How to Organize a Sales Contest

Being an administrator in a sales driven office, is completely different than that of any other office. You may be required to do things that you've never had to do. Sales reps are a different breed and learning to work with them effectively is important to maintaining a productive team. Here are some ideas for motivating and rewarding your sales force.

Sales Contests

Anyone who's ever been in sales knows that contests are a huge motivator. There are several ways to run contests, however, I've found that rewarding the person with the most sales, might leave the others out. In the spirit of making sure your entire team feels important to the company, it's best to pick out several attributes for which to reward.

• Person with the most sales to date
• Person with the most sales for the week/month
• Person with the highest retention/attrition rate
• Person with the most customer referrals

These are your most commonly rewarded scenarios, however, feel free to get creative.

Rewards

Rewards will always range in value according to your budget; however, here are some ideas of what has worked in the past for a typical sales team.

• Gift certificates
• Travel
• Cars
• Higher commissions
• Paid time off
• Cash

Once you've decided on the theme for the contest, and the prizes associated with each, it's important to keep the buzz going. Always update the results of each contest and allow your sales team to see them. Most people in sales are competitive by nature and really thrive when they are compared to their co-workers.

Contest & Reward Rules

For consistency and fairness in your contests and rewards, note these rules for structuring a sales contest:

• Determine the sales goal
• Determine who is eligible for the contest
• Always end the contest before the end of the sales period
• Provide a tracking system for your reps

Administrator Rules

In motivating your sales team, it's important to remain positive and focused. Here are a few key ingredients to administering a successful contest and ensuring your sales force stays on task.

• Believe in your rewards. If your budget is low, buy affordable gifts you would want for yourself.
• Always make every team member feel important and like a productive employee even if production is low. Every sales rep goes through a slump, many of them will turn around with the proper guidance.
• Check in often with the sales force and remind them of the rewards being offered.
• Stay on top of the contest results and inform those who are winning and who are close behind.
• Constantly praise individuals for their contribution.

Sales contests are an easy and effective way to boost sales during seasonal slumps and are an excellent way to break the monotony of life. There is always room for creative thinking in motivation and only trial and error will provide the success rate, so don't be afraid to try.

Perhaps the most important lesson to remember is that people respond to positivity so it is vital to make this part of your work. People in sales are often very hard on themselves. You can keep this to a minimum with praise and positivity. Keep yourself enthusiastic about your results and your sales force will produce.