Gamification aka gamification in business

In this article I want to talk about such an interesting phenomenon in modern business as gamification (gamification), i.e. using game industry techniques to organize workflows to improve performance.

As a business consultant, I often perform work on the implementation of a CRM system, and in the process I also encounter resistance from employees. People find it difficult to change their habits, including at work, to learn new tools. Moreover, the introduction of CRM is almost always directly related to increasing the control of all work processes, the quality of work of sales staff, and how they use their working time in the office and on the road. The process of implementing CRM-systems, I discussed in detail in previous articles, for example, " What is CRM ".

So, the successful implementation of a CRM system always consists of two parts:

1. Competent software setup for successful and comfortable work;
2. Employee motivation for a quick and effective transition to the new system.

How this motivation is implemented depends on the particular company and on the management principles that are adopted in it. This may be financial motivation (both bonuses and fines and other administrative penalties), it may be some other administrative solution of the issue, or maybe a competition, i.e. gamification work.

In modern conditions, most people already have little financial incentives to work, of course, the level of earnings remains a very important parameter, as well as social security and some material bonuses. But still, modern people want more, want some self-realization, increased interest in work, some goals, competitions, achievements.

And here business gemification techniques come to the rescue, which allow using game and competitive moments to increase important performance indicators. Of course, gamification does not eliminate the need to pay for work or to apply administrative management methods, rather, gamification allows you to supplement these methods with another interesting and modern approach.

What is gamification?

Gamification - the use of game mechanics in non-game processes. When used correctly, this approach allows to increase the efficiency of solving business problems.

This relatively new method of motivating employees came to our country from the West, and it consists in applying some gaming moments in the work. Thus, to improve the efficiency of employees is used the understanding of human psychology. People, including adults, love the game, they are interested in the competition, inherent desire to be first. These features have long and very successfully used in the gaming industry. And now they have come to the business, so that an increase in the efficiency of work is achieved with minimal investment.

Gamification methods in business allow you to achieve:

1. Increase employee loyalty;
2. Performance improvements.

On the one hand, the person involved in the gamification process is working with great interest, is happy to work at this company every day, anticipating some new achievements. All this helps to increase employee loyalty and reduce staff turnover.

On the other hand, these methods increase the productivity and efficiency of each employee’s work, as people who are emotionally involved in the competition, in the game process that is combined with work, begin to work more efficiently, more fruitfully, with great interest and involvement in the work process itself.

How is gamification implemented in CRM?

Gamification in CRM systems, like any version of gamification in business, is implemented using a special reporting system. These reports are not necessarily related to financial or quantitative indicators, on the basis of which the remuneration of employees is calculated or the performance analysis of each manager is carried out. For gamification, any parameters are suitable, including those not related to the sale process at all. It all depends on the goal.

These reports, in contrast to the basic reporting, allow analyzing not only digital indicators, but also any other parameters. Since they are intended for gameplay, reporting should be clear, bright and colorful. But, unlike KPI, reports for gamification are generated not only for a month, quarter or other period important for analysis, but at any convenient time. And the display of information in them can be just as vivid or even more vivid. In gamification, diagrams, visual charts, top-lists of leaders and so on are actively used, it all depends on the capabilities of CRM and the imagination of the authors of the report.

With regard to data for analysis, there may also be many options. For example, when switching to a new CRM system, you can create a report that will count the number of times each user logged in, the number of outgoing calls that were made by each employee from the system, or the total amount of time each user spends in the system. Competition in such indicators will help to quickly move to work with a new software product. And to increase sales efficiency, you can compete in terms of time, from the appearance of a lead to the receipt of payment (the smaller it is, the better), and by such an indicator as the highest order amount or in terms of sales of a product, which reasons for the company need to urgently implement.

There are many options for gamification, the main thing is to come up with a suitable game and create for it a vivid and visual report that each employee will see, for example, when entering the system, or be able to generate it at any convenient time to check their results.

Creating a game - setting goals, goals, scenarios

Creating a game is to solve several questions:

1. You must choose the goal of the game - this will be the task that you want to put in front of employees. It can be situational (sell a certain product, fully switch to new software, etc.), or it can be one of the important parameters for working as a whole (raising the average and maximum receipts, reducing the terms of deferred payments from customers, increasing the amount of shipment wholesale customers, etc.)
2. Enter the time frame. Determined by the objectives of the company and limited to the timing of the tasks. Competition can be indefinite, but even in this case there should be some intermediate stages and summing up.
3. Think over motivation. Usually for these purposes some kind of badges are created in the system, titles, and possibly material incentives (prizes).

How the scenario is described:

1. Beginning of the game. Date and participants.
2. Intermediate stages (goals), according to the results of each participant points are awarded.
3. The final of the game is the date or achievement of a certain indicator, after which the results are summed up and the winners are called.

For example, a company plans to participate in an exhibition, and a game is being prepared for this event. The main goals of the company are to attract new customers and direct sales at the exhibition. At the same time, in order to achieve these goals, it is very important to think out the game scenario correctly for two equally important directions.

If you focus on direct sales and ignore lead attraction in the gameplay, the employees at the exhibition will massively concentrate their efforts on sales, and insufficient attention will be paid to attracting new customers. Conversely, if the main goal is to attract new customers, the number of direct sales will be minimal as a result.

And therefore for the gameplay of work at the exhibition you need to create two equal areas - this is direct sales and attracting new customers. For each of the directions points should be calculated, and as a result of the game such achievements will be recorded:

1. Direct Sales Expert;
2. Connoisseur attracting leads.

The beginning of the game is considered the start of the company at the exhibition. Further, according to the results of each day of work, points are calculated. For example, each direct sale will be counted as 10 points, and each lead - 4 points. If the exhibition lasts several days to increase motivation, you can sum up the intermediate results after submitting the work results for each day.

According to the results of the entire exhibition, the final leaders are determined in each of the areas. You can also choose an unconditional leader who scored maximum points in the overall standings, i.e. scores for both lead and sales. The reward can be either the “connoisseur” badge or some motivating prize.

Long-term games and motivation methods

Games designed for a long period of time are most often aimed at increasing employee loyalty, although here you can enter a competitive point.

For example, in a company, on a constant basis, there may be a competition in the quality of the work of sales managers, during which work is also being carried out in several areas at once. It can be:

• Number of applications;
• Number of calls and meetings;
• Order amounts;
• Payment amounts, etc.

For each of the parameters, points are also awarded and for the week or month, “call leaders”, “order leaders”, “customer attraction leaders” or simply “sales leader” in all parameters are identified. These badges can be “rolling” or remain as a memorial sign on an ongoing basis, as commemorative medals, on the basis of which you can also track the number of different employee achievements and give special ranks and prizes.

Also very useful for increasing loyalty indicators such as the duration of the employee in the company. For example, according to the results of the first year of work, you can assign the “Whole year together with the company” icon to it. And for employees who have worked for 3 years or more - “Old-timed badge” and so on. There are many options and they depend only on your imagination.

Reasons for the effectiveness of gamification

The most important advantage of this solution is the increased interest of employees to work. The routine disappears, the excitement of competition appears. As a result, the performance of everyone who is interested in the gameplay, is noticeably growing.

It is also important to understand that games can be played on a wide variety of different parameters. As a result, almost every employee somewhere in some period will be among the leaders, will receive his badge and / or prize, which also increases the desire to participate in competitions, increases the same gambling excitement, which in the gaming industry brings huge profits, and business - a steady increase in efficiency and quality of work. By the way, about how these things can be technically implemented within the framework of Zoho, I also plan to look in detail at the webinar on “ Gamification in ZOHO CRM ”.

Successful Solutions

In the sales department of many companies, there is a common problem. Employees know that wages are calculated based on the amount of shipments or payments made during the month. As a result, the manager often works very little during the first weeks and without much desire, and towards the end of the month he begins to sell actively, asking customers to close some kind of invoices before the end of the month and issue new applications. Often, even the shipment of one of the managers draws not on himself, and on a colleague at his request, because that lacks a small amount to the norm. Mutual assistance is, of course, good human quality, but in business, we need objective indicators for each employee. And the work on the principle - half a month is nothing, and then - an emergency, is also extremely unproductive for the company as a whole.

1. Who will make more calls;
2. Who will sell more goods per day in total;
3. Who will issue more orders;
4. Who will attract and successfully start working with a large number of leads, etc.

Results can be summarized every day, highlight the "leader of the day", as well as weekly based on summary data. This approach will help employees to work every day with interest and maximum return, and the load on other divisions of the company will be evenly distributed, and sales will increase.

Thus, the use of gamification in business allows management to get more diverse levers for motivating employees, and for employees themselves to increase interest in work, get rid of the routine, increase both the company's profits and their own earnings. At the same time, funds for this option of motivation will require very little. The main thing is a well-thought-out system of game indicators and the introduction of beautiful reports in the CRM system as needed.