Can Sales Leaderboards

HURT MOTIVATION?
INSIDE
An answer to the big question: Can leaderboards demotivate those not at the top?

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

INTRODUCTION 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.

NOTE

THIS EBOOK DISCUSSES SALES LEADERBOARDS IN THE CONTEXT OF

THOSE USED TO DISPLAY COMPETITION STANDINGS IN THE WORKPLACE.

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CH A P TER

IS HAVING BOTTOM PERFORMERS A BAD THING?

Not necessarily. And we have three points to start the conversation that proves it

1. WE PLAY TO WIN.
Most of us have some sense of competitive nature. When we nd 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 business goals, 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.)

2. PUT ME IN, COACH.

Sometimes, lower-performing competition participants could benet 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.

EXAMPLE
When the Monterey Company ran a one-month competition around getting more sales opportunities, 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.

Want the full story? Click here.

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 top of 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 topperforming colleagues once opportunities to do so become more visible.

EXAMPLE
When the Detroit Pistons released a new product, single-game suites, their sales team hesitated 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.

ENCOURAGING COLLABORATION
As 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 nd 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

BONUS

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.

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C H A P TER

FOR THE TIMES WHEN IT CAN BE HARMFUL...

We mentioned a healthy competition environment. That doesnt mean creating complex contests that nobody can win or any contest that the same people win. It doesnt mean using leaderboards to track what sales reps do wrong or to embarrass them in front of the team. It means this

RETHINKING THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR COMPETITIONS...

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.

TIP

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 ACTIVITY-ORIENTED CONTEST, SUCH AS THOSE BUILT AROUND BOOKING MEETINGS OR FOLLOWING YOUR COMPANYS SALES PROCESS.

Want to do further reading on this topic? 1.  The Other Guys: Why Average Salespeople Are Your Most Valuable Asset 2.  Motivate Your Salespeople By First Recognizing Their Differences

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SO BREAK UP ALL COMPETITIONS, ALL THE TIME?

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.

EXAMPLE
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.

Especially if youre facilitating those conversations we talked about.

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THE BOTTOM OF THE LEADERBOARD: WHAT TO DO WITH IT

Were 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 Do eBook.

IT P E E K VE I T I S PO

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THIS IS WHERE WE BRING THIS THING TO A CLOSE

because you know what you need to, in order to address the big question. So, lets do that:

CAN SALES LEADERBOARDS DEMOTIVATE THOSE NOT 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 denitely 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.

LEARN MORE

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THANKS FOR READING!

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