The most productive and fun sales meetings I ever had were those involving the TRAX spiff contest. This contest permitted us to identify and recognize the top performer for the week, and give them the praise and recognition they deserve. We were also able to identify the people who needed assistance and get it to them before it was too late. I have had dealers tell me they experienced large increases in sales volume from this contest so give it a try for at least several weeks. You will find it becomes a great ally and will last forever once it gets started.
Our major motivation for this contest is that it helps insure the success of the overall TRAX system and insures that you get maximum unsold customer information. As you know it is critical that the salespeople enter all sales. They will never enter every opportunity but the sales must be 100% accurate. With this contest they must insure all their sales are entered properly or they cannot participate in the weekly contest and may lose out on opportunities to earn extra money. By the way because this contest carries over to the next week if no one wins, the pot can become quite large and really catches your sales peoples long-term attention.
Our sales meetings also covered the usual product knowledge, open sessions and discussions on ways to maximize our opportunities. Generally the purpose of the meeting was to make sure everyone had the information needed to get the job done, and the enthusiasm and motivation to maximize the day or event, usually on our big selling day like a Saturday.
We would take the first 3-5 minutes of the meeting to hold our dart contest. Setup includes:
· Investment of approximately $50 per week.
· Tack/pin two blank envelopes/index cards on the dart wall for each sales person.
· Six sales people would equal twelve envelopes or index cards. Space two inches apart.
· One of these cards would have a secret mark that no one can see (I put a small smiley face with a yellow highlighter on the back of the card I selected).
· Strategically place the marked card weekly. (Move it around so there is no pattern of where you hide it from week to week.)
· Top sales person throws first, and they throw one dart.
· If they have a double eagle, they throw from eight feet.
· If they hit an envelope, you pull it off the wall. If it has the secret mark, they win the money you congratulate them and the contest is over. If not, the contest continues by moving to the next sales person.
· If they have two thumbs up they throw from ten feet.
· If they have a single thumb up, they throw from twelve feet.
· If they have a yellow caution sign, they don't throw.
· If they are late for the meeting, they don't throw.
The fun thing is most sales people do not know how to throw darts.
If no one wins, the contest amount carries over to the next week! I had several meetings that were worth over $500 before someone hit the correct envelope. Everyone has a chance. Its fast, and its fun and creates a great deal of excitement! If you call us we will even send you a dart at no charge.
· Top performers are recognized without investing huge amounts of money.
· If someone gets two CAUTION SIGNS in a row, it definitely gets their attention. If you set your weeks up so that they end on Fridays, you will find that your sales people are sometimes talking to themselves towards the end of the week saying they need so many dollars or units to hit their goal so they can throw a dart. They will find a way to hit that goal. It’s really a lot of fun to watch, and I promise everyone makes more money.