Sales

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Reading time

8

min

Sales: 10 examples of sales challenges

Discover 10 examples of sales challenges, and adapt them to the specific needs of your organization to create an impact on your sales performance!

By

Jocelyn Jobert

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Sales @Qobra

May 17, 2024

We will explore a variety of challenges designed to stimulate sales team engagement and achieve specific objectives. These examples of challenges are ready-made solutions but can be adapted, refined, and customized to suit the specific needs of each organization.

In addition, it is important to note that each commercial challenge presented here can be adjusted to suit other commercial populations, such as SDRs, BDRs, CSMs, or AMs.

Each business challenge presented below is designed to address specific objectives, whether that's improving team engagement, achieving business objectives, increasing sales, or supporting the launch of new products or services. In addition, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are built in to measure the impact of each challenge, as well as suggested timescales for effective implementation.

These challenges are not just internal competitions, but also innovative ways of improving collaboration, strengthening team cohesion, and celebrating individual and collective successes. By following these models, sales teams are encouraged to go beyond their limits while fostering a dynamic and motivating working environment.

Discover 10 examples of sales challenges, and adapt them to the specific needs of your organization to maximize their effectiveness and create a significant impact on your sales performance!

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1. Champions League

Objectives

Improve the commitment of the sales team
Increase sales
Reaching the sales target

How it works

Group challenge :

Reward the sales team as a whole or the best team in the sales organization (by account size and/or by geographical sector), depending on the size and commitment of the company, with the "Champions League" prize.

Individual challenges :

Reward the best Salesperson(s) (by account size and/or by geographical sector) according to the size and wishes of the company with the "Ballon d'or" prize.
Reward the best Manager(s) (by account size and/or by geographical sector) according to the size and wishes of the company with "The Best" prize.

Indicators

Sales generated in € (Weighting: 70%)
Number of appointments made (Weighting: 30%)

Duration

1 month or 1 quarter

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2. Naval battle

Objectives

Improve the commitment of the sales team
Increase sales
Reaching the sales target

How it works

Each commercial has the right to touch the opposing team one or more times:

1 appointment booked: 1 touche
1 prospect transformed into an opportunity: 2 touches
1 contract signed: 3 touches

Group challenge :

Reward the first team from the sales organization to hit all the opposing boats. Depending on the company's wishes, the challenge can be repeated every day for 1 week, rewarding the team that wins the most rounds.

Individual challenge :

Reward the salesperson who gets the most hits for his or her team.

Indicators

Number of appointments made
Number of leads transformed into opportunities
Number of contracts signed

Duration

1 day to 1 week

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3. Discovery of America

Objectives

Improve the knowledge and skills of the sales team
Reaching the sales target
Increase sales

How it works

Following training and practice, each salesperson must apply what they have learned and improve the discovery phase of the sales process.

The best salesperson(s) with the best prospect-to-opportunity conversion rate wins the sales challenge. To avoid any cheating and to ensure fairness between sales reps, each sales rep must complete a minimum number of discovery phases to take part in the sales challenge (Example: usual target for the number of discovery phases over a given period).

Indicators

Number of discovery phases
Conversion rate from prospect to opportunity

Duration

1 week to 1 month

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4. Novelty is rewarded

Objectives

Supporting the launch of a new product or service
Improve the knowledge and skills of the Sales team
Increase sales

How it works

For the launch of a new product and/or service, the Sales teams will have 1 week of training, 1 week of practice, and 1 week of hands-on experience.

Group challenge :

During the role-play week, if the Sales team obtains X appointments (defined beforehand) to present the new product and/or service to customers, the team wins a collective prize. (Allow 70% to 80% of the overall budget for the reward).

Individual challenge :

Reward the three best Salespeople, i.e. those who have booked the most appointments. Allocate the remaining budget as follows: 50% to the 1st, 30% to the 2nd, and 20% to the 3rd.

Indicator

Number of appointments made to present the new product and/or service

Duration

3 weeks

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5. Award for regularity

Objectives

Improve the commitment of the sales team
Reaching the sales target
Increase sales

How it works

The aim is to reward sales staff for their regularity over a quarter. To begin with, select one or more of the indicators on which they are assessed every month (e.g. number of appointments made, sales generated, etc.).

Group challenge :

Reward for achieving the objective(s) at the team level for three months in a row.

Individual challenge :

Reward for Sales staff who have reached their target(s) for 3 months in a row.

Indicators

Number of appointments made
Sales generated
And so on.

Duration

3 months

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6. World Cup

Objectives

Improve the commitment of the sales team
Reaching the sales target
Increase sales

How it works

To begin with, the sales team is divided into several teams, the number to be determined according to the number of employees (between 3 and 10 people per team). To select the nation that each team will represent during the World Cup, a quiz on the chosen sport (football, rugby, tennis, etc.) is organized. Depending on the ranking, each team in turn selects the nation of its choice.

Then, during the "World Cup" challenge, each team will collect points according to the action it has carried out:

Appointment made: 1 point
Appointment made: 2 points
Contract signature: 5 points

Finally, each week, each team plays another team. During this week, points are scored as normal. However, the difference in points between the two teams at the end of the week is added to the winning team's score and deducted from the losing team's overall score.

Group challenge :

Reward for the sales team that comes first overall. A cup may also be awarded for the occasion.

Individual challenges :

Reward for the salesperson with the most points. A medal can also be awarded for the occasion.
Reward for the salesperson who has had the best opportunity. A medal can also be awarded for the occasion.
Reward for the salesperson who has signed the largest contract. A medal can also be awarded for the occasion.

Indicators

Number of appointments made
Number of appointments made
Number of contracts signed

Duration

4 to 6 weeks

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7. Recommendations & Introductions

Objectives

Improve the commitment of the sales team
Reaching the sales target
Increase sales

How it works

The aim is to get as many referrals and customer introductions as possible.

Group challenge :

Reward if the predefined number of referrals and introductions is reached.

Individual challenge :

Reward for the Salesperson(s) with the most recommendations within the sales team.

Indicator

Number of recommendations

Duration

1 week to 1 month

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8. Sniper

Objectives

Improve the commitment of the sales team
Reaching the sales target
Increase sales

How it works

After forming equitable teams of salespeople. For each opportunity with a prospect, each Salesperson assigns a percentage to the success of the opportunity resulting in a sale. Each percentage represents 1 point. At the end of the month, the accounts for each salesperson, and therefore each team, are drawn up. For sales opportunities signed during the month, the sales rep and his team win the points. If not, the points are deducted from the sales rep and his team.

Group challenge :

Collective rewards for the first three sales teams to score the most points over the month.

Individual challenge :

Individual rewards for the three sales staff with the most points over the month.

Indicator

Conversion rate for each opportunity

Duration

1 month

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9. Mario Kart

Objectives

Improve the commitment of the sales team
Reaching the sales target
Increase sales

How it works

To begin with, the sales team is divided into several teams, the number to be determined according to the number of employees (between 3 and 10 people per team). A quiz is organized to select the Mario Kart character of their choice (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, etc.). Depending on the ranking, each team in turn selects the avatar of their choice.

Then, every week, the sales challenge starts again from scratch on a new Mario Kart circuit (Mario Circuit, Bowser Castle, Rainbow Road, etc.). A ranking with the points for each team is updated daily until the end of the sales challenge.

Here's how many points you get for each action you take:

Call to a prospect: 1 coin
Appointments: 10 coins
Appointment made: 50 coins

Finally, each day, each team plays another team in a mini-game (Chifoumi, mini golf, tic-tac-toe, sudoku, etc.). The team that wins the mini-game unlocks a malus to send to the opposing team of its choice. The malus varies according to the day of the week or the difficulty of the mini-game:

Banana (-10 coins)
Bomb (-20 coins)
Green shell (-30 coins)
Red shell (-40 coins)
Blue shell (-50 coins)

Group challenge :

Collective rewards for the top 3 sales teams in the overall ranking at the end of the sales challenge. Cups can also be awarded for the occasion.

Individual challenge :

Individual rewards for the 3 sales staff who bring in the most coins for their team. Medals can also be awarded for the occasion.

Indicators

Number of calls made
Number of appointments made
Number of appointments made

Duration

2 to 4 weeks

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10. Sales x Marketing

Objectives

Improve the commitment of the sales team
Reaching the sales target
Improving sales

How it works

Firstly, the sales team needs to be split into several teams (by account size, industry, randomly, equitably, etc.).

Then, to convert the efforts made during a marketing event (webinar, content downloads, trade show, etc.), the marketing team will send a list of prospects divided equally between each team. Each action carried out by a salesperson will earn points for their team.

Here is the breakdown of points for each action taken: