Employee Spiffs. (hb)

heatboy

bring in work, how do you compensate them for this? I can see a slippery slope when a guy may sell something not needed to get his bonus. I would like to compensate him for the extra work, but not sure how. Help?

hb

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Bryan_5

HB,
How to compensate them is a good question. I only have one tid bit to add and that is. You have probly hired people with strong ethics. And employees will often times take after the leadership. If it is well known that the owner would not sell a customer something they dont need. A good employee will more than likely not do that either. If their ethics are questionable on sales what about the rest of the work they do?
Bryan

Gary Fereday

Back Again!

The need for a consise business plan! It should be stated there in consise words that everyone understands. I know, business plans are for very large shops! Take time folks, to put one together it may save your self from some very nasty doings! Now help hb with this delemina, such that he can place it in his business plan. It could be placed under the "Ethic" section!

masterplumb

Spiffs

Before working for myself, I worked for companies that paid spiffs on certain jobs that were performed, i.e. sold water heaters, boilers, faucets, repipes etc. It was nice to recieve these spiffs, but there were guys who ALWAYS "upgraded" the customers instead of repairing. Although sometimes it is necessary to "upgrade" and not fix. These spiffs ranged from $5-$50 depending on the job. Sometimes you really had to scratch your head and think if these guys can repair anything. If I had brought in alot of business (legit) it would be nice to have the boss pay for a nice dinner out at a restaurant or give me tickets to a show, or even better a day off with pay. Chris

[Deleted User]

i used to work

for a guy in san diego who would just sneak up behind you and slip a 100 dollar bill in my back pocket...it was always nice cause it came out of the blue..usually for no outwardly apparent reason..guess he liked my work..he did the same for the other fellows too. i dont know if thats good business tactics but i never forgot him over the years since i moved away.

Bill NTSG

You get

"You get to keep your job" is what my former employer told me. Bring in work , you will continue to get a pay check. Not a real motivational tool for a tech to sell.

At another job we earned "points" which were redeemable for cash. We usually cashed in around Christmas time. We got x points for a boiler, x for a water heater, x for a burner, x for a service contract. It worked out pretty good for all involved. There was a little competition between techs also which gave more incentive.

Ed Wallace_2

spiffs

worked for a company in the 1980s there idea of a spiff was $50.00 at xmas time paid as an xmas bonus with a compant check minus the taxes how cheap can you get ? bigger companies i know offer bonuses for selling equipment wether customer needs it or not

robert griggs

I used to work for a company that paid commission on any job you

sold. The problem I saw was that other guys were always trying to sell everything they could, whether the customer needed it or not. There were even times that I found out about that the guys lied to the customer- like the time one tech sold a new furnace because there was no way he could get it started again. Me and another guy show up to pull it out- I'm setting up the tools and he hits the door switch on the furnace and it kicks right on. Boy was that lady mad. Even the boss convinced her to replace it after this. The house was only about 7-8 years old.

The boss would always tell you "Sell, Sell, Sell". He would sell anything and everything. There was so much pressure to sell at this company- that was all they cared about. Never mind the guy who constantly got call backs- as long as he sold the job, they never said anything to him.

The one thing I did notice though is that alot of the jobs that were sold even though they were not needed- they usually had problems with the work. Sometimes that was not the right cure for the problem- so now the customer had to pay more to fix the original problem. There were so many headaches from these types of jobs, I don't think they were worth doing, no matter how much money they bring in.

If you have good ethics in your bosses, they will show up in the employees. The boss needs to set the example for the rest of the company.

Just my 2 cents.

Guy_5

Spiffs

I agree that if you offer bonuses for sales, you stand a chance of promoting un necessary sales. As stated above, that can come back around and bite you. The best incentives that I have found were the "one hand washes the other" method. You know who your good producers are. Let them know. Quietly let them off early when you are aware of personal needs. If you are stopping by a job, bring coffee, soda,or even lunch Be sure that they understand that this is between the two of you. This is pure good will, just like with customers. You take care of them, they will return it 3 fold.