“By 2020, Gen-Yers will account for 40 percent of the global workforce, and are projected to reach 75 percent by 2025″.
Generation Y or Millennials, born in the 80s and 90s, are changing the working environment. A Gen-Y Workplace Expectations Study organised by Deloitte, highlighted the key takeaways about Millennials workplace preferences including; “jobs should reflect lifestyle”, “workplaces should be social and fun”, and there should be “regular performance feedback and recognition”. Another key thing about the Gen Yers, is that they have an extremely high game and social media affinity. Growing up with cutting edge technology and innovation at home and at school, Gen-Yers also expect employers to have a significantly different relationship with technology. Forward-thinking companies are adapting themselves to fit these new requirements, and many are doing so by embracing the process of Gamification Gamification is the integration of game mechanics into non-game applications and processes in the workplace. Gamifying business processes with incentives, competitions, badges of honor and levels of accomplishment have proved to increase emotional motivation especially in the sales environment. Here you can find 5 reason why Gen-Yers are driving Gamification in Sales:
1. Gen-Yers are already in the game
Generation Y have been “plugged in” since their childhood. They have been gaming online, on consoles and on mobiles. They have been questing, ranking and struggling to climb leader boards. They know the user interfaces of smartphones, tablets and wearables so well, that they can operate it in their sleep. These are all things that Gen Y have grown up with. As a result, if you’re simply going to offer them traditional sales training, you will struggle to engage them. Training programs that have a game-based “fun” focus achieve better results. Deloitte is a great example of a company that has seen big improvements in the use of its Deloitte Leadership Academy (DLA) training program due to gamification.
2. Generation Y value the experience over the money
Generation Y tend to “live in the moment”. Therefore the latest mobile technology with immersive experiences of the greatest sounds, visuals and uninterrupted functions are expected to make a transition into the workspace. Work that offers Gamification experiences through simulation sales training apps, are remarkably effective for sales motivation.
3. Gen-Yers need transparent results and information
Growing up with the Internet and its resultant transparency, Gen-Yers expect complete transparency of information. Gamification with its transparent results and public sharing of statistics, helps employees to not only track their own progress but also use it as a benchmark.
4. Millennials are competitive.
All humans have a competitive instinct and like to win. Millennials, with their life-long gaming experience have this instinct sharply honed. Gamification in Sales taps into this and helps to get the best out of Millennials employees.
5. Gen-Yers need instant rewards and connection
Public recognition of success is important as it serves as a motivational tool for Gen-Yers. That’s why with likes on Instagram, matches on Tinder and communicating in real-time via digital platforms (Facebook, FaceTime, texting, etc.), Millennials seek for instant rewards and social connection. Since Gen-Yers entered the workforce, many employers started to integrate Gamification into products and sales processes. A great example is the game Nitro for Salesforce, which motivates sales agents with notifications, which are displayed as soon as a player reaches a goal (e.g closing a deal). This keeps Gen-Y sales people happy and motivated to continue achieving great sales results. Apparound has demonstrated that implementing Gamification in Sales can bring an increase in sales performance of up to 50%. Companies like Vodafone have equipped their sales force with CPQ sales solutions and have already seen a rise in sales performance using the included Sales Gamification module. Learn more about how Apparound implement Gamification in Sales at www.apparound.com.
