Do Your Sales Competitions Actually Work?

"Scarcity means competing for one seat at the table rather than joining together to create a bigger table." - Abby Wambach, World Cup Soccer Champion/Coach/Gold Medalist/Author

Most traditional sales competitions are designed to motivate everyone on the team to strive to be #1 in sales. We reward that person for having achieved that status. We may also admonish those who haven't achieved that goal, and at the very least will point at the #1 person and ask why the others didn't achieve the top position. In doing so, we often de-motivate rather than motivate individuals, causing more harm than the intended good.  

In lieu of this model, many sales managers tell sales people they need to compete with themselves - to better their own numbers. We as managers often set those goals though, as a way of trying to force the sales person to produce more and come into line with our top producer.  After all, it's possible for all to produce those numbers if one person can, right?  If one person achieves the goals set for them but the others on the team do not, do you openly praise that person?  If so, the other team members may be demotivated if the same person achieves their goals more frequently.

I challenge you to evaluate how you design your attempts to increase sales. What if the goal was to have everyone on the team reach a set goal, and when one person does, they turn and offer a hand up to the others? What if that individuals was then rewarded for helping others achieve their goals by sharing their knowledge and wisdom so that all could succeed?  

What might that look like on YOUR team?