When it comes to motivating a sales team, not just to sell, but to sell the right items to maximize their company’s profits – not to mention just to come to work on time every day, and not move on and add to expensive turnover – there is no tool more powerful than gamification. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why.
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT FORMS THE CORE
Just like my beloved, award-winning bulldogs, humans are stubborn. If you scold and yell and bark at a bulldog, it’s as likely to lift its leg and pee on your couch as it is to do what you want. They’re notorious for digging in their heels that way! Salespeople are no different really, and if all you do is yell and grumble and tell them what they’re doing wrong, the best you can hope for is a behavior known as satisficing. Satisficing is doing just enough not to get yelled at or fired, and no more. Many employees, including the 87% worldwide who are not engaged, or are actively disengaged at work, will take a sort of perverse glee as they consciously or unconsciously do the least they can without getting into trouble, then slack off the rest of the time.
If you want a bulldog to do something, you have to give it a treat. You’d be amazed how well that works with people, too, only instead of a bit of food, what motivates your employees the best, in my experience, is cash. Whether it’s a pot of $1000 for a weekly game at a car dealership or other big-ticket retailer, that can give someone a weekend away, or a shift-based game at a coffee shop, with a winner getting $10 for lunch money that they didn’t have that morning, cash is king, and nothing motivates people more quickly, or more thoroughly.
GAMIFICATION ISN’T BORING!
This sounds so obvious it’s silly but trust me, it’s not: people get bored. Bored people don’t perform well. That’s why you’ll often see a new employee ramp up to their peak performance shortly after the end of their training, but then they gradually taper off to a lower level in the long-run, even though they have more experience. Even with commission and spiffs, sooner or later, your sales staff is going to get bored, and their motivation, energy level, and morale – and ultimately your bottom line – is going to suffer.
Gamification stops that cycle of boredom before it can even start! By playing games at work, you can keep it fresh for your team day after day, month after month, and year after year. The more social, energetic, and goofier the game, the better!
PLAYING FOR PROFITS – A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING GAMIFICATION IN ANY BUSINESS
After implementing my Playing for Profits system, founded on the principles of gamification, my clients consistently report not only vastly increased profits and sales, but also a dramatic reduction in call-offs, tardiness, disciplinary issues, and turnover, as well as absolutely enormous increases in customer satisfaction, word-of-mouth referrals, and customer retention and repeat business! Click below to learn more, and find out how, within 90 days, your business could be working like a well-oiled machine, earning profits you’ve never even dreamed of, and giving you time to work on developing it instead of just barely treading water!
Click here to discover how to start playing for profits.
