Risk of "hacking" the motivation system
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 4:03 am
When planning and implementing motivation, do not forget that employees sometimes try to find and use weak points or gaps in the system for their own purposes, that is, to “hack” it. There may be several options here:
When the customer base begins to divide into market segments, the manager does not transfer his customers who meet the criteria of another sector to the manager responsible for it, because he does not want to lose them and his income.
When paying a bonus monthly, the employee deliberately delays recording the payment, transferring it to the next month, if this is of interest to him in terms of fulfilling the plan.
If the company provides a good bonus for exceeding targets, the manager can summarize sales and transfer them to a more profitable period.
Risk of "hacking" the motivation system
Motivating sales staff: an the benefits of using our teacher database example of hacking the system of a large educational company. The holding company was famous for its well-established marketing of consumer attraction and a convenient system for purchasing services on the company's website. Sales managers received a bonus for a client if the invoice was issued two months before the purchase. The explanation is simple: if the consumer purchased the service through the website, this means that the employee's work was low or did not exist at all.
How did the managers hack the system? - They started to indicate in the CRM as if they were contacting regular customers and sending them invoices. What did they expect? - A banal coincidence. The company's educational products were dedicated to significant events on the market, therefore, the probability of regular customers buying a place at the event was quite high. The managers expected that by sending invoices to a large number of consumers, if there was a match, they would receive a good monetary reward. But as a result, at the end of the month, the amounts received were tens of times less than expected. The sales managers' excuse was very simple - "the client changed his mind."
How can a manager resist hacking of the motivation system? - Only by constantly checking all components of the system and introducing test periods. It is also important to analyze data and changes in the client base for past periods. There is no 100% ideal system, so you need to be prepared for the fact that there will be those who use imperfections for their own purposes.
When the customer base begins to divide into market segments, the manager does not transfer his customers who meet the criteria of another sector to the manager responsible for it, because he does not want to lose them and his income.
When paying a bonus monthly, the employee deliberately delays recording the payment, transferring it to the next month, if this is of interest to him in terms of fulfilling the plan.
If the company provides a good bonus for exceeding targets, the manager can summarize sales and transfer them to a more profitable period.
Risk of "hacking" the motivation system
Motivating sales staff: an the benefits of using our teacher database example of hacking the system of a large educational company. The holding company was famous for its well-established marketing of consumer attraction and a convenient system for purchasing services on the company's website. Sales managers received a bonus for a client if the invoice was issued two months before the purchase. The explanation is simple: if the consumer purchased the service through the website, this means that the employee's work was low or did not exist at all.
How did the managers hack the system? - They started to indicate in the CRM as if they were contacting regular customers and sending them invoices. What did they expect? - A banal coincidence. The company's educational products were dedicated to significant events on the market, therefore, the probability of regular customers buying a place at the event was quite high. The managers expected that by sending invoices to a large number of consumers, if there was a match, they would receive a good monetary reward. But as a result, at the end of the month, the amounts received were tens of times less than expected. The sales managers' excuse was very simple - "the client changed his mind."
How can a manager resist hacking of the motivation system? - Only by constantly checking all components of the system and introducing test periods. It is also important to analyze data and changes in the client base for past periods. There is no 100% ideal system, so you need to be prepared for the fact that there will be those who use imperfections for their own purposes.