“Everybody loves a winner,” as the song says.  And everyone loves to win.  Winning is at the heart of the new trend called “gamification” — using game dynamics to motivate behavior on the part of your employees or customers.  Even the simplest customer rewards program (such as a punch card at your local coffee shop) fits into this trend by creating a set of rules that allow shoppers to win something, whether it is free merchandise, a gift certificate or a discount.

But today I want to talk about the use of gamification to motivate employees. On Facebook I recently saw a post by a high school classmate  of mine saying that she had just been suspended from the hair salon where she worked because she didn’t sell her quota of product. Not because she was a bad stylist, or was rude to customers — but because she didn’t fulfill the salon owners expectations of how much income should be generated from add-on sales.

You can imagine that my classmate, and probably also her loyal clients, are not thinking kindly of this salon where she was trying her best to make a living. I wonder whether the same salon would have gotten a better reputation had they put in place a game (or system) that rewarded employees for how much they sold, publicly recognizing the achievements of those who sold the most.  Not necessarily offering a commission, but some kind of positive reinforcement.

The current issue of the alumni magazine for my alma mater, Tufts University, has an article about Joselin Linder, coauthor with Gabe Zichermann of The Gamification Revolution and Game-Based Marketing.  Linder tells about how she took her computer to a repair shop and made a game out of challenging the employees to fix it by a certain time.  She promised rewards (free PR and drinks) — and also said that she wouldn’t say bad things if the challenge wasn’t met.

Although the problem with her computer turned out to be a rusted part that couldn’t be repaired, making a game out of her request clearly motivated the computer shop’s game-oriented staff.  Although I wouldn’t want to make a sweeping generalization about age, I do think it’s fair to say that younger employees have grown up playing games and working towards rewards that provide motivation — even if they are imaginary — and might respond well to this approach.

We have an employee who has a chronic problem with tardiness, and our usual policy is closer to “three strikes you’re out” than to a game. But I was inspired by Linder’s article to try something new, and have offered ice cream cone coupons for her and her family if she is not late once during the next month.  It’s too soon to tell how effective this strategy will be, but it certainly feels better to be wielding a carrot (or ice cream cone, in this case) instead of a stick.

Product knowledge lends itself perfectly to gaming, whether you have two teams racing to find a certain list of products in the store, or a trivia contest about merchandise with prizes for those with the most number of right answers. Cash bonuses, even small ones, are of course the most welcome reward, although tickets, restaurant certificates and merchandise (donated by your top vendor, perhaps) are also appropriate.

It’s fun to make a game out of things like beating last year’s same day sales figures, but remember — you want to create a game that employees have a good chance of winning. GIven the state of the economy, it might not be realistic to ask for a sales increase every day.  But I’m sure that you can find something in your store to make into a game, increasing staff morale and making everyone feel like a winner.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder