A sales contest has a bit of suspense, a bit of a change of scenery to it. It reeks of hope for those that normally don’t lead the pack within your organization. Hope springs eternal for those that occupy the lower rungs of the sales ladder.
At one of my former places of employment, we had an inventory ( bricks ) that was WAY TOO HIGH. The young Sales Manager had tried being a buddy, he had tried being an ass and had gotten tired of trying. I suggested that he partner up with one of the mortar companies that we dealt with and have a sales contest for colored ( pigmented ) mortar used with any brick that was already in stock. Grey mortar and brick that had to be brought in were not counted towards the final totals.
The prizes were higher commissions for the stock brick, versus any that had to be trucked in, and a cruise from the mortar company for everybody who met their goal.
The results were almost comical. All of us who had told the Sales Manager that we couldn’t sell any of the brick off the yard were fighting over those sad excuses for bricks. And all of us who had told him that we couldn’t sell colored mortar were selling it left and right and at a premium price.
Another promotion that I suggested was to put up a ” Brick of the Week “ for the inside sales and customer service reps. The first one to move that lot of bricks got a $50 gift card to a restaurant, where I had negotiated buying $1000 worth of gift cards for $800.
Sales contests that work are hard to devise, but their effects are almost always positive. If you need help coming up with a contest for your organization, I’ll be gald to help you, but my daily fee is $600, plus expenses and you don’t want to pay that.
I normally charge way more than you can afford per hour for phone consultations, and the free consultations are all gone
The two suggestions I mentioned above made well into six figures for the respective companies. I’m sure they’d pay my usual fee for another six figures.
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