Six Simple Tips for Building a Great Digital Retail Sales Contest

Sales contests are great ways to boost sales and build morale among your frontline. Digitizing these contests makes them all the more fun and easy to do. 

However, the added efficiency of a digitized sales contest doesn’t guarantee optimal outcomes.  Like any great sales contest, the digitized version still needs to motivate your sales team so you can get the results you want and the data you need.

So, what’s the secret to building a great sales contest?

How do you build a sales contest that's efficient, fun, and effective?

Here are six simple tips for building a great sales contest.

Set Your Goals

Each sales contest has two sets of goals: goals you set for your frontline; and ones you establish for your marketing and sales team. It's important to remember that you're building one tool to achieve two outcomes, which is why you need to identify your desired sales results while also pinpointing the type of data you want to collect throughout the contest.  Once you've identified your goals, they can act as guidelines to build-out a sales contest mission that's both efficient and effective.

Focus on Team Building

Focus on promoting healthy competition that creates positive team building.  Building a sales contest is as much about boosting morale as it is about increasing sales.  A good sales contest should reward top sellers and motivate other associates to do better through positive reinforcement.  Whether you choose to reward individual associates at the top of the leaderboard or prefer to organize a full “store vs. store” competition that rewards the entire store team, remember that your end goal is to rally the frontline to drive sales.  

Infuse Fun Throughout

Don’t forget that it's a game.  A sales contest should be something that your team enjoys doing by incorporating elements of surprise and creating milestones that require teamwork.  Build a game that makes for good workplace banter and a good laugh! The trick is to make the journey as enjoyable as the final destination.

Pace Yourself

Time your critical points of contact with participants so that they stay engaged and motivated.  These types of "check-ins" could include door prizes or milestone draws during the contest, recognizing and celebrating associates for engagement. Consider each point of contact as an opportunity to reward a variety of team members for various achievements while promoting forward momentum throughout the contest while ensuring that your brand’s top of mind at the store floor.

Make it a Big Deal!

Make the prize something participants really want. When deciding on the prize, ask yourself, "Would I work extra hard to get this prize"? 

Also, consider timeliness.  Contest outcomes and the final winner should be announced immediately.  Fortunately with apps. like ENDVR, participants will know who won immediately and the victors can receive their well-earned reward in-real time through their phone.  Do this and you’ll build enthusiastic momentum for subsequent sales contests, which will further boost engagement and drive participation time and again.

Dig into the Data

A digitized sales contest gives you data at your fingertips in real-time.  It’s the type of data that can help you improve marketing and sales initiatives faster than ever before.  Take the positive momentum that your contest builds and utilize the data to improve both your immediate and long-term marketing and sales initiatives.  And enjoy the results of your hard work!

Keeping these six key ideas in mind will help you build a great sales contest that rewards your team while delivering tangible results.  Build something fun and effective all at the same time.