The Gloves Are Coming Off At Stratus Interactive...
Our clients are so thrilled with our amazing work that we have decided to have a little inter-office sales competition. In the spirit of our friendly competition, we thought it would be appropriate to help you learn how to increase sales in your organization by launching your own sales competition.
As you may already know, we love infographics here at Stratus Interactive, so what better way to introduce a sales competitions than using an infographic (below)? This infographic discusses all of the Secrets of a Successful Sales Manager, but the last section gives a few recommendations on how to run a successful sales contest:
Kick Start It
Announce the competition at a team meeting, via email, or the Chatter app at Salesforce.com. Stratus announced our contest at a monthly team meeting, drew team members names from a hat, and brainstormed contest/team names—some of which can't be repeated here! Our office was split right down the middle into two opposing sides: Team GSD and Team Prestige Worldwide.
Limit the Length
Sales contests are commonly one week, two weeks, or a month long; any longer may cause your competitors to lose interest. Our competition has an expiration date of one month, with a possible extension in case we are killing it, or having too much fun to stop.
Consolation Prizes
Award and recognize the winners, but also have random prizes scattered about that anyone can win to keep team interest and motivation up. Every time an employee brings in a new client during the competition, a prize is given out (and not just trash-talking rights). We also get an opportunity to learn how to increase sales and collaborate as a team, regardless of the winner.
Keep It Simple
Have a clear goal or action, no more than four actions (most calls, new sales opportunities, etc.). The goal at Stratus Interactive for this competition is to spread the word about our wide breadth of services and help grow in the way we help our clients grow.
Cash Isn't Always King
Experiential awards such as tickets to an event or a nice dinner can be more impactful and may actually save you money. We get a reward every time we gloat about a win or post a social media message about the progress of the competition. (Of course we brought this to the social sphere, it's what we do!)
Share It
Keep a leaderboard or scorecard so everyone knows where they stand, or how bad they're getting beat! We created a seperate project within our management system to track the progress of our sales, and to have fun in the spirit of competition.
These few simple guidelines should help you learn how to increase sales by starting a sales contest. Stratus Interactive has taken this tactic with our “Pimp Your Website” contest and we hope that you will do the same to increase sales in your organization!
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates on how the competition is going and some minor, yet always in good fun, trash talking between teams. After all, a little friendly competition never hurt anyone.
GSD versus Prestige Worldwide
Who will be victorious!?
