Sales Challenge: the Announcement and Launch (2/4)

As explained in our previous article on the subject, implementing a sales challenge leads to a significant increase in revenue. Such an operation mobilizes your team and boosts your sales performance.

To launch a sales challenge, there are several important steps:

1. Preparation and Definition
2. Announcement and Launch
3. Monitoring and Engagement
4. Closing and Review

After thoroughly preparing your challenge, you can launch it. The way you announce a sales challenge is very important and can generate strong interest from your salespeople right from the start. It is, above all, the moment to create motivation and explain the strategic stakes of your competition. But then, when and how should you announce it to participants? How do you announce the prize at stake? All the answers below.

When to Launch your Sales Challenge?

There is no good or bad time to launch sales challenges. The ideal time to launch a challenge depends on your company, its strategy, and its objectives (product launch, product sales cycle, etc.). Your challenge must strictly adhere to your company’s strategy, and you must ensure this consistency when choosing your launch date.

For an annual sales challenge, the most frequent case is the beginning of the calendar year, when action plans and objectives are put in place. The month of September is also very common to compensate for the decrease in activity known during the summer (except in certain sectors) and to re-energize the teams for the end of the year.

When to Announce it to Participants?

Be careful, don’t announce it too early! Firstly, to avoid it being forgotten, but also to prevent small acts of cheating… In some cases, your salespeople will organize themselves to be able to dedicate themselves entirely to the challenge from its start date; in others, you might see the “fridge effect” develop. This means one of your salespeople will “put opportunities in the fridge” while waiting for the challenge to begin, to ensure they close them during the challenge and boost their score. To summarize: too much preparation kills competitiveness!

Depending on the objectives of your sales challenge, we advise you to announce it:

• One month before, for example, if it concerns the commercialization of a new product. Indeed, a period of training and adaptation will be necessary before the launch.
• 2 weeks before, for a challenge dedicated to distributors and agencies. Since the implementation is external, it’s better to allow a little extra time.
• 3 to 5 days before, if the challenge does not require specific training or preparation.

You can also decide not to announce it outright but rather to build suspense with teasing communications, without giving all the information about the challenge each time. In this case, for example, send a teasing email 1 month before with training elements, another 2 weeks before with some tips or sales best practices, another 3 to 5 days before announcing the challenge’s outline, and so on until the launch! The idea is to build anticipation and provide participants, during this phase, with elements they will need to succeed in the challenge.

Along the same lines, another example is to place a small goodie or a teasing page on each salesperson’s desk a few weeks earlier, or to offer a T-shirt printed with the challenge’s colors one week before, etc. Build interest, anticipation, and the desire to know more!

How to Announce your Sales Challenge?

Choose a Medium

You have several options, depending on the importance of the challenge, your size, and your resources:

• Print a presentation page (simple A4 page), to place on each participant’s desk.
• Send an e-mail : Send a personalized email to each participant to announce the challenge, the reward, and the principle.
• Integrate information about your challenge into the internal Newsletter.
• Announce on your tools: intranet, dedicated website, dedicated platform
• Distribute flyers and set up an advertising campaign (posters, roll-ups, etc.) in the premises.
• Distribute “welcome packs”. Give each participant a small box containing the challenge explanation, the rules, the reward, and a small welcome gift (for example: related to the reward, the season, the challenge name, etc.).

For all these materials, the presentation must be attractive, both visually and in its entertaining nature.

With the Incenteev platform, a personalized email is automatically sent to each participant to announce the launch of your challenge. They can then consult the rules of the game, the prize, the list of participants, etc…

The Sales Challenge in 2019: The Essential Guide to Engage Your Sales Force to Download Here