Rewarding Support Staff

Members of the ISP-Marketing list discuss rewarding support staff for production just as sales staff get sales commissions. What metric would you use to reward good support, and how would that metric affect performance?

[March 29, 2002]

On the ISP-Marketing list in March, DJ inquired,

"I know most of us give bonuses to sales reps, but do you give bonuses to your tech support and customer service people? We've been compensating our call center staff based upon the monthly net growth of the customer base, giving them 50 cents for each new customer. We're looking for an alternative: any advice?"

Some respondents described their call center bonus plans:

[MS observed] "In our call center, we base bonuses on shorter call times, higher quality of service, and ticket completion. We give out $100 per month to the top service or support rep based on those categories."

[RY added] "We do an 'employee of the month' award. Their name gets put on a plaque that hangs in our entrance foyer. The recipient also gets the preferred parking space, plus a $100 bonus check."

Others discussed the possibility of reversing the situation:

[KC considered] "I wonder if we could deduct for poor performance instead?"

[MS warned] "I think that's illegal."

MH explained that there's a key difference to keep in mind between sales reps and support staff:

"Although it's great to have your entire staff's eye on growth, the back end should be focused more on retention than on new customers. I'd base it on a follow-up system. Send an email to anyone who recently opened a support ticket, and let them grade things like timeliness, friendliness, accuracy, etc. Then offer bonuses based on overall monthly ratings."

—End