EP 43 – Why Leaderboards Work & Lazy Recruiters Hate Data w/Mark Howell

"If your recruiters hate KPIs and ignore the CRM, this episode will explain why — and how to fix it."

In this episode of The 1% Better Recruitment Podcast, I’m joined by Mark Howell, Founder of TenRecs Software, the all-in-one recruitment platform combining CRM, analytics, payroll, and real-time gamification to drive performance across your agency.

We get brutally honest about:

✅ Why leaderboards motivate top performers (and expose the lazy ones)
✅ Gamification in sales, and how it rewires motivation
✅ The real reason most recruiters avoid CRMs
✅ KPI culture, call stats, and modern performance management
✅ When ego drives results, and when it wrecks your pipeline
✅ Why data matters more than ever in 2025
✅ Building recruitment software that actually gets used
✅ Sales floor tactics, scratch card sprints, and the psychology of winning

If you lead, train, or coach recruiters — or want your team to perform without pressure and micromanagement — this episode is unmissable.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro
01:30 – Meet Mark Howell and the story behind TenRecs
05:00 – Why gamification works in sales (and how to use it right)
10:00 – Scratch cards, sprints & the power of visual incentives
15:00 – Why ego drives top billers (and where it backfires)
22:00 – The real purpose of KPIs (and how most firms get it wrong)
28:00 – Building a healthy culture of performance
35:00 – How to lead recruiters without killing their drive
41:00 – The myth of activity vs. outcomes
47:00 – What makes TenRecs different from other CRMs
53:00 – How gamification can transform recruitment operations
58:00 – Final thoughts: how to get 1% better in recruitment

🔗 Connect with Mark Howell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-howell-3031a714/

🔗 Connect with Charles Kyriakou on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleskyriakou1/