The sales contest has its place as a motivational tool, whether for driving revenue, encouraging a change in process, or engendering software adoption, as does competition in the workplace. But managers need to look beyond the Glenngary Glen Ross paradigm, and run contests that encourage collaboration and problem solving. These characteristics better define the attitude of the modern sales representative as well as the way modern sales teams are structured.

1. 11 Sales Contest Ideas
And Why They Work

2. 1
2 3
While individual rankings can tap in to
natural competitive instincts, this can feel
overwhelming to some reps.

3. Competitive sales competitions can include
teamwork and mutual support while still
driving revenue growth.

4. The overall goal of any sales contest is to
engage your entire team, not just the ones
who always meet their numbers.

5. 1. The Yankee Gift Swap

6. When a rep closes a deal over a certain dollar
amount, she gets to open a gift. The next rep
who closes can either steal the 1st rep’s gift, or
open her own.
Continue until all gifts have been opened.

7. Goal: push for high-revenue sales.

8. Why it worksWhy It Works

9. Autonomy: the reps could choose their gift or
steal someone else’s, but that choice makes us
feel powerful in its own way.

10. Variable Rewards: not knowing what’s in the
wrapped gift means they could get something
they don’t want. It ups the feeling of chance,
and therefore excitement that the next box will
hold something even more awesome.

11. 2. Visualizing Progress

12. Reps write down individual total sales as they
progress over time, focusing the team on:

13. Individual contributions compared to revenue
Reps write down individual total sales as they
progress over time, focusing the team on:

14. Individual contributions compared to revenue
Overall progress toward gross revenue goal
Reps write down individual total sales as they
progress over time, focusing the team on:

15. Individual contributions compared to revenue
Overall progress toward gross revenue goal
Celebrate success with full-team offsite activity
Reps write down individual total sales as they
progress over time, focusing the team on:

16. Why it worksWhy It Works

17. Visualization helps teams emphasize progress
toward meaningful goals.

18. A full-team event builds rapport between
individual reps.

19. Establishes accountability through visual records,
but stays away from de-motivating ranking and
rating systems.

20. 3. Flash Contest

21. To keep reps from rationing their deals late in
the month (with the purpose of getting ahead
on their next-cycle quotas), spontaneously
announce a quota-based contest with the prize
of leaving early on Friday.

22. Why it worksWhy It Works

23. Creates urgency, spontaneity, and teamwork to
reach the shared goal

24. Urgency: The contest is only open for a limited
amount of time.

25. Spontaneity: The contest isn’t planned or
expected by the team.

26. Teamwork: The goal is desireable enough for
everyone to want to partake and go home early!

27. 4. Sales Poker

28. Five days in a workweek, five cards in a poker hand.
Coincidence?

29. Sales Poker has reps meet attainable daily sales
goals to choose a card and build their poker
hand. The rep with the best hand at the end of
the week wins a prize.

30. Sprinkle in some wild cards and bonus
opportunities to spice things up.

31. Why it worksWhy It Works

32. Combine chance, skill, and all the positive
goal-oriented behaviors to achieve revenue goals.

33. This long-term goal motivates individuals to
achieve to gain cards and eventually build their
hand. A minimum threshold goal (rather than a
high and unattainable one) will keep more reps
involved.

34. 5. Snooze Buttons

35. Snooze
Offer a “snooze” button for a late start on
low-volume days to drive engagement and
outcomes on particularly high-volume days.

36. Example: The team hits their weekly sales
quota by EOD Thursday. They can come in at
10am Friday rather than 8am.

37. Why it worksWhy It Works

38. It’s free (!!) but there’s an opportunity cost for
employees to receive time off that won’t
impact their PTO balance.
$

39. Use strategically to snooze on low volume
days and save some steam for high volume
push periods.

40. 6. Pair Selling

41. Match high and low performers and stress the
importance of sharing ideas among
teammates.

42. Set your goal and remind teams that their
standing in the contest depends on their
combined performance.

43. Why it worksWhy It Works

44. Introduces one-on-one coaching and
mentorship.

45. Introduces one-on-one coaching and
mentorship.
Promotes internal communication and idea
sharing.

46. Introduces one-on-one coaching and
mentorship.
Promotes internal communication and idea
sharing.
Boosts overall team performance

47. 7. Random Daily Prize

48. Build a store of prizes of different values. Every
day’s sales or goal leader gets to choose
a prize.

49. Use envelopes to choose from a board or
balloons with the prize inside for the winner to
pop at the end of the day.

50. Why it worksWhy It Works

51. Random incentives boost engagement.
While most folks receive small prizes, the thrill
of choice and possibility drives participation.

52. 8. Raffle

53. Use this one for long-term sales periods. Give
tickets to individuals in exchange for desired
behaviors or outcomes.

54. Try:

55. Try:
Weekly customer service goals

56. Try:
Weekly customer service goals
Daily revenue goals

57. Try:
Weekly customer service goals
Daily revenue goals
Weekly pairs or small-team goals

58. Payout at raffle is one (highly desireable)
grand prize and several smaller prizes.

59. Why it worksWhy It Works

60. This contest thinks long-term to drive sales
goals for an extended period.
Build engagement by varying the size of the
sales goal per ticket.

61. 9. Bracket

62. A sports-style bracket to pit reps against each
other for daily or weekly goals. Winner moves
on to the next round.

63. Why it worksWhy It Works

64. Use competition to increase sales and drive
higher individual performance.

65. Consider a losers’ bracket (probably re-think that
name, though) to keep the game going longer.

66. 10. Service Award

67. Track individual customer feedback metrics for
a set amount of time. The team member with
the best rating wins.

68. Use: percentage positive reviews, best
individual review, best review improvement as
metrics.

69. Why it worksWhy It Works

70. Reduce churn, drive customer service goals,
gain insight into behaviors that impact
customer success.

71. Use what you learn to build better service
goals and best practices.

72. 11. Creative Pitching

73. Have team members submit and vote
anonymously on their favorite creative pitches.

74. Can also extend to cold emails and calling pitches.

75. Why it worksWhy It Works

76. Team members can share ideas and communicate
what works. Use these contests to build creative
thinking and team communication.

77. Conclusion

78. Use the elements of surprise, urgency, and
collaboration to drive growth and teamwork
outside of simple one-on-one competition.
These dimensions add engagement and
communication to sales teams that might
become overly-focused on simple KPIs.

79. Ben Jackson, VP of Sales at Voices.com
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80. Ben Jackson, VP of Sales at Voices.com
Angelo Picucci, L&D Manager at
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