Healthy Competition

Someone who partakes in healthy competition wants to succeed, but also derives joy from seeing others succeed. Someone recently asked me for a recommendation on tools to use to create healthy competition among their team. I had to immediately think of the various sales competitions that I was a part of. The joy of comparing scores, the unexpected winners, the bragging rights, the prices that stuck with people for years and the stories we were able to tell as a result. Healthy competition is the epitome of team spirit and being a contributing member of a tribe. But what makes competition healthy? It is competition that encourages us to work harder, push beyond perceived barriers. It teaches us how it feels to lose. Losing gracefully is an important skill. It focuses on the journey, not the destination. It challenges us to set new goals. It makes us revelation in the success of others. It stops us from comparing ourselves to others. We can only control ourselves. It allows us to maintain healthy competition with ourselves. It will encourage us to improve ourselves. Over the years I've enjoyed the competition within teams that I was a part of. Here are my best practices to create healthy competition within the sales team using sales contests and many other tools. 1. Structure it around a stretch goal. It is not a competition if the outcome is guaranteed or reflective of the norm. Don't be afraid to raise the quota. Structure it so that every member of the team is included. If based on the nature of your sales process, it is not possible to include everyone in the same contest. Differentiate or if your team has a global footprint, make sure everyone feels included and equally rewarded. Structure it so that any member of the team can win. For a team diverse in quota, territory or product, you can use percent over plan instead of absolute dollars. Make winning meaningful and memorable. Just money added to the paycheck is appreciated and easily forgotten. Make the launch, the journey and the result transparent. Share standings and outcomes regularly and often and have a leaderboard visible to everyone. Mix business related competitions targeting more sales with fun like brain teasers or scavenger hunts. Structure it around improvement. Maybe have a competition where everyone competes with themselves, their personal best or the last period. Mix individual and team competitions and mix activity and result based objectives. Yes, ultimately it is about results, but if you need to focus at the top of the funnel, it may have to be about the number of calls. Talk to us if you want to learn how interim or fractional sales leaders can help.