We have heard a lot about many technological revolutions over the last years in many areas. For a long time, the word “fintech“ has been repeated in the financial sector. Afterwards, the “insurtech“ revolution appeared in the insurance sector. And more recently we have started reading about “legaltech“, which is the use of technology in the legal sector.  

However, there are a lot of them. The advent of the digitalization is changing many sectors and they have been named with the first letters of their names and the suffix “-tech”, like “proptech” (property + technology), “femtech” (female + technology), or “edtech” (education + technology).  

Evidence shows a clear upward trend of these sectors. According to Finnovating consulting, “Spanish x-tech sectors increased by 67% in 2018“, where “proptech” is leading the growth in new initiatives. 

During the last years, new ways of offering existing or brand-new services have emerged, but all of them are subject to the new possibilities provided by the new technologies. So this situation has radically changed these sectors. 

B2B sales digitalization

In every sector, the aim of every company is to sell their products. And this goal cannot be achieved, for logical reasons, without embracing the digitalization and the possibilities that the technological revolution has to offer.

In the area of B2C, e-commerce has changed the traditional business model by avoiding intermediaries and breaking down temporary and geographical barriers (it is possible to buy products around the globe all the time). However, this change in B2B has not been that dramatic.

For example, we might think that CRM systems are widely used, but after evaluating the data we find that only 35% of companies with up to 49 employees use a CRM. The figures rise to 51% in companies from 50 to 249 employees and 60% of the companies use CRM systems with more than 250 employees. 

B2B commerce has always been defined by the roles involved: the representative, the seller, and their personal relationships with the customers. Technology is changing the traditional B2B model, just like it has changed the other sectors.

As McKinsey states in one of this interesting collection of articles, it no longer matters “who”, now importance lies in “when”. During the purchase process, the customers are interacting with companies through different channels. The representatives are no longer taking the first steps to contact customers by calling or visiting them. Now customers decide when and how they want to contact. Sales success mostly depend on the ability of the sellers to keep coherence and offer a “personal touch” in the contact procedure. 

Salestech universe

At this point, we realize that the salestech universe has slowly emerged, which consists of all the digital tools involved in sales process. This interesting article written by Nicolas de Kouchkovsky (Twitter: @nicolask3) offers a graphic with 830 salestech providers, divided into two parts. The first part is focused on the purpose of the solution, which is classified according to customers, productivity and training, business intelligence, sales process, and personal analysis and management. The second part deals with the channel used to offer the solution: Internet, e-mail, voice, chat, social media, and face-to-face communication. 

At first sight we can notice that there are well-established areas because of the wide range of providers, such as CRM or e-mail management tools; others are more recent and can offer many opportunities, such as sales gamification in the productivity area.

The previous classification inspired G2 team, although without specific company names, to publish a graphic with the structure of the salestech universe for 2019.  

On the right side of the image you can find the people or the departments that use specific tools. However, according to the authors of the article, the interactions between tools and roles are an approximation because these tools can be used by different people with different roles.

Finally, we cannot forget to mention the classification made by Nancy Nardin (Twitter: @sellingtools). In this graphic tools are divided by the purpose: who to sell and why, how to engage and when, why they should buy and from you, what to do to close, how to up/cross-sell and renew, and how to manage your sales team. 

We have come to the conclusion that salestech universe is complex and it is still growing, with numerous interconnected and interdependent procedures which require a defined strategy to be integrated in the day-to-day of sales teams.

Playmotiv: a salestech tool

Now we know that the salestech universe is very complex, but what is the place of Playmotiv? We design tools to improve sales. There is no doubt that we are (and we want to be) part of the salestech revolution. And what is the role of Playmotiv in this revolution? 

Regarding salestech universe, we focus on:

1. Sales gamification: we have developed a platform in order to motivate commercial teams through gamification. 
2. Sales training: we can include instructive content directly related to specific business in our gamification platform. 
3. Data analysis: we provide a dashboard where it is possible to observe the use of the platform by the users, this way we obtain insights about teams and sales procedures.

And we do all this keeping in mind the interoperability with other tools. Sales procedures are more likely to be successful if they are compact and clear, and the employed tools are interconnected. This is the reason why we consider Playmotiv as an essential piece of the complex sales puzzle.

If you want to know the results that our clients have obtained, please check “Successful gamification campaigns developed by Playmotiv: Mars“

Gamification global market was worth 5.5 billion US dollars in 2018, but these figures will double in 2020 (11 billion US dollars), according to MarketandMarkets. This market has not ceased to grow exponentially in the recent years. According to Deloitte Consulting, 25% of the company procedures will include gamification dynamics over the next years. However, according to Gartner Consulting, these figures will increase up to 50% in procedures related to innovation. Besides, 70% of the companies that comprise the Global 2000 list use gamification in some of their procedures.

Nowadays, there are 100 million regular players who spend 215 million hours every day playing games (video-games, on-line games, social media games, and gaming apps). We are not talking about teenagers confined in their dark rooms: 29% of players are more than 50 years old, and the average player profile is women aged 37.

Demotivated employees

According to Gallup Research, on average 70% of the worldwide workforce is demotivated and only 30% of the employees feel truly committed to their co-workers and the company. All this information indicates that including gamification in professional environments has a clear strategic purpose. Especially when gamification has proven to be successful in increasing engagement and loyalty of the individuals up to 30%. In addition, the importance of gamification is even more significant if we take into account that millennials represent 60% of the worldwide workforce, the generation which grew up in the digital environment and appreciate having fun, innovation, and transparency in companies.

If you are interested in the study carried out by Gallup, please check this post. 

Gamification is an effective strategy to increase employees’ motivation, and consequently their productivity. However, it can also be a good tool to solve internal problems, improve learning process, or even to increase sales. Now we will show you four successful gamification campaigns.

Four successful gamification examples

Treat2better

This game is aimed to optimise the diagnosis and treatment of the diabetes through real case simulation in a competition environment. This app has been developed by the multinational biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and it received numerous awards at the Spanish international advertising festival where the best campaigns in the food and health sector are awarded, the SaludFestival, that took place in Malaga, Spain, in 2018. AstraZeneca has used gamification techniques for years in order to make the knowledge of their medical products much easier to their representatives. The results: 97% of their employees actively participate in the games and 99% finish them.

Stewart Insurance Agency

This USA-based insurance agency wanted to motivate employees to obtain more e-mail addresses in order to increase communication with potential clients. This work was turned into a game with its own rules and rewards through gamification. What was the result? In two months, the agency collected twice the amount of e-mail addresses obtained in three years.

CaLLogix

Back pain, stress, anxiety, and depression are the most common causes of sick leaves. In order to minimise their impact on employees, this contact centre developed a programme to make employees healthier and happier by helping them to quit smoking, eat healthily and better manage the stress they face in their personal and professional lives. The results of this initiative were astonishing: work absenteeism was reduced by 80% and the company saved 380,000 US dollars per year. According to the CEO of the company, Sherry Leonard, the gamification strategy has not only improved employees’ health and commitment, but also their clients’ experience when employees interacted with them.

Domino’s Pizza

This fast-food chain launched an app in 2015 which allowed users to easily order their pizzas, but it also offered them a gaming experience. Thanks to Pizza Hero, customers had the chance to create their own pizzas or they could choose one from the menu by shaking their smartphones like a Magic 8 Ball. Thanks to this app, Domino’s sales increased by 30% in the United Stated, reaching 1 billion US dollars in on-line sales, according to Forbes magazine.

Our experience in gamification

Our sales-oriented gamifications have increased our clients’ sales between 5-15%, even up to 20% in some cases. Business growth is an essential indicator to measure the effectiveness of a gamification, but employee engagement with the brand is also an important aspect to consider because it improves results in the long term. Players have rated our games with 9 out of 10 points on average, and we are really proud of that. This success potion containing business growth and employee satisfaction is what we try to create at Playmotiv’s lab every day.

If you want to know more about gamification case studies, check this post where Lluis Costa, manager of Mars Iberia, talks about their experience with Playmotiv and how our gamifications increased their commercial teams’ results. 

Three things that you should know to motivate commercial teams 

Everybody who works in sales can confirm that it is a difficult and frustrating job. This role is essential for companies, but we find many times that commercial teams are not motivated enough. I am sure that you already have new goals for the rest of the year. And you will attend meetings and conferences where goals will be explained. But has anyone thought if sales teams are motivated enough to reach these goals? And what about the motivation plans to encourage commercial teams?  Commercial teams’ commitment with the project is one of the most difficult aspects to keep and encourage.

We recommend you to read “Fight the lack of employee motivation with gamification.”

This is why commercial management has to design a strategy to motivate teams. In order to be effective, this motivation strategy has to be part of the company’s global strategy. Which are the three key aspects that any commercial team motivation strategy must include?
1) Explain properly the goals.
2) Provide appropriate means to achieve them.
3) Give feedback about job performance.  

1) Explain properly the goals.

a) Despite the numerous meetings and the endless e-mails, many commercial teams do not clearly know what their priorities are. This usually happens because the people in charge do not know the priorities either, or because the information was not delivered correctly. It is very important to establish these priorities individually and in writing; this will avoid misunderstandings regarding the goals to be achieved.

b) Establishing estimated deadlines is also essential to evaluate goal achievement on time. 

c) It should be possible to revise the goals according to their development. This is the reason why it is important to talk with the team members and ask them because they deal with customers every day. Listening, understanding, and adapting goals are also parts of the team motivation process. 

d) In order to achieve the goals, these have to be divided into microobjectives. Once the main goal is clearly established, we must divide it into smaller parts that can be achieved much earlier, so commercial teams keep their motivation high. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. 

e) Goals must be SMART:

1) Specific: “I want to increase our sales by 20%.”
2) Measurable: “we will compare the total sales of this year with the sales of the previous year.”
3) Attainable: “we will start some marketing campaigns, the trend is positive, so we will achieve our goal.”
4) Relevant: “the sales increase is important to the company.”
5) Timely: “this has to be achieved in a year.” 

f) Last but not least, in order to generate employee motivation, goals have to make sense and they have to be coordinated with the rest of the company. There is nothing less motivating in a job than senseless tasks. 

Playmotiv’s app is a great tool to remember what the goal is. Through our app, team members know what they have to do and achieve, so discouragement caused by the feeling of not knowing where to go is completely supressed. 

2) Provide appropriate means to achieve the goals.

a) It seems obvious that winning a marathon requires wearing appropriate shoes, right? This does not seem so obvious to some companies which do not provide the necessary means to their employees to perform their jobs. For example, digital tools make information management much easier and they increase productivity. CRM software allows us to control all the contact points with potential and current clients, so its use is essential. It is also indispensable to establish protocols and procedures to use them appropriately. An empty CRM will have the contrary effect, it will only generate frustration. Using apps can also contribute to achieve goals.

The notion of “salestech” has started to seem familiar a long time ago to refer to all the technological tools that improve sales-related procedures. If you want to read more about this, please check “Salestech digital revolution.” 

b) Employee training is also included between these means to be provided to commercial teams, because knowledge is their most important tool to achieve their goals. Appropriate training will definitely improve teams’ motivation. A good training will allow them to reach any established goal. 

Our app makes commercial teams’ work easier because it is a tool with plenty of information designed to motivate commercial teams and appropriately focus their efforts. Besides, it is possible to add training content in the app, so players will learn while they are playing. 

3) Give feedback about job performance.

a) In order to guarantee employee motivation, it is essential that they receive constant feedback about their performance. For example, if the feedback is negative, they can change their working procedures. 

There are many ways of giving feedback about performance. Individual or team rankings are very illustrative in the game context to know if the work is being performed according to commercial goals or not. In the same context and using digital tools such as smartphone apps, we can also send personalised messages to each one of the game participants thanks to variables. For example, if they have reached the goal or not. We can congratulate, encourage, or give advices in order to motivate each of them to reach their commercial goals. All this can be done quickly and at once. 

b) Positive feedback can result in rewards, which increase extrinsic motivation and serve as an incentive to keep working properly. The best way to increase employee motivation is combining short-term incentives with long-term oriented acknowledgement and feedback. 

Participants can check their performance in the app, and they can know if they are achieving the goals. This is how we keep teams’ motivation. Besides, players can compare their performance with other players. 

Playmotiv’s solution to motivate commercial teams

We motivate commercial teams and they achieve their goals if we clearly inform about them, provide them the necessary means, and if we give constant feedback. Playmotiv offers digital tools which are capable of combining these three key aspects through gamification.

We improve our clients’ results and their sales teams in a simple way. The virtual adventures created by Playmotiv are followed through an app and their aim is to clearly establish goals, which can be checked by the participants on their smartphones. Besides, our apps offers means and knowledge to the employees. They can include very useful data to the sellers, like the sales points location and additional information. They can also include additional training in the game. Players receive constant feedback about their performance thanks to the competition ranking, so they know how they are doing at work. Besides, they receive rewards if they reach the established goals in the game. This way, we have managed to increase the sales of our clients’ commercial teams by 16% on average.

If you want to know how we did it, just ask us!

If you are interested in boosting your commercial team results, please check what we did to help Mars. 

Mars sales increased by 11% in Spain thanks to our gamifications.

Mars Iberia is part of the American global manufacturer Mars Incorporated, one of the biggest family-owned food companies of the world, which has net sales of more than 33 billion US dollars per year and counts with more than 80,000 associates around the world. This company operates in five business segments (confectionery, chocolate, food, drinks, petcare, and symbioscience) and it is the owner of some of the most well-known brands in the world: M&M’s®, Mars®, Sugus®, Orbit®, Pedigree® or Whiskas®.

Mars Iberia came to Playmotiv looking for an efficient and innovative way to encourage motivation and productivity of their employees and associates.

The mutuality of benefits is one of The Five Principles that constitute the corporate identity of Mars. Connected to this idea, Mars believes that mutual benefit is a shared benefit, and a shared benefit will endure. This is basically the core idea of any successful gamification: turning daily work into a gratifying experience will help employees to bring out the best in them, but it also will help to get the best version of the company in a sustainable way in the long term.

Gamification and storytelling to turn work into fun

Gamification transforms daily tasks into games able to generate positive emotions in participants’ minds. This can only be achieved if the stories really connect with the interests of the players. This is why, in Playmotiv, we analyse in detail the features of the potential players before suggesting the most suitable game themes for them. Some of the factors that we take into account to create the perfect story for our clients are gender, age, and type of professional activity.

We adapt the storytelling of each gamification to our clients and the real interests of our potential players.

For example, Mars associates were mostly men who spent a lot of time driving, so we created a gamification for this specific profile. We offered them a four-wheel adventure: The Great Rally of the Six Continents. Players could recognise their daily work in the game because storytelling was adapted to them, so they could imagine themselves driving the rally cars because the game was directly connected with their personal interests.

Success is measured by figures

The game lasted three months and it obtained excellent results. Total sales increased by 6 percentage points, from 5.5% in August to 11% during the months of the gamification. These results were different from the ones obtained by other subsidiaries that were not gamified in the same period. Their results remained measured and stable, sales increased between 1.7% and 1.9%.

By taking total figures into consideration, gamified subsidiaries increased their sales by 11% throughout the year, which contrasted with the moderate increase of 2.8% of the non-gamified subsidiaries.

Figures related to the acquisition of new distribution channels were especially striking because new channels are the key element to benefit growth in the long term. Gamified subsidiaries acquired a 22% more distribution channels, while non-gamified subsidiaries were losing between 3.9% and 5.9% of their channels.

Playmotiv gamification: a satisfaction story “made in Barcelona”

We believe that players’ and our clients’ satisfaction go hand in hand because only enjoyable games will have a positive impact on the results of the companies. For example, the active participation rate of Mars players was over 70% (72% of the 230 associates that took part in the gamification received a reward), and the game was rated with 9.6 points out of 10.­
However, the most valuable indicator for us is loyalty. After its first experience with Playmotiv, Mars Iberia has continued to choose us for its gamifications, and that is certainly the best recognition we could receive.

As a proof of our mutual success, we want to share this video where the Business Partner Manager of Mars Iberia, Lluis Costa, talks about their gamification experience with us. 

Today we are sharing some examples of games created by Playmotiv in order to motivate different teams to achieve their goals.

We offer numerous genres and infinite stories because imagination is the only limit to Playmotiv’s adventures. Thanks to storytelling and technology, our games create emotional connections, they offer challenges, and the players feel motivated to do their best at work. The games are aimed at companies, especially to the sales-oriented ones, but they are not exclusive for commercial teams; they can also be used by teams or professionals who need to improve their engagement and performance.  These are some examples of games that Playmotiv suggests in order to motivate teams.

– The Great Rally of the Six Continents

Can you imagine travelling along the most astonishing roads of the planet? From the Antarctica to the Sahara Desert, passing through the Tianmen Mountain, the Giza Pyramids and the Russian Steppe; the end is at the Ninety-Mile Beach in New Zealand.

– Climbing to Everest 

An expedition to the top of the world where the bravest climbers will try to summit the highest mountain in the world through the real South Col route: from the Sherpa border to the Khumbu Icefall, passing through the Valley of Silence and the Death Zone, the last step to conquer the sky.

– Champions of the League  

The Sales United Club, considered as the most recent stand-out team, is playing in the Champions League this season. Players will have to face not only the best European teams but also pressure, nervousness, and injuries, to make it to the end and win the cup to become the best team ever.

– Great Spanish Rally 

This rally will show the most impressive landscapes of Spain. Discover the Coast of Cantabria, the Pyrenees Range, the Extremadura Meadows, the Canary Islands or the Mediterranean Sea with some genuine rally routes and others specially created for this game.

– Triathlon  

This sporting event includes swimming (4km), cycling (180km), and running (42km). Players will feel like real triathletes and they will personally experience the nerves of the competition, the physical and mental exhaustion, the challenge to overcome their own limits, and the excitement of victory and success. 

These are some of the games that we have created to encourage teams to achieve their goals. We have our own brilliant team of content creators who are capable of creating personalized games and perfectly adapted to the participants and their goals. The players must download an app in their smartphones in order to play these company games. In this way, for example, teams who are climbing the Everest will promptly receive exciting content and the compliance of the daily goals is rewarded with prizes.

The games can be configured to be played individually, where there is only one winner, or in teams, where group effort will be essential to achieve the goals. This is the reason why these games are advisable to encourage “team building”, and improve the bonds and commitment between team members.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the games for companies

These games can improve the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of the teams involved. Depending on the members of the teams, their roles, and their dynamics, it is possible to encourage public acknowledgment and the status of the members, or it possible to motivate teams with incentives, which have to be automatically delivered through the app.

This way, thanks to these games designed for companies, we improve the efficiency of all kinds of teams adapting the games to their specific needs.

If you want to know how our gamification dynamics work, please check this post.

Playmotiv is now part of the Cluster Foodservice. We have joined this group of companies which englobes all the parts involved in the foodservice value chain. Thanks to Cluster Foodservice, large customer commercial teams, and especially food manufacturers and suppliers, have improved their results.

What is a “cluster”? It is a geographic organisation of interconnected companies, specialised suppliers, service companies and support agents in a certain area where they compete, but they also cooperate. The “Cluster Foodservice de Catalunya” includes food manufacturers, suppliers, restaurants, and all those companies which offer value-added services. Since we are already cooperating with first-class companies of the food sector and gamifying their sales teams, Playmotiv must be a member of the Cluster. 

5th Strategic Immersion and Annual Meeting of the Cluster Foodservice

The 5th Strategic Immersion and Annual Meeting were held on 16th May 2019 on the premises of La Fageda Foundation (Girona), and Playmotiv took part in these meetings. This privileged location is occupied by a cooperative which employs people with physical disabilities or mental disorders and assists them with their reintegration into society. So the core idea, people, was really meaningful here. Our first meeting was really motivating and exciting. 

After a lovely walk around the area with our guide, we started the welcome meeting with Raimon Bagó, chairman of the Cluster Foodservice and SERHS Food CEO. Then, we attended the members meeting, where we introduced ourselves as new members of the Cluster. There we had the opportunty to explain how gamification is essential to the growth of large customer commercial teams. 

Then we talked about the main ideas of the meeting, where rational ideas (sales and productivity) were discussed during the morning, and more emotional ideas (values and social responsibility) were addressed during the afternoon. 

The first talk was called “Strategies and people, the core ideas of business transformation“. It was given by Judith Viader, Frit Ravich CEO, and María Saló, Frit Ravich HR Manager. Both executives explained how they managed to transform their company model to be flexible, innovating, organised into a network, and with a new customer relation model. According to them, all these changes have been achieved thanks to people and not only technology, which is just another tool to achieve this transformation. Besides, they have also explained that they focused on their strengths, putting aside their weaknesses, and not breaking with their past, but acquiring new values and adding them to their collection. Because of this digital transformation, Frit Ravich was awarded by SAP.

The second talk was given by Gemma Vidal, HR Manager of the Asian food chain Udon. It was called “We have the secret to the happiness of one-thousand people” and the speaker defended that HR teams have to make policies “from” the people instead “for” the people. We also had the chance to know the way how Udon manages employees through the “Udon circle of life”: designed stages for all employees. According to the company’s philosophy, the departure of an employee is seen as something natural, so they foresee that. She also mentioned the “Udon University” project, where teams are trained and this training is certified, so it can be used even after the employees leave the company. Gemma Vidal finished her speech after telling us that “Udon University” is using gamification to improve learning. 

When both talks have finished, we had the chance to make a guided tour around La Fageda facilities where the functioning of the project was explained. La Fageda is a business project with social purposes, whose aim is the reintegration into society and labour market of people with physical disabilities or mental disorders who live in the region of La Garrotxa. It is a remarkable project which offers us the chance to learn a lot from it. 

We started the afternoon presentations with Raphael Nagel. He talked about the “shared value” or the possibility to start business projects which can be both profitable and socially responsible. Nagel was born in Germany and he had suffered a heart attack when he was in his forties. This changed his life perception, so he created the Nagel Foundation to support socially sustainable business projects. 

At the end of the afternoon, we had the privilege to hear Cristobal Colón, the founder of La Fageda. Thanks to his talk, we learnt how the project started and how they are selling almost 100 million yoghurts per year, not including ice-creams and jams. Their secret is offering job opportunities to disabled people and at risk of exclusion. That was a very satisfactory ending to a very satisfactory meeting full of learning and networking.

People and motivation as core ideas of projects

After all these talks, we can confirm that people are projects. And if we want these projects to be successful, the people part of them need to have their own motivations. We have seen in the four talks that motivation is an important tool to achieve success. Since we deal with it, Playmotiv will keep providing solutions to motivate commercial teams to achieve their goals using technology and gamification. And we will do this by learning from outstanding experts in motivation.

If you want to know more about team motivation, please check “Three key aspects to motivate commercial teams.”

• Self-Determination Theory, Richard Ryan & Edward Decy (1985)
• Motivational theories of Daniel Pink, which can be found in his book “Drive” (2011)

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in gamification

Self-Determination Theory states that human beings are automatically motivated, this means that “they show considerable efforts, abilities and commitment with their lives, which seems to be more common than unusual.” There are two types of motivation:

• Intrinsic motivation refers to behaviour driven by internal rewards.
• Extrinsic motivation refers to behaviour driven by external rewards.

However, Pink establishes three types of motivation, according to the kind of society throughout history and the challenges that individuals had to face. First motivation is focused on survival (Motivation 1.0). Second motivation (2.0) is based on a reward-punishment system which worked properly with the routine tasks of the 20^th Century.  And the third motivation (3.0), the one of the 21^st Century, is related to more creative tasks (since the routine ones are carried out by machines) and it has to arise from each individual; in other words, it has to be intrinsic. This video is very interesting since Pink explains the influence of economic incentives in the results and also how they can be counter-productive in some contexts.

Intrinsic motivation, which has been explained in the Self-Determination Theory, is defined as “the inherent tendency to look for challenge, change, improvement of your own abilities, exploring and learning.” This intrinsic motivation is related to three notions:

• Mastery
• Autonomy
• Relatedness

Pink defines other three concepts:

• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose

RAMP model

Marczewski has combined all these ideas and has created the RAMP model.

• Relatedness
• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose

Gamification is a great tool to create these four intrinsic motivation drivers:

• Relatedness means the way that an individual relates with others. Concepts like the status, in relation with others, are very significant as rewards in gamification.
• Autonomy is understood as the ability of an individual to organise himself and keep control.
• Mastery is related to the ability to reach defined goals, which have to be achievable but also challenging, and they have to make participants feel that they are learning new skills.
• Purpose is the need of giving meaning to the performed actions, this can be, for example, as collaborative effort to achieve a reward as a team, or even with solidarity purposes.

All these intrinsic motivation triggers start working when teams’ work is subject to gamification.

Gamification as the perfect combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

We need to keep in mind the extrinsic motivation, the one related to external elements and rewards, such as wages or economic incentives. However, economic incentives are more or less advisable depending on the nature of the job, as Pink confirms in the video. This is because all the tasks we carry out in a job do not have the same nature, there are more routine tasks and there are others that demand much more creativity. Thanks to gamification, it is possible to combine both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

If you want to know more about extrinsic motivation, please check “How to motivate better with monetary incentives.”

George is a sales manager in a multinational large consumer company. One of his responsibilities this quarter is to launch a new food product. It is very important that this product is sold in the impulse market. It has to be found in as many shops as possible with outstanding presence. In order to achieve this, commercial teams and authorised distributors have to work together. George must be innovative and must encourage sales in the highly competitive impulse market and boost impulse sales.

Gamified incentive plan

George decides to turn the sales incentives plan around in order to coordinate the involved parts. He is going to try a new approach, he is going to gamify the incentives. Thanks to the game, he will be able to unify commercial team and distributors goals. All of them together will take part in a virtual rally. All participants will download an app where they will follow the rally stages and check their position in the ranking. Each team will have their own leaderboard with their points. Their position in the ranking will depend on the achievement of the different established goals.

The main goal is to make sales points to include the product in their stock and boost impulse sales. But there is more. For example, players’ position in the rally is also affected if there is constant communication between both teams. The more calls they make, the better sales and rally results they obtain.

Do not forget to include the sales points in the game

George realises that sales points can also be included in the competition to increase sales. So he invites them to take part in the race. Sales points will participate through an app with a loyalty programme. This way, convincing sales points to join the programme becomes also a goal. So now the three parts involved in the sales procedure (commercial team, suppliers, and sales points) are coordinated and encouraged.

What are the benefits of playing this motivational game to boost impulse sales?

Rally participants receive continuous feedback, so they are aware of their performance thanks to the leaderboard. In order to keep motivation high, rakings are divided into different levels to make sure that participants always compete in a similar level. Stages are short, so they benefit competitiveness between players, who clearly know their goals. Each stage offers rewards in cash. The winners of each stage are publicly acknowledged in the app.

Players have fun while they “drive” in the rally and achieve their goals. Besides, the smartphone app allows players to check relevant information about the nearest sales points, in order for their visits to be as productive as possible.
George goes to the control panel of the app and he easily knows how the game is going, who is playing and when, how the rankings are going, and the progress of the game. He can also take decisions on the fly: he can encourage the last players of the ranking, congratulate the leader players, or even include additional “sprint” rewards to accelerate the stages.
In the meantime, sales points are joining the loyalty programme. To do so, they simply have to download the app. George now has a direct channel to send messages, or even push notifications, to the sales points. He knows that this tool will benefit the campaign.

The motivation generated by the gamification shows positive results

The rally lasts three months. During these three months, George has achieved better distribution results than expected. The product launch is very successful. Teams are very satisfied with the achieved results thanks to the motivation obtained with the game. Since the sales points are already included in the loyalty programme, they will participate in new campaigns without any intermediary involved. And all this has been achieved thanks to the gamification of the campaign and the use of games to motivate teams and improve sales.
If you are interested in knowing the actual data of a gamified product launch campaign, do not hesitate to contact us!

Since you have read all this article, you may be interested in how Playmotiv helped Mars to do it.

How are Playmotiv’s motivational dynamics?

What are motivational dynamics?

They can be defined as participatory playful activities where all team members participate in order to stimulate group’s potential. We invite people to play while they learn and work to achieve their goals, and we offer them the chance to check their progress.

How do we create these motivational games in Playmotiv?

The story comes first: a rally, a marathon, a football league, or an ascent to Everest. This is the baseline of the game, and this game will be used as motivational dynamics by a sales team, for example. Participants will be able to follow this adventure using an app in their smartphones, where they will find videos and texts explaining the stages and the goals. They will also be able to check their position in the ranking regarding other participants, if they are close to achieve their goals, and what rewards they have received.

Playmotiv counts with an IT platform that manages all game aspects and offers a control dashboard to the people in charge of data tracking. It also allows to establish clear goals, add additional training to reach these goals, and monitor all the time whether they are being reached.
The use of game mechanics and experience to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals is known as “gamification.” 

How does Playmotiv organise motivational games projects?

1) Establish the goals and the KPIs

What do we want to achieve with this adventure? What are our goals? These are two basic questions that we need to ask ourselves before starting any project. If we are working with large customer companies, for example, the main targets will be:
— Sales improvement.
— Distribution improvement.
— Stock improvement.
It is very important to clearly define goals because the whole dynamic will be related to the main goal. Although these dynamics allow to establish as many goals as we want, we recommend to establish one main goal and one secondary objective.

Once goals are established, we need to translate them into metrics (KPIs or Key Performance Indicators). For example, if the main goal is related to sales, one of the indicators could be the total sales. However, team features must be taken into account. It makes no sense to compare the total sales between large teams scattered among territories with many socio-economic differences. In order to equally involve all the participants, we need to use relative KPIs. An example could be a defined percentage of the total sales that every person has as target. This way, results can be compared without being affected by the location of the participants.

2) Know the participants and choose the theme

Once we have identified the goals, we need to prepare the profile of the people who will participate in the game. Is the team homogeneous? Is the team composed by very different people? What do they do on an ordinary day? What products do they work with? All this information will help us to choose the most suitable theme to imply all the participants in order to make them feel comfortable and motivated, which is the main goal of the activity. We offer motivational games with different themes: rally races, mountain ascents, marathons, sport leagues, or medieval tournaments.

Once we have chosen the theme of the game, we can also incorporate additional elements related to the theme. In order to boost teams’ implication in the dynamics, it is important to prepare a kick-off meeting to explain all the aspects of the game. Players will feel much more motivated if we prepare a merchandising pack with content related to the game. For example, a backpack with climbing equipment will help players to immerse in the motivational games by using real elements that will be found in the game.

3) Length

It is very important to keep in mind that games cannot last too much because keeping motivation high could be difficult, but they cannot be too short because the dynamic may not have effect on players’ motivation due to the lack of time. From our experience, these kind of motivational games should last for no less than two months and no more than four months.

4) Number of stages and game speed

The adventure has to be divided into different stages which will set the pace of the game. These stages set a milestone in the rally, ascent or race adventure, which allows to adjust players’ motivation. For example, the best players of the rankings can receive rewards or recognition at the end of each stage. A stage can also be used to reward players if secondary objectives are achieved. Once again, from our experience, we recommend that the length of the stages do not exceed two weeks in order to properly manage the motivational levels of the players.

5) Number of players and dynamics structure

Are the players competing against each other? Is it going to be a team competition? Depending on the goals established by the game, one or another choice will be advisable. For example, for a retail company it would be a good idea to organise a dynamic where the employees of a specific shop participate as a team and not as individuals. However, another option is that the situation changes during the motivational game. It would be possible, for example, that participants play in teams in the first stage, but they compete against each other in the second stage.
Our dynamics allow to include different player profiles in the same motivational game. It is possible that people from the same team, people from other companies, or even sales points take part in the same game but all of them have different and personalised goals.

6) Rewards

The aim of all gamification motivational dynamics is motivation. The motivation produced by these kind of adventures is obtained through two different sources. On the one hand, the motivation that arises from the competition itself and which is encouraged by the intrinsic motivation of the players. It is related to comparing oneself with other players, competing, being recognised, and learning. And on the other hand, the extrinsic motivation, the one related to the awards received by reaching goals.

There has to be a balance between both kinds of motivation. This is the reason why the dynamics have to be well adapted to the kind of team, work, and goals. And it is also very important to choose the right rewards and the frequency of delivery. Rewards can be provided in kind or in cash.

From our point of view, better results are obtained if small rewards are delivered among more participants instead of a big reward given to some players. This is why on average 72% of our players receive a reward. The frequency of reward delivery, as already mentioned, is very important too. In order to keep continuous motivation, it is highly recommended to give rewards in short periods of time. For example, if players are rewarded once per month, there will probably be a final sprint effect which is not compatible with the goals of the dynamics.

If you are interested in finding out more about how we help our clients to increase their sales, please check this video of our satisfied client.