How do you motivate your telemarketing employees?

Jay, I think the advice you've received above is pretty much right on. Here's my take:

If I need to "motivate" an employee, I probably don't want to hire them in the first place.

People are best motivated from within. They (especially salespeople) need to come to the table ready to go. Your job is to create an environment that supports autonomy, mastery and purpose. That's an environment in which people will be truly motivated.

For more information on this, try this book on for size:http://www.amazon.com/Drive-S
urprising-Truth-About-Motivat
es/dp/1594488843

For salespeople in particular and internal motivational factors, try the book Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again.

If you stop believing that motivation is something that is DONE to people and start believing that its better to hire people that are already motivated and put them in a motivational environment, you'll have a better chance of building up a business.
Bottom line, hire people who are ALREADY motivated and filled with Drive and weed out the people who are not hitting their goals and/or are coming to you and telling you that they are "just not motivated" or their "morale is low." This can be tough if you haven't done it before but you'll feel better once you've turned the team around in 6-12 months!

Jay, on my experience, first of all you should begin thinking about it at hiring process. you should not hire a person unless he's a good fit for the job. In classic literature you can find a description of the personal qualities best suited for the job (based on study), i can help you find it if you would like to. If you hire a "right" person it will be much easier to motivate him/her.

Secondly, give them a good salary. Base salary above the industry average+performance bonuses - worked good for us. Often people have a dilemma - how to motivate people and don't spend much. To my opinion it's a contradiction, management has to either allocate a budget (salary or other benefits) or forget about motivation.

In a b2b outbound environment, I've found that just about the biggest motivator is an intrinsic one: asking the reps to understand their prospect's business by asking better questions. Inside sales can be a lot of fun, or it can be a real drag, and it all depends on how much you engage with your prospects. Reps have fun by finding out things that their friends don't know about, then sharing the information in social situations.

Here's an example. When I was selling software debuggers, one of my best clients was Watchtower. That's right, the same Watchtower that's left on your doorstep occasionally. After doing quite a bit of business with them, I finally asked my contact what kind of software he was developing. He told me that they were developing fonts for languages that had no written language up to that point. It turns out that they had a mandate to print Watchtower in any language with something like over 100 speakers, and they were developing the font in conjuction with the linguistics department at Stanford University. I called Stanford to confirm, and it was all true. Amazing.

The inside sales world is filled with fascinating tidbits such as the one I described. For one of the companies I've trained, I came up with a contest for the reps: in one week report on the most bizarre software project your prospects are building. The reps had loads of fun asking questions, bonded better with their prospects, and their days went by faster, too. Before this, they hadn't been as involved with their prospects' business problems, but now, they found they were. And their sales numbers went up as well.

We all know money is important. But it's important that reps have some "intelligent fun" on the job, too.

That said, there are some classic way to de-motivate your reps, as well, and you should avoid them. Check out my blog article at http://www.alextrain.com/inside-sales-telesales-tips-blog/bid/8036/5-Great-Sa... to ensure that you're not falling into some classic pitfalls.

You’ve already received some good answers.

The top way to avoid Telemarketer Burnout, low employee motivation and consistent turnover is to not lose sight of the fact that fundamentally it’s all about the quality of the ‘Humanware’ you deploy to begin with.

While most everyone can use a telephone - not everyone is cut out to work in a Call Center environment. And while someone may have “The Right Stuff” to be a great Customer Service & Support CSR – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same individual is also a good fit for the more demanding & sales-oriented requirements of a TeleSales position.

Top Performing Telemarketing Operations drive their Revenue & Performance through Superior Hiring Tactics. Hiring the wrong Agent to begin with is the Root Cause of most TeleSales Performance Issues. It’s also a significant drain on your Budget & Bottom Line - and on your Sales Results. Every failed hire represents wasted dollars down the drain. Not to mention the Lowered Productivity, Poor Morale & Higher Absences associated with a Poor Job Fit.

Typically there are 3 grades of Agents found in a Telemarketing Call Center: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).

(Above Average) Agents seem to have “The Right Stuff” that pushes them to succeed & a natural compatibility with the duties of the position. They work hard - exceed expectations - do more than asked - achieve high-quality consistent results - can always be counted upon - need little direction & work extremely well with everyone.

(Average) Agents perform their duties adequately enough “to get by” - but no better. They are the partially competent. Generally they’re strong from a Skills standpoint but missing a key ingredient or two from a Job Fit/Sales Closing standpoint.

(Below Average) Agents are the people who just don’t fit somehow. Sometimes they’re good people in the wrong jobs. They need extra coaching & supervision just to achieve average results. Often they cause unnecessary conflict. (Below Average) Agents have the Highest Levels of Absenteeism, Lowest Levels of Productivity & Sales, Poorest Performance & Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and generally have a Negative Impact on Team Morale. They represent the real problems in a Call Center workforce. While (Average) & (Below Average) Agents may seem fully qualified at the Interview Stage – they’re a Poor Job Fit – the cost of hiring them is enormous – with little value add to your organization.

SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software is easy-to-deploy, very cost-effective and highly-predictive of an individual's suitability for a particular Call Center job.

SPAS Call Center Pre-Employment Screening Software is a Proven Technology that meets and exceeds all Government Employment Standards Requirements as a Hiring Tool in the USA/Canada/UK/Australia/New Zealand/South Africa and everywhere else in the world where the ‘Language of Work’ is English.

SPAS screens out the Job Candidates who will burn out fast because they aren't suited for the work - and identifies the people with the Personality/Job-Fit, Soft Skills, Motivation, and Work Ethic to be Top Telemarketing Agents. With SPAS as part of your Hiring Process you will be able to select new Agents who will fit your specific employment needs better - and stay on the job longer - leading to a TeleSales Agent Workgroup that has more experience and is more productive.

SPAS Software is sold on an Unlimited Usage License basis - there are No "per Test" Fees - "Annual Renewal" Fees or any other User Fees. Technical Support for the SPAS Software is free & unlimited as well.

You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at: http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html

In my opinion one has to be self motivated. But they also need to know what they are getting into before being a telemarketer Some simply don't understand no matter how much you explain it that they will be on the phone all day long and that their efforts need to be concentrated.

Having said that people are motivated by different things. I have worked for an insurance based company that just went public. There are contests all the time to exotic places. But I have seen people fight hard to get a tee-shirt, hat or pen vs the trips or bonus.

So in my belief you either have to find out what people are willing to fight for individually, or as part of your talent management search hire like minded people so one can set up a goal base incentive plan that at least seems to satisfy all.

Just my humble opinion.

In fact, the most effective perks aren’t always the priciest, said Carlos Bergfeld and Princess Calabrese in BNET.com. “Studies show that cash incentives don’t stick in an employee’s mind: Most folks use the money to pay bills and later forget where it went.” Instead, L.A.-based public relations firm JS Communications gives employees two free “I Don’t Want to Get Out of Bed” days. Colorado’s New Belgium Brewery, best known for its flag ship Fat Tire ale, celebrates employees’ one-year anniversaries by giving them custom bicycles. “It’s a couple hundred dollars for the bike,” says the company’s media director Bryan Simpson. “But it means so much more.”

This is sound advice, and it shows the growing trend of how perks are becoming the new raise. In my previous roles as sales manager and V.P. of Sales, I understand how recognition can mean much more to a sales rep’s morale than simply a cash bonus. Here are a few inexpensive ideas you can begin implementing immediately that will have a big impact on morale and performance:

1) Get a couple of trophies such as “Most new leads generated in a week,” or “Revenue Leader of the week.” Each Monday present the award to the sales rep who led your team in these or other areas during the previous week. Believe me this weekly recognition goes a long way in keeping moral up.

2) Buy a Blu-Ray Hi Def DVD player for the closer or employee of the month award. You can get them from Costco for $199. Buy it in advance and show it off during the month – you’ll get great mileage for just a few dollars.

3) Ask your employees to make suggestions as to the bonuses they would most like to receive. Then pick one or two and offer them for the next few months.

Put your thinking cap on and find ways that fit within your budget and let your team know how important they are. The loyalty, security, and production you’ll create will be well worth the effort.

Hi Jay,

You certainly ask some very insightful questions... I would love to establish a rapport with you and discuss your challenges and needs in more detail. We could further discuss how my expertise and customizable workshops can add quantifiable value to your existing program.

Regarding the ever challenging question of motivation; in my experience, motivation is never a "one size fits all" method. In fact, motivating someone else is a myth! Motivation comes from within. What you can do is to create an atmosphere conducive to intrinsic motivation… A Motivational Climate!

To best achieve success in creating our motivational climate, we must first determine who is working there and who it is we are trying to motivate. When I say, “who”, I am not being literal in that I know your focus is your staff. The “who”, is referring to each individual and their personality/ behavioral style. Until we understand our team, we are not able to relate to, motivate or drive our team to new levels of success.

Leaders for years have attempted to motivate others based on their perception of what is valuable without success. We’re perplexed when still unsuccessful after going directly to the staff and asking, “What would motivate you?”. The challenge with this approach is that only the stronger or more aggressive members of the team will respond. Since these members traditionally are the most competitive of the group, they will likely excel simply because they are driven to succeed despite the, “carrot”. To motivate the underachievers or middle of the pack, you must identify them.

Therefore for motivation to take place you must first determine the personality / behavioral style of each team member. No…I am not talking Myers Briggs! More like DISC, but I am suggesting a Fun exercise in which all participants can gain a better understanding of why they do what they do and why everyone else drives them CRAZY! You can then explore as segmented groups ways they would like to be motivated and brainstorm ways in which each style can more effectively communicate. You will be pleasantly amazed by how much your staff, your leaders and you will enjoy this exercise, knowledge and the subsequent confidence gained from knowing who they are!

For the more traditional steps in contesting and incentives, my first suggestion is implementing a “Sales Coach” program. Your “Sales Coach(es)” will always have some very visual contesting going. The key to contesting and/or incentives is visibility and communication. Many fail because the “carrot” is defined at the beginning and no one knows where they stand relative to the finish line until the contest has ended. Results must be posted consistently and very publicly… You won’t get BIG results until and unless you make a BIG deal out of the process.

Lastly, as you move forward with your efforts, here are some things to keep in mind:

When establishing a Motivational climate keep these four ‘R’s in mind:

• respect, recognition, responsibility & recreation

When working to Bring out the Best in People – Remember the 5 Basic Human Needs:

• Economic Security
• Emotional Security
• Freedom of Self-Expression
• Self-Respect
• Recognition

When determining rewards during contests and incentives:

Top Ten Rewards –

• Money
• Recognition
• Compliments
• Time Off
• A Piece of the Action
• Favorite Work
• Advancement
• Freedom
• Personal Growth
• Fun
• Prizes

Best Wishes for your success! Would love to hear from you!

Victoria Moye
vcmoye@comcast.net

Vlad and Aaron make excellent points.

If you want good people, pay them like good people and treat them like good people. At the beginning of my career I interviewed for a telemarketing job. I was told I had to work some nights and at least a Saturday or Sunday. I had to sacrifice my evenings and weekends and put a huge crimp on my social life all for the rate of $10/hr. They claim a generous incentive package but I couldn't see the guarantee. Also because I was hourly I could work "Extra Hours." When I got a call the next day from another company offering me a Guaranteed yearly salary that broke down to $17.50 an hour with a Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm position + commission which do you think I took?

Today I have to work evenings and some weekends but you can be sure that it isn't for $10/hr. Ultimately, you get what you pay for so be generous. You probably find that the team's motivation direct response to who you pay and treat them.

I think monetary incentives are a great idea. Just make sure that everyone has a chance at them. If you have one top rep that keeps winning, then the motivation will fade.

1) Aaron's answer is excellent. Where are they going and how are you helping them to get there? What do they care about? Learn what that is for each individual and the entire team will perform better.
2) Besides the most kicking tan I've ever seen, Geoff also nails it with the whole "finding out things that their friends don't know about" idea. With inside sales you get to be a time traveler in that you meet all sorts of amazing people and have incredible conversations, yet you still get to go home to your family in the evening.
3) Jay - your two biggest enemies are the terms "call center" and "telemarketer." Though these are wonderfully descriptive, they have such a terrible connotation these days. You will automatically get a lower caliber person just by using those terms in the job post and around the office. Check out this website to understand why: www.prisonexp.org.