MARCH MADNESS
IDEA: To celebrate everyone’s favorite March sporting event

GOAL OF CONTEST: Easiest to set-up with smaller sales organizations (for larger organizations, run team based competitions with 2-3 people per team), run 2-3 day competitions pitting one participant/team against another participant/team.  The winner of the match-up moves to the next round and plays another winning participant/team.  Keep going until there is one overall winner.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: As the winning participant/team most likely will have won against numerous colleagues, make the prize a valuable one.  Runner-up prizes could include: Ultimate Book of March MadnessNCAA Madness: The Greatest Moments of the NCAA Tournament (you could even have this running on a non-leaderboard TV)

UNCOVERING A POT OF GOLD
IDEA: To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th)

ALTERNATIVE NAMES: Bringing Home the Gold

GOAL OF CONTEST: Run a competition from March 9-13 (or a two-day competition on March 16-17) on the behavior of your choice.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: A restaurant gift card to be used for dinner and drinks.

TODAY’S YOUR LUCKY DAY
IDEA: To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th)

GOAL OF CONTEST: Run a day-long team competition on March 17th on the behavior of your choice.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: The winning team gets to leave an hour early to enjoy drinks and appetizers at a local pub.

YOU CAN’T TOUCH THESE (INSERT BEHAVIOR)
IDEA: In celebration of esteemed rapper, MC Hammer

GOAL OF CONTEST: Choose the behavior of your choice and run a day long contest.  For example, if your chosen behavior was scheduling meetings, the participant with the most meetings scheduled wins!

POSSIBLE PRIZES: The winner gets to choose one person who has to dress up like MC Hammer for the day

MAKE IT YOUR DAY
IDEA: To celebrate Make Your Own Holiday day (March 30th)

GOAL OF CONTEST: Design a contest to run from March 1st to March 27th (or March 23rd to March 27th) based on the behavior and type of competition of your choice (points-based, % based, currency).

POSSIBLE PRIZES: The winner gets to name the holiday and gets the day off (one LevelEleven partner ran a similar competition and gave everyone the day off).  Out of office email and phone messages mention the reason for closure to provide extra fun.

Lead Generation/Conversion

WHERE TO START: The most popular lead contest being run with LevelEleven partners is one that rewards participants for converting leads.

Don’t stop there, however!  Design a contest that rewards the lead response time of your participants, one that rewards participants for generating leads, a contest that is based on prospecting, and/or one that rewards participants for new leads generated when bringing a new product to market.

THERE’S AN OPP FOR THAT
IDEA: A play on words of Apple’s, “There’s an app for that”

GOAL OF CONTEST:  Create a contest that rewards participants for converting leads into opportunities.  The participant who has converted the most leads into an opportunity wins!

POSSIBLE PRIZES:  Apple gift card

CONVERT IT IN A JIF(FY)
IDEA: To celebrate National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day (March 1st)

GOAL OF CONTEST: Run an individual based contest that awards participants based upon who can convert the most leads to opportunities in a specific timeframe. The person with the most converted leads wins.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: Four peanut butter flavors of the winner’s choice from http://ilovepeanutbutter.com/; if running a team-based competition, the President of the company will make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (and accompaniments) for the winning team

New Sales

WHERE TO START: The most popular call contest being run with LevelEleven partners is one that rewards participants for closing deals.  Closing deal contests are often based on total $$ brought in during the contest timeframe, % to goal for the respective timeframe or sometimes even the number of new sales closed during the contest timeframe.

LET’S MAKE A DEAL
IDEA: In honor of the legendary game show

GOAL OF CONTEST:  A strong quarter can help ease tension and show executives that the right strategy is in place to achieve yearlong goals.  Award participants for closed won opportunities.

POSSIBLE PRIZES:  Choose three prizes: a great prize, a good prize, and an okay prize.  The first place winner doesn’t get to know what each prize is and gets to choose first; he or she can choose to keep the prize or go for one of the other two prizes.  The second place winner gets to follow the same process with the third place winner getting whatever is left.

SKIP(PY) TO THE SALE
IDEA: To celebrate National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day (March 1st)

GOAL OF CONTEST: It is important to close the month strong, so run a contest from March 23 – 27 that rewards participants for opportunities changed to Closed Won during that time.  The winner with the highest value in closed opportunities wins.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: Four peanut butter flavors of the winner’s choice from http://ilovepeanutbutter.com/; if running a team-based competition, the President of the company will make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (and accompaniments) for the winning team

SELL HARD AND PROSPER
IDEA: Inspired by the famous line from “Star Trek”

GOAL OF CONTEST: Build a percent-to-goal contest based on each participant’s March revenue goal; the participant who furthest exceeds their goal wins!*

POSSIBLE PRIZES: USS Enterprise Bottle OpenerEnterprise Pizza CutterMr. Spock Hand Business Card HolderClassic Spock EarsCaptain Kirk figure

New/Updating Opportunities

WHERE TO START: The most popular opportunity contest being run with LevelEleven partners is one that rewards participants for stage progression; motivate your folks to move their opportunities a step closer to a “win”.

Other ideas include a contest that rewards participants for new opportunities added during the contest timeframe, a contest that is based on prospecting, rewarding participants for adding a competitive presence (if applicable) to an opportunity, or one that rewards participants for new opportunities generated supporting a new product you are bringing to market.

ENDING THE NEVER ENDING SALE (THE PI OF SALES)
IDEA: To celebrate National Pi Day on March 14th (314…get it, lol)

GOAL OF CONTEST: Dead opportunities existing in the pipeline is an all too common occurrence for sales managers; award participants for closing out the opportunities so that you can present a more accurate pipeline to upper management.

POSSIBLE PRIZES:  Pie of the winner’s choice from a local bakery (or from great pie makers:http://www.achatzpies.com/ or http://gtpie.com/)

SPRINGING TO THE TOP
IDEA: To celebrate the first day of Spring (March 20th)

GOAL OF CONTEST: Run a contest where the person who either creates/closes the most opportunities is the big winner. There are often times many opportunities in the pipeline that have either gone dark, no longer exist, or need to be contacted. Run a contest where your teams are setting themselves for success by Spring cleaning up their opportunities

POSSIBLE PRIZES:  Molly Maid Service; basket of Cleaning Supplies; Leave early for the day or day off

Adding Activities (Tasks/Events)

WHERE TO START: Launching a new product?  Run a contest that rewards the participant for every conversation that includes the new product being introduced.

Other ideas include a contest that rewards participants for every new activity created during the contest timeframe.

LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR, (YOUR COMPANY NAME) IS THERE
IDEA: A play on words of State Farm’s tagline

GOAL OF CONTEST: Calling to check in is never a valuable call for your valued customers, but don’t you think they would appreciate hearing from their assigned team member just to say thank you for their business.  Award participants for calling on current customers.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: Your company picks up the cost of the winner’s car insurance for one month.

LAUNCH INTO SPRING
IDEA: A way to help launch a new product by calling customers

GOAL OF CONTEST: Creating a contest around reaching out to customers for a specific reason; new product launch, lunch and learn, demo day, etc.. Award participants for having a certain word in the subject line of their calls. ( For instance # ProductLaunchChat, #requesteddemo)

POSSIBLE PRIZES: Winner get’s to choose between a certain type of sales tool (LinkedIn premium account, time management tool); Mini RocketShip for Desk

Adding Contacts

WHERE TO START: The most popular contact contests being run with LevelEleven partners is one that rewards participants for adding new contacts into Salesforce.

SPRING BREAK THE ICE
IDEA: To celebrate Spring Break, which occurs in the month of March

GOAL OF CONTEST: Run a contest where the person who creates the most Contacts within a week (or two weeks) is the big winner. Optionally, add more points for including other data with the contact information – such as Title or mobile phone.

POSSIBLE PRIZES:  A Friday off for Spring Break; a basket of “beach supplies” – sunblock, tools for making sandcastles; Hawaiian Hula Girl figurine for the winner’s desk

WHAT’S YOUR SIGN? (ADDING NEW CONTACTS)
IDEA: To celebrate getting to know your accounts better by asking more about them

GOAL OF CONTEST: In order to better understand your customers, it’s important to get as many contacts as possible at the account. This helps for a number of reasons including if a main contact were to leave, it’s important to have more than one person who you can connect with. Make a contest around your team adding as many new contacts to their existing accounts as they can.

POSSIBLE PRIZES:  Calendar of Astrological Signs, new computer bag    

Talk Time/Calls

WHERE TO START: The most popular call contest being run with LevelEleven partners is one that rewards participants for talk time.

Other ideas include a contest that rewards participants for the number of calls made each day and/or call blitzes which are run for a short amount of time (e.g. one hour or a “power hour”).

ONCE YOU POP, YOU CAN’T STOP
IDEA: To celebrate National Potato Chip Day (March 14th)

GOAL OF CONTEST: Design a one-day competition in which participants are awarded for every conversation that takes place with a prospect/customer. Award the participant with the highest number of conversations during the contest period.  Bring in different flavors of chips on the day of the competition and have everyone vote for their favorite.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: Potato Chips packwinner gets chips and dip on their desk for lunch the next day 

USE IT BEFORE YOU LOSE IT
IDEA: In celebration of Daylight Savings Time when we all lose an hour (March 8th)

GOAL OF CONTEST: Run during the first week of the month, the participant with the highest phone time by the end of the day is crowned the winner.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: The winner gets to come in an hour late each day the week of March 9th

Meetings Set/Meetings Completed

WHERE TO START: The most popular meeting contest being run with LevelEleven partners is one that rewards participants for face-to-face meetings conducted within the contest timeframe.

Other ideas include a contest that rewards participants for booking future meetings.

COME AND KNOCK ON MY DOOR
IDEA: In honor of popular 70’s sitcom “Three’s Company”

GOAL OF CONTEST: Running for one week, reward participants for all face-to-face meetings completed during the competition.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: 1970’s decade candy gift packBillboard #1: The 70’s

A MEETING A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR (BOSS) AWAY
IDEA: To celebrate National Doctors Day

GOAL OF CONTEST: Scheduling events such as meetings, demo’s, or conversations are a key pipeline behavior that drives sales. Run a contest where participants are awarded points for number of these key events getting scheduled. Or, make it a % to goal contest, where they need to get to a certain percentage to be eligible for the prize.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: Gift card to favorite local restaurant, Gas Gift Card to “refill the tank”, Boss has to bring in lunch for winner all week

Data Cleanup

WHERE TO START: The most popular cleanup contest being run with LevelEleven partners is one that rewards participants for cleaning up old opportunities (updating the sales stage to “Closed Lost” with a reason for the closed opportunity).

Other ideas include updating the status of current contacts (no longer there, retired, deceased, etc.), adding account web sites and/or adding competitive presence at an account (if applicable).

A CLEAN SALESFORCE…LIKE A WALK IN THE PARK
IDEA:To celebrate Take a Walk in the Park Day (March 30th)

GOAL OF CONTEST: Are team members entering information incorrectly?  Not putting information in the right place?  Run this contest to break those bad habits!

POSSIBLE PRIZES: The winner receives a ½ day off, including a catered lunch to enjoy at a local park; if running a team-based competition, the winning team gets a ½ day off and catered lunch at the park


SALESFORCE SPRING CLEANING
IDEA: Celebrate spring by cleaning up your Salesforce org

GOAL OF CONTEST: Got a bunch of old Opportunities, or Contacts without completed data, or incomplete Activity records? Run a week-long or 1-2 day contest for cleaning up various aspects of your Salesforce org for Spring. You can even put people into teams and have them tackle the data cleanup together.

POSSIBLE PRIZES: Molly Maid Service; basket of Cleaning Supplies; Leave early for the day or day off