If you’re a sales manager or company leader in charge of sales, gamification is a potent tool at your disposal. A platform like Pointagram can freely apply game design and structure to your operational tasks. Adding game elements to your processes motivates employees and makes the mundane more fun. Sales operations gamified on a basic level perform noticeably better. And there are methods and approaches to gamification that can take a sales team even further.
Here are 5 tactics for sales gamification that will max out your team’s success rate.
It’s tempting to base your gamification framework on your sales reps’ efficiency at closing deals. Sales gamification should instead focus mainly on tasks in the sales pipeline, not the end results. These are things like qualifying leads or contacting prospects. The idea is to create a point system around the KPIs for the sales process you want your team to follow. These actions typically don’t have an immediate payoff but have a cumulative effect when they’re consistent habits.
For example, you can set your gamification system to give points for follow-up attempts with a lead or prospect. The point value could even increase with each attempt. This encourages persistence and increases touch points with prospects, which boosts sales.
Modern sales managers know the importance of teams properly recording their sales data. Accurate and up-to-date information is invaluable for adjusting sales strategies and forecasting. And it’s a lot easier to collect and maintain data in today’s CRM systems. Yet, most sales reps prefer to close deals than input details on the prospects they contact. Awarding points for tasks related to sales data motivates reps to do them. Like with sales process, KPIs, performing those minor (but necessary) chores consistently will lead to big wins later down the road.
For example, your sales team can get points each time they enter the date of an interaction with a lead and what stage of the sales process they’re in. With enough of that information, you can estimate the time to convert, find and fix bottlenecks, and speed up your sales process.
A big part of motivating employees in sales is competition. It’s also a major aspect of sales gamification. You can set up leaderboards to show who on the team has the most total points or is leading for specific KPIs. The drive to outperform others and receive recognition can push people to work harder. There’s also a reward system in gamification that’s more personal. Badges and level completions encourage on an individual level. Both are based solely on a rep’s progress earning points in your gamification system. It’s positive reinforcement, rewarding each team member for desired behavior. This can motivate a person no matter their position on the leaderboard.
For example, a new sales rep on a high-performing team might not seem to be doing well compared to others on a leaderboard. But they could be finishing levels and earning badges, spurring them to keep at it and even push themselves to try harder.
Even with the serious competitive aspect to working in sales, there’s also collaboration. Sometimes sales reps need to work together to close a deal. You can foster teamwork with gamification by awarding points for helping make a sale. You can also break your sales team into groups that share their points for a period of time.
For example, the extra points could motivate a more experienced sales rep to join another team member’s call with a decision-maker. Their presence could be the support needed to close the deal.
The chance to earn something extra, like a bonus or a prize, is a classic way to motivate sales people. In gamification systems, like Pointagram, users earn coins when they receive a set number of points. They then redeem those coins for rewards you’ve picked and set the exchange rates for. It’s important to have reasonable rates of points for coins and coins for rewards. But it’s also key to have rewards that your sales team actually values. You should take time to reflect on what your reps would want as rewards. If you’re not sure, ask them. You can run an impromptu survey in which they can suggest ideas.
For example, your sales team may not want a gift card to a restaurant or a luxury gift box subscription. They could prefer an afternoon off or a pair of Bluetooth headphones. They may even suggest vouchers for airline tickets.
Want a bit more advice for gamifying your sales team? Contact us at Pointagram!
Empowering leaders to motivate and engage their teams for success through gamification
