June 16th, 2010
Looking for easy ways to boost sales and increase your bottom line this summer? In part 1 of this series, we looked at ways to use fire sales to increase business. In this installment, we’ll explore how to effectively use contests to grow your bottom line.
There are several different ways you can use contests to temporarily boost sales, so be sure to read all of these to see which offer the best fit for your business.
1. Sales Contests
Your sales force can be your greatest asset. However, if your sales folks know that a slow season is coming up (or is underway), they are far less motivated to perform at their usual peak. This is when a contest can really come in handy. You can offer weekly, monthly, or seasonal incentives to motivate your sales team to maximize each customer interaction, and to find new ways to sell during a slow season.
2. Consumer Contests
Engage your customers by finding ways for them to interact with your brand. Thanks to the popularity of social media networks and tools like Twitter, it’s easy (and practically free) to launch and promote a consumer contest. You can create a contest around most anything: name our newsletter, name our new mascot, create our logo, recipe contest, invent our next product, tell-a-friend, pick the charity who deserves 10% of our next promotion, etc. People love to share their opinions and to get involved.
3. Employee Contests
These differ from sales contests in that most sales people are paid on commission and therefore motivated by their own bottom line. Employees may certainly be money-motivated, but they also appreciate recognition and acknowledgement, which is why employee contests can also be effective. Additionally, non-sales employees have a different perspective than sales reps, and may therefore create more creative and unique suggestions for problem-solving and growth. If you launch an employee contest, be sure to incentivize those employees so that they are motivated to participate to the best of their ability. What they come up with just might surprise you.
Be sure to come back next time for the final installment of this 3-part series. In the meantime, if you need a rental projector, visit us at projector123.com for all your rental projector needs. Click here to get started.
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