Can Sales Leaderboards Hurt Motivation eBook
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Can Sales Leaderboards
HURTMOTIVATION?
I N S I D E
An answer to the big question: Can leaderboards demotivate those
not at the top?
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapters
1 Is having bottom performers a bad thing?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 For the times when it can be harmful. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Additional resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
When it comes to controversial questions, this is the big one (in the world
of workplace competitions, that is)
CAN SALES LEADERBOARDS DEMOTIVATE THOSE NOT AT THE TOP?
Some of you want to shout, YES! And we get it. Its easy to give accolades
to the people at the top of a leaderboard, but when it comes to the people
who land anywhere else, the situation can get mucky. Theres a fear of
frustrating those employees to the point of harming morale or productivity.
We wrote this eBook, because we want you to get rid of that fear.
THIS EBOOK DISCUSSES SALES LEADERBOARDS IN THE CONTEXT OF
THOSE USED TO DISPLAY COMPETITION STANDINGS IN THE WORKPLACE.NOTE
?
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IS HAVING
BOTTOMPERFORMERSA BAD THING?
1CHAPTER
Not necessarily. And we have three points to start theconversation that proves it
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1.WE PLAY TO WIN.Most of us have some sense of competitive nature. When we find out were
not performing as well as our peers especially when they see that, too this nature kicks in. It creates motivation. We start working harder. And
yeah, sometimes we get frustrated.
But that frustration can trigger creative ideas, as we stretch our minds to
come up with new approaches. It can lead to better time management,
once we realize we cant afford time spent slacking. It can allow us to
accomplish bigger things than we would have otherwise.
Regardless of all that, though, we have to ask: Would you want your sales
reps to have a reaction other than frustration upon falling short of businessgoals, anyway?
Note:The content in this chapter applies
assuming your team works in an
environment of healthy competition. Well
get more into how you can ensure that
later. (Or right now, if you click here.)
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2.PUT ME IN, COACH.Sometimes, lower-performing competition participants could benefit from
coaching or mentorship. Leaderboards can bring that to their attention and encourage a productive response.
In other words, dont be surprised if those sales reps come to you for
advice.
When the Monterey Company ran a one-month
competition around getting more salesopportunities, a rep told the companys
president, Paul Stark: Im not okay with being
at the bottom of the leaderboard. He then
asked Paul for coaching. Nearly immediately
afterward, positive changes accompanied the
reps sales activities.
E X A M P L E
Want the full story? Click here.
http://leveleleven.com/2013/03/the-monterey-company-sales-competition-leveling-the-playing-field/http://leveleleven.com/2013/03/the-monterey-company-sales-competition-leveling-the-playing-field/8/13/2019 Can Sales Leaderboards Hurt Motivation eBook
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3.TEACH ME YOUR WAYS.Some sales reps simply dont feel comfortable in going to their leader to
request coaching. Leaderboards can help them, too. After all, at the topof each leaderboard sits potential for mentorship. And it may surprise you
how often peers will go out of their way to seek insight from their top-
performing colleagues once opportunities to do so become more visible.
When the Detroit Pistons released a new
product, single-game suites, their sales teamhesitated to take it to market until leadership
built a competition around it.
Once the products sales began rising,
motivation even found its way to those reps who
knew (based on rankings) that they probably
wouldnt win. They saw the product could be
sold and wanted to know how the top-level
performers did it so well.
As a result, many sales reps approached the
competitions leaders for insightful
conversations. They then implemented the best
practices learned into their own daily activities
and joined in on crushing single-game suite
sales. Literally. The Pistons achieved an annual
sales goal in only six months, driving over
$500,000 in sales for that particular product.
E X A M P L E
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ENCOURAGINGCOLLABORATIONAs a leader, you obviously want just that sort of collaboration to take place
between your reps. Heres how you can encourage it:
1. Dig in when someone rises to the top of the leaderboard to
understand why.
2. Take whatever you find out and orchestrate a conversation around it
when that top performer is around the rest of the team. For example,
in a meeting, say things like: Can you share what youre doing?
Whats your approach to this? Clearly youre doing something thats
working, because youre rocking this leaderboard.
Sounds simple right? It is. But its important, too. Your competition winners
probably wont go around pounding their chests, sharing what works
on their own. However, you can facilitate conversations in a way that
opens channels of communication and keeps those contest winners from
appearing boastful.
While theyre at it, these conversations will also
provide an alternative to singling people out for falling to the bottom
of the leaderboard; motivate those reps by letting them listen to a top
performer instead.
.assist in achieving competition buy-in from the team. Theres a big
difference between saying, Heres what you need to do and letting your
team listen to someone whos actually doing it and visibly succeeding.
BONUS
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RETHINKING THESTRUCTURE OF YOURCOMPETITIONS...So if you do think leaderboards could demotivate your team, whats the
solution?
Break up your contests. Pair people together with similar skill sets and
similar challenges and place them in their own competitions. Some team
members will begin to work harder when they see that they have a chance
to win. Others may work just as hard as they would have otherwise, but
morale will stay in tact.
Either way, heres the point: While reps will compete separately, theyll
improve your organization collectively.
10
Want to do further reading on this topic?
1. The Other Guys: Why AverageSalespeople Are Your Most Valuable Asset
2. Motivate Your Salespeople By First
Recognizing Their Differences
NOT SURE WHEN YOU MIGHT WANT TO USE THIS METHOD?
TRY SEPARATING YOUR TEAM BASED ON TENURE AND GROUPING COMPETITIONS
ACCORDINGLY. THIS SERVES AS ESPECIALLY RELEVANT WHEN IT COMES TO
THE CLASSIC SALES CONTEST, BUILT AROUND REVENUE.
ANY KIND OF ACTIVITYORIENTED CONTEST, SUCH AS THOSE BUILT AROUND
BOOKING MEETINGS OR FOLLOWING YOUR COMPANYS SALES PROCESS.
TIP
http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/the-other-guys-why-average-sales-people-are-your-most-valuable-commodity.htmlhttp://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/the-other-guys-why-average-sales-people-are-your-most-valuable-commodity.htmlhttp://leveleleven.com/2013/02/motivate-your-salespeople-by-first-recognizing-their-differences/http://leveleleven.com/2013/02/motivate-your-salespeople-by-first-recognizing-their-differences/http://leveleleven.com/2013/02/motivate-your-salespeople-by-first-recognizing-their-differences/http://leveleleven.com/2013/02/motivate-your-salespeople-by-first-recognizing-their-differences/http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/the-other-guys-why-average-sales-people-are-your-most-valuable-commodity.htmlhttp://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/the-other-guys-why-average-sales-people-are-your-most-valuable-commodity.html8/13/2019 Can Sales Leaderboards Hurt Motivation eBook
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SO BREAK UP ALLCOMPETITIONS, ALL THETIME?Please dont. In fact, remember this:
SEGMENT ONLY SOMETIMES.
Its healthy for your team members to be exposed to peers of diverse
performance levels. It will equip them with a more comprehensive view of
where they stand and where they could and should go.
Especially if youre
facilitating those
conversations we
talked about.
E X A M P L E
If you do set up a less-tenured sales rep to
compete against your established reps in an
activity-based competition, it can help to deter
the relaxed, Ill catch on eventually approach
and contribute to quicker onboarding.
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THE BOTTOM OF THELEADERBOARD: WHAT TODO WITH ITWere on one of the last pages of this eBook. We know what youre thinking
(or at least were going to assume we do, for the sake of the content to
come):
Are they suggesting we ignore those at the bottom of the leaderboard?
Not at all. But what weve seen work best is to keep those conversations as
positive as possible.
Go to those reps and say something like: I know as well as you do that
you should be a lot farther along. Then offer to take a look at their
opportunities and talk through strategy with them.
The situations where companies track negative behaviors and recognize
employees for those, almost always create unhealthy, Big Brother-esque
environments. That kind of setting never serves as healthy for motivation.
That kind of setting never serves as healthy
for CRM adoption, either. You can read
about that in our Getting Started with
Salesforce: What Not to DoeBook.
KEEPIT
POSITIVE
http://leveleleven.com/ebooks-getting-started-with-salesforce-what-not-to-do/http://leveleleven.com/ebooks-getting-started-with-salesforce-what-not-to-do/http://leveleleven.com/ebooks-getting-started-with-salesforce-what-not-to-do/http://leveleleven.com/ebooks-getting-started-with-salesforce-what-not-to-do/8/13/2019 Can Sales Leaderboards Hurt Motivation eBook
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THIS IS WHERE WE BRINGTHIS THING TO A CLOSEbecause you know what you need to, in order to address the big
question. So, lets do that:
CAN SALES LEADERBOARDS DEMOTIVATE THOSENOT AT THE TOP?
Yes, of course. Luckily, you now have techniques to arm
you against such a circumstance.
Want to add more layers to that armor?
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ADDITIONAL
RESOURCES
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FOR ADDING LAYERS
First of all, you should definitely check out the rest of the Sales
Leaderboard Series.
You can also visit LevelElevens Resource Center leveleleven.com/
resources and Sales Game Blog leveleleven.com/blog for
additional wisdom on motivating your sales team.
LEARNMORE
http://leveleleven.com/resources/ebook/http://leveleleven.com/resources/ebook/http://leveleleven.com/resources/white-papers/http://leveleleven.com/resources/white-papers/http://leveleleven.com/blog/http://leveleleven.com/blog/http://leveleleven.com/resources/white-papers/http://leveleleven.com/resources/white-papers/http://leveleleven.com/resources/ebook/http://leveleleven.com/resources/ebook/8/13/2019 Can Sales Leaderboards Hurt Motivation eBook
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THANKS FOR READING!
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