives the team a well-deserved night out, but also gives us a chance to really get to know each other in an “out of work” environment.

MatchWork also recommends to give financial incentives if a certain target is met. This gives the sales team a chance to earn additional bonuses and therefore produces some great results.

In the North West of England earlier this year, we did this with a large newspaper centre and the knock-on effect generated some serious revenue.

With an incentive of £50 per sales representative if they met the target set, the team managed to generate six times the amount of revenue generated at the same time the year before.

So if you are interested in increasing your conversion rate by up-selling more intensively, have a thought down this lane or contact your MatchWork sales responsible for sparring.