You’ve probably heard the word “gamification” bouncing around. It’s definitely a buzz word with growing popularity as more people are realizing its effectiveness. If you don’t know already, gamification is “the insertion of game dynamics and mechanics into non-game activities to drive a desired behaviour”. In other words, it makes the boring parts of anything more fun by adding points systems, badges, and other features of game playing.
So what does this have to do with your sales teams? Gamifying your sales culture has many benefits (which can be found in our blog post “The Benefits of Gamification”) and is a powerful tool for sales management because it addresses the 3 things salespeople are motivated by most: compensation, recognition, and competition.
According to Salesforce, 71% of companies saw a measured increase in sales performance from gamification. According to toolbox.com, Hewlett-Packard reported that gamification in sales helped raise their total revenue by 31-44% (depending on region). No matter how big or small your business is, these numbers can’t be ignored.
So, let’s look at some ways that you can implement gamification into your sales to get your numbers looking like those above.
How to Gamify
First, identify the behaviour you think is most important to productivity. That will be your team’s key performance metric. For example, if your reps close 1/5 deals after a face-to-face meeting, that would be your magic metric. Now onto the fun stuff:
Contests
Probably the one feature we’re all familiar with. Contests are a great way to motivate and encourage employees to push themselves towards a goal. And who can resist winning a prize and gaining recognition?
Leaderboards
Leaderboards are a great way to track progress and bring out the competitive nature of your team. By seeing one’s ranking, it will motivate underperforming sales reps to step up their game and push the top sales reps to do even better. It will also open up the opportunity for mentorship and learning as sales reps can see where their strengths are and where they can improve.
Learning Quests and Progress Bars
Like a customized learning path, users can be rewarded with badges, points, or rewards as they make their way through a game or process. This method makes for a great way to track progress and check-in with employees at different stages. At check-in points, sales leaders can remind employees of what the main goal is, teach them a new best practice, or reinforce a best practice.
Examples:
● Deloitte had designed a leadership training curriculum for senior executives that they knew would have a positive impact on those that finished the program. However, getting them to start let alone complete the program was difficult. By introducing gamified elements like badges, leaderboards, and status symbols, time to certification reduced by 50%. Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-bradt/how-salesforce-and-deloit_b_3539563.html
● Galderma wanted to reinforce staff knowledge of their products, encourage sharing ideas, and build team spirit, so they introduced a traditional gamification method of user avatars answering quizzes and participate in situational role-plays along a quest. Participation was voluntary but it ended up being very popular with almost 92% of the target participating. In the end, this game strengthened Galderma’s sales force and increase company sales. Source: https://business-digest.eu/en/2012/02/21/gamification-should-work-be-like-play/
● Omnicare wanted to improve its IT Service Desk operating model, so they implemented an OmniQuest game which included achievements, badges, and real-time feedback. It saw a 100% participation from team members. This resulted in an improved IT service for the company’s customers, but also bolstered morale and excitement for other projects. Source: https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Editorial/Magazine-Features/Game-On-Gamification-Strategies-Motivate-Customer-and-Employee-Behaviors-81866.aspx
Whether you choose to implement contests or leaderboards, a little gamification can go a long way in upping your sales team’s effectiveness and success (while having fun too!).
Ready to take your sales team to the next level? Contact Change Connect to ask about our sales training and advisory services. We can help drive your business and your team to success.
