How to Run a Sales Contest That Delivers Ongoing Results

Have you ever wondered how to motivate your sales teams in an engaging way that not only encourages them to achieve the next sales goal but also helps them see the big picture?


Plan a Sales Contest That Also Incorporates Strategic Goals
It seems like managers have tried everything to squeeze the very last drop out of our sales teams in today’s highly competitive world — e.g., weekly prizes, salesman of the month, team challenges, goal of the week, and many others.
Is there a better way other than motivating sales teams with an immediate reward? A way that also translates to gains in other areas of the business beyond the one sales contest? Could a sales contest also result in a change in corporate culture that yields thinks like better employee retention? Or, higher customer satisfaction? Or, higher throughput in our manufacturing or shipping departments?

A Sense Of Belonging

I’ve always believed that accountability is achieved when people feel a sense of belonging and personal pride of being part of a great organization, with great leaders, doing something worthwhile.  
If people in your sales organization truly buy into the meaning and mission of the company as a whole, you should be able to drive them to achieve more than just a nominal and temporary increase in sales through some sort of sales contest.

Wholistic Sales Contest

Planning for a sales contest that also incorporates strategic goals should be the first step. A narrow sales contest focused on more sales tends to be finite and temporary. When people understand how their contributions fit in the overall mission and plans of the organization, they tend to think and contribute more strategically as they go about generating more sales.

Make Sure Your Sales Team Understand How They Fit in The Overall Picture of the Business
 
So, start by designing your next sales contest with the following 5 points in mind:

1. Where Are We Going?

Understand and communicate the road map of where the organization is headed to your entire sales organization — e.g., budgets, financial projections, marketing plans, expansions, consolidations, investments, etc.

2. Where Do We Fit?

Describe the role that the sales organization will play in making that roadmap possible.

3. How Can We Contribute?

Show everybody how their individual and their team work will specifically contribute to the overall success of the company.

4. What Else Can We Do?

Connect sales contests and sales goals to improvements in other areas of the business such as reduction in errors, increased customer satisfaction, increased compliance, etc.

5. How Do We Know?

Measure and reward results on metrics that go beyond meeting the goal of the sales contest to drive a sense of accountability and team work at all levels and across functions.

Accountability in the Workplace

Of course, turning a sales organization into a permanent High-Performance Organization (HPO) would not be possible without a team with a strong sense of accountability to make sure things get done.
Using an accountability software platform like CommandHound to clearly define, communicate, and track what needs to be done in any sales organization can be an invaluable tool in turning a sales organization into an HPO.
CommandHound achieves its accountability objective by defining what needs to be done, assigning responsibilities and due dates, defining escalation paths for when things fail to be completed as expected, and maintaining a management-by-exception dashboard that frees management to pursue more strategic endeavors.

Would you like to learn more how CommandHound can help you make sure your next sales contest delivers ongoing results across your organization?