Table of Contents
On The Use of Video-Game Style Achievement Systems
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
A New Motivation Mentality
Get Your Geek On
Method To The Madness
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Bragging Rights
Engage Employees
Acknowledge Achievement
Recognize Talent
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Recognition For All
Embrace The Future
Love Learning
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
A New Motivation Mentality
In the book Drive by Andrew Pink, Mr. Pink expands on research begun
in the 1940s and 1960s by research scientists Harry Harlow and Edward
Deci that showed that traditional thinking related to motivation was
incomplete and required revision and an updated approach. Beyond
essential human biological motivators, it has long been held that
reward and punishment are the critical motivators for human beings.
These researchers showed that other motivations can be far more
powerful, and that factors such as autonomy, the desire for mastery
and skill, and a sense of purpose can be more effective tools for
motivation. Pink expands on these ideas and relates them to how these
drives can be and are related to business success.
A new exploration of these motivational concepts is being launched
in business software from Quosal, with ideas that are migrating to
business software applications and platforms from the entertainment
software industry. This area is where ground-breaking and highly
effective motivational and rewards techniques have been developed
and refined.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Get Your Geek On
Background: The Institution of Micro-Rewards and
Recognitions in Video Game Communities
In the mid- to late 1990s, video games drove the creation
of massive game-playing communities, filled with loyal,
fascinated players of all ages and backgrounds. These players would
aggregate around the online infrastructures created for specific games or
game franchises, or around the
online commerce aggregators that
might serve a particular game developer
or publisher’s titles and communities.
Such online activities around games
became another focus of user activity,
often as important – or more important
– than the games themselves.
These communities could number in
the millions of players who had spent
millions and, in some cases, billions of dollars both on the
games themselves, and in ongoing monthly subscription fees.
While such community activities often focused on matchmaking (the process of finding someone to play with or compete
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
against), other natural offshoots included online clubs,
gatherings and rankings (recognizing achievements, such as
the best or most prolific players). Such achievements were
initially informally tracked, or only tracked the 3rd party entities.
Eventually, the issuing, tracking and reporting of what became
popularly known as “Achievements” became a necessary and
inherent component of any online gaming community.
Such rewards expanded rapidly to cover
many subject areas of achievement,
both for an individual and for teams or
clubs. They rapidly evolved from merely
recognizing the best player in an entire
community, to focusing on an individual
source of motivation and goals for
players within a community. Bragging
rights, the desire to attain a difficult or
unique award, or to be considered the
best – even in an off-beat area of
expertise within a game – became as
important as the game itself for many
players.
In sports (and in most facets of life), players can be highly
motivated to be the best that they can be, measured against
other players, as well as themselves and their own belief in
their abilities.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Method To The Madness
4)Enhanced player engagement through the real-time reward
of achievements gained
The use of achievements moved players beyond the traditional,
limited measurement/motivation systems that only valued
high score on wins/losses. It successfully created a gaming
environment in which a player could autonomously pursue
the greatest level of mastery they could attain. Achievements
created purpose beyond simply finishing a game, long past
the point that a player might otherwise have moved on to
other games. New game modes were invented to engage
players for many additional hours, just to achieve the single
bragging rights for having beaten the game in that particular
mode.
The creation, award and tracking of achievements accomplished many worthwhile goals for the player’s entertainment
and for the game developer/publishers business as well.
Among other things, achievement systems:
5)
1)Provided a means to teach players more about the game
software by giving an incentive to explore and gain skill
2)Offered a means with which players could feel successful in
ways other than just being the “best” – very important in
communities of hundreds of thousands where there is only
one top player
3)Built levels of attainment which would keep players engaged
past the point where they might otherwise have lost interest
in the game
Created more loyalty to the game franchises
6)Drove the essentials goals for game developers and
publishers, particularly as the “free to play” era dawned:
Acquisition, Retention, and Monetization of the relationship with each player.
Extended the monthly subscription cycle for many players
who would have otherwise stopped playing. Many of these
benefits, and more, can translate to the business world to
positively and continually motivate people and recognize those
behaviours and activities that lead directly to greater business
success and profitability.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Bragging Rights
Achievements are usually delivered in the form of a graphical badge or “virtual trophy”. The player is able to display their
trophy in a virtual trophy room that provides visibility to other
players within the community. A particular badge/trophy might
simply represent or look like a trophy, but is more commonly a
unique graphical design that represents the actual achievement
itself. It is often augmented with additional information, such
as numbers to represent the degree of achievement – “Enemies
Killed (100)”, “Enemies Killed (1000)”, etc. The quality of and
design of the achievement icon itself (and its uniqueness or
difficulty to attain) can often become a part of the desire to
attain that achievement.
In some cases, players might find that they have attained a
given achievement level only if they visit their own virtual trophy
room. In other cases, they might be notified instantly, even
in-game, upon reaching a new level of attainment and a
new goal.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Engage Employees
The rich vein of motivation and the innate drive to excel is particularly inherent to sales professionals, and can bring substantial
benefits in business. Providing a means of non-traditional and
non-monetary feedback can be highly motivating – it rewards
those activities that most lead to the accomplishment of business
goals: closed sales, follow-up, and high quality. The accomplishment of these goals can bring substantial success.
In sales, traditional recognitions remain centered around a very
limited set of achievements, and are reward/punishment-based.
Who sold the most? Who made quota? Who maintained the highest gross margins? There are far more success factors that can be
measured and rewarded, recognized through micro-recognitions,
such as:
• Who produced the most quotes (most at-bats?)
• Who has the highest sales closing ratio?
• Who delivers the highest quality quotes (only 1 version before
acceptance)?
• Who has the most lifetime won sales/delivered quotes?
• Who has the fastest average sale closing time?
• Who has produced the most quotes over $X? The most
quotes over X% Gross Margin?
• Who maintains the best quote and proposal process?
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Within these metrics (and far more) is the opportunity to recognize and reward sales professionals and sales teams. In each
of these success measurements lies a significant contribution
to closing sales.
As in the gaming world, sales achievements can be awarded as
virtual rewards through business software applications. These
awards are graphical representations, trophies, medals, and
plaques that are visible to
peers and the enterprise. The
virtual trophy room and leaderboards provide a constant
reminder to all of success and
recognition – a means by
which everyone in a company
can share in the success miestones of their peers.
“Streaming Recognitions”
With the right combination of
overall sales velocity, and number and types of achievements to
be awarded, a company can have “streaming” recognitions in
sales (and other areas of the business) that periodically recognize
the efforts and accomplishments of both front-line sales professionals and those that support them. Motivating and energizing,
these recognitions can build the kind of momentum and confidence that lead to the actual goal: more and better sales.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Acknowledge Achievement
Recognize Talent
Achievement awards can, and should be, open-ended. Openended achievement awards continue to provide motivation for
performance at all levels, and help introduce the top performers
to the newest additions to the team. Achievement levels should be
delivered more frequently for the newest team members to help
jump start their performance and build their desire to reach the
next level of achievement.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Recognition For All
Most compensation systems are built to reward achievers, such as those who make quota or those who sell the most. Yet, typically
only a small percentage of sales teams are made up of those top performers; successful sales teams are comprised of many levels
of performance and are still considered successful. Micro-rewards allow all levels of performance to be recognized.
Sales teams also have a separate focus in many companies, such as new customer sales vs. existing customer sales. The dollar
levels, number of transactions, and other key performance metrics may have a completely different scale or frame of reference, and
hence need different achievement and recognition levels.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Embrace The Future
Even veteran sales professionals will have had exposure to the online
gaming communities that use achievements in the manner described
herein, and many will have participated in these communities and
have been rewarded such achievements.
The coming generations of sales professionals (Such as the “Millenials”)
will be completely steeped in such recognition paradigms. Having
these recognitions in their business life will be natural and expected.
Utilizing micro-recognitions and achievements paradigms in the new
workforce is a powerful way to recruit and retain top talent, and is a
key business tool for the employer.
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Love Learning
In addition to recognizing and rewarding those behaviors that
lead to specific goals (such as closed sales), achievements can also
encourage and motivate sales professionals to learn more about
the tools they use on a daily basis. Those activities that lead to
exploration and mastery can be recognized and rewarded, and
can become a key part of guiding the professional in the learning
process itself.
Overall Business Benefits to Business
Successful implementation of Achievements recognition will have
numerous benefits to businesses, starting with those that are salesoriented, including:
• Continuously builds motivation and momentum
• Tracks important sales performance metrics not previously
tracked
• Recognition and rewards across all levels of acceptable sales
performance
• Attainment of higher levels of sales performance
• Greater supporting product and process knowledge
• More competition across more ground within the sales team
• New, important ways to review sales performance
Above all, the use of Achievements in sales will lead to more sales
of higher quality and profitability.
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Conclusion
The appropriate use of micro-recognition and rewards through Achievement Systems in business application software provides
significant sales success for many businesses.
www.quosal.com