Why Sales Gamification + Spiffs = Increased Sales Motivation

How do you motivate and increase the productivity of an already highly optimized business development team?

That was the challenge our business development team faced in April as we pushed to outperform ourselves and set a record number of appointments.

Many sales organizations struggle to keep their business development reps (some call them sales development reps, or SDRs) engaged. Some turn to uncapped commissions, flexible work schedules or extravagant rewards as motivators.

All of those ideas are useful in the right environment, but sales gamification remains one of the most effective ways of driving incredible levels of productivity.

Studies show that when organizations implement game features, like leaderboards and challenges, into their workflow, reps do more of what they’re supposed to and system utilization increases 40 percent to 50 percent. This, in turn, can cause a 10 percent lift in sales.

Prestige can motivate more than money

Gamification has long been a part of our sales culture at XANT. We even have our own comprehensive sales gamification system, PowerStandings.

While it has been incredibly beneficial, business development specialists sometimes fall into the rut of a steady, comfortable routine. We’ve learned that every once in a while it’s important to introduce a new sales contest or incentive to switch things up and reignite excitement.

Last month, our business development specialists were determined to set a record number of appointments. To give them a push in the right direction, we decided to reward them with a dollar bill for every appointment set during our 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Power Hour.

A dollar might not seem like much, but the focus wasn’t on monetary value. We wanted to provide our specialists with bragging rights through tangible tokens and trophies, which, in this case, were dollar bills. Our business development specialists would line their desks and create elaborate displays with their cash. It was the prestige that excited them. 

Incentivize the right behaviors

As the month was coming to a close, we realized we still had half our budget left and room for a few more incentives. We decided to introduce a second challenge to further improve productivity. Our goal was to increase the number of totally qualified opportunities (TQOs), so we decided to spiff reps for every live transfer they set.

On the second last day of the month, we awarded reps $25 per live transfer. The next day, we continued to offer $25 per transfer, but upped the incentive by offering $75 to the top performer.

All of these efforts produced impressive results. By simply handing out $1 bills, we saw a 3.4 percent increase in appointments set between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. In addition, the TQOs set during our second challenge accounted for 19 percent of our appointment setting that month.

We achieved success because we tied our spiffs to specific metrics that drive sales. However, it’s important to note that spiffs alone aren’t enough for motivation. Neither are compensation and salary universal motivators.

It’s only when different game elements and sales incentives are all used together that they fuel the fire that drives sales performance.

To learn more about how sales gamification can motivate your team, download the free ebook below.