Why Sales Contests Suck

Mario Herger

Why Sales Contests Suck

Video gamer girl

Does Gamification look like this?

Or more like this?

LinkedIn & Gamification

… empathizes with people

by adding gameful experiences to work and life,

helping them to fulfill their interests and motivations

for the benefit of all involved parties.

Enterprise Gamification

Gamification Design Elements

EGC Wiki: http://www.enterprise-gamification.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Gamification_Design_Elements


More Gamification Design Elements

Game Design Elements(full & barely legible list)


Make work more fun!

Definition of Enterprise Gamification

All Games are about Competition!

Statement

Right? Wrong?

More Social than Competitive

Competition is the Opposite of Collaboration

Competition in ecology and sociology is

a contest between individuals and entities

for territory, a niche, or a location of resources, for resources and goods, for prestige,

recognition, awards, mates, or group or social status, for leadership.

It is the opposite of cooperation.

Wikipedia

①

Bartle’s Player Types

Achiever

Socializer

Killer

Explorer

less than 1%(!)

~80% ~10%

~10%

Selftest: http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology

Acting

WorldPlayers

Interacting

②

Competition doesn’t last[..] the same contest or even different contests that always last one day or always last three days or always last one week will become boring based on predictability and redundancy.

[..] The longer a contest lasts the harder it is to maintain the motivation linked to it.

[..] running a short-term contest day after day until people get tired of it will run it literally to death. Some people will lose their interest in that contest forever [..]

Even a book praising sales contests talks mostly about problems and how to fix them and how to fix the subsequent problems…Source: David L. Worman; Motivating with Sales Contests: The

Complete Guide to Motivating Your Telephone Professionals with Contests That Produce Record-Breaking Results

③

Competition disadvantages Women

Men compete, when there is any chance to win.

Best-achieving men may make other men depressed

Men work in groups

Women compete, when there is a high chance to win (they are better judges of their own capabilities)

Best-achieving women serve as “shining light” for other women

Women work in dyads, which discourage competition but emphasize relationshipDuring hormonal cycles people tend to overload faster,

because of already high dopamine/hormonal levels.

Sources: Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman: Top Dog – The Science of Winning and Losing

④

Competition leads to negative behaviors Make people less likely to help each other1

(e.g. Microsoft’s stack ranking2)

Aggression towards winner3

Narcissistic self-enhancement, where the winners would feel a malicious superiority over the losers3

Name calling4 – Muppet, Clancy, Bobblehead, Checkbook, Clampett

1. Bryant, B.K. (1977). The effects of the interpersonal context of evaluation on self- and other-enhancement behavior. Child Development, 48(3), 885-892.

2. http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/07/microsoft-downfall-emails-steve-ballmer

3. Martá Fülöp, Mihaly Berkics, “Patterns of Coping with Winning and Losing in Adolescence“

4. New York Times: Name It; Clients Are Called It, March 14th, 2012

⑤

Potty

Competition creates administrative headaches “20-30% of management time was occupied by the

competition and commissions management”

“..also sales people spent signification amounts of their time on tracking their compensation and competition status.”

Source: Debunking the Myth of Sales Commissions http://bit.ly/1avK3HP

⑥

Sales Reps: Social vs. Annoying? ⑦

When Commissions Wreak Havoc

Study Reward ResultRhesus Monkeys solve puzzles Raisins Made more errorsSoma puzzle cubes $1 Spent 3min less on puzzlesChildren play ribbon Spent less time playingPlaying game 4-400 Rupees Worse performanceCandle problem $5 Took 3.5min longerCreativity commission Paid work less creativeBlood donation 50 kronor ($7) ½ of people volunteeredDay care $3 penalty 2x as many parents lateRadioactive Waste Storage $2,175 Agreement dropped by ½ The paid GMAT 2.5c / answer 15% less correct answersCommie High 12% bonus GPA from 2.71 -> 2.14

Sources: http://tinyurl.com/on8rvte

⑧

Sales reps LOVE competition!

They love winning!

Sales Managers’ Statement

How long did competition last? How often did you have to fix it? Did all of your sales reps participate –

or always the same few? Did your sales reps help each other? How long did you stay at average with

your sales teams?

Because you may have destroyed it for everyone else…

Sales Managers Should Ask:

Transient Managers Create Addiction

Source: Anton Suvorov “Addiction to Rewards”

Long TermManager

TransientManager

Rewards Few Low

Many High

Information Disparity

Lower disparity Higher disparity; confusing signals

Employees keep interest feel up to the task accept delayed

gratification

loose interest feel not qualified for

task prefer instant

gratification

How many people can win? ⑨

Answer: 1, and everyone else loses

Sales Competitions - Summary

① Competition is the opposite of collaboration

② Only a handful of people compete

③ Competition doesn’t last long

④ Competition disadvantages certain demographics

⑤ Competition leads to negative behaviors

⑥ Competition leads to administrative headaches

⑦ Competition makes sales people hated

⑧ Only one person can win, but all others lose

⑨ Short term boost, long term damage

Gamification in Sales① Give them Meaning

② Let them CollaborateReframe the Question “Who’s the competitor?”(Hint: not your co-workers, and also not other companies; the customer’s problem is)

③ Give them an excuse to Socialize

④ Let them Learn

⑤ Give them all 3 Types of Feedback (appreciation, coaching, evaluation)

⑥ Gamification does not replace a compensation plan!

⑦ Let them have Fun!

Enterprise Gamification Consultancy LLC

Mario Herger Yu-kai Chou

Roman Rackwitz

Marigo Raftopoulos

Books

Level Up

Enterprise Gamificationhttp://enterprise-gamification.com

Enterprise Gamification Wikihttp://enterprise-gamification.com/mediawiki

Gamification Decision Enginehttp://www.enterprise-gamification.com:8083/

Octalysishttp://octalysis.com/

[email protected]@mhergerwww.linkedin.com/in/marioherger/

Business

Why Sales Contests Suck