How Toronto’s eCompliance Uses Themed Events, Ping Pong and a Penalty Box to Inspire it’s Reps on Team-Wide Blitz Days

Let’s face it: making calls, day after day, month after month, quarter after quarter can be a grind for any sales development rep.

Even when things are going well – you’re crushing your numbers, prospects are happy to chat, and the leads you’re passing are closing – sometimes it can be challenging to pick up the phone and dial another number.

Sometimes, the tank is empty.

An equally challenging task, for those sales managers out there, can be figuring out how to keep that development grind fresh for those reps hitting the phones day in and day out.

How does one keep their staff engaged and, by extension, consistently hitting their numbers? What are the best sales team incentives?

Is the answer more money, or better commission opportunities? Extra cash does go a long way. Or, is it more intangible perks like working remotely or, in true startup fashion, beer and hammocks?

There’s a different method for every manager out there, to be sure.

For Toronto’s Darcie Da Silva, Manager of Sales and Business Development at eCompliance.com, the answer is to schedule one day per month where all of the SDRs make even more calls – albeit with some ping pong, and a penalty box as well.

They call them Blitz Days and they are one of the more creative sales team motivation ideas we’ve heard in a while.

“Right now, we’re doing these events once per month. We get everyone’s undivided attention for a whole day. Basically, we have our BDRs and our AEs making cold calls. We start at 9 am and end at 4 pm, with 50 minute sprints throughout the day,” says Da Silva, on a recent edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast.

“We take 10 min breaks every hour, and lunch. Although participation is optional for our AEs, we’re finding it is really good practice for AEs. It helps refresh their cold calling, and remind them how difficult a job being a BDR is, with all of the rejection you face etc. It gives them a reminder to appreciate the contributions of the BDR team.”

Sales Team Competition Ideas

Each Blitz Day comes with a theme. So far, they’ve hosted a Star Wars themed day called “Call Wars,” then a Game of Thrones day called “Game of Phones” and, most recently, a Stranger Things themed event called Colder Calls. Up next will be a Walking Dead-style Blitz Day.

On each Blitz Day, eCompliance’s sales team is divided in two, and compete against each other in a call competition. The goal is to sign up as many prospects as possible for an upcoming sponsored webinar.

To accomplish their goal, Da Silva says each rep makes about 40 calls per Blitz Day, although some have made upwards of 90 calls. Each completed call is worth one point, while a completed registration is worth up to 20 points. The winner of the ping pong matches is also warded one point. At the end of the day, the points are tallied and the winning team is announced.

The theme of the webinar will determine the prospects are calling that day, as they will focus on contacting companies in the same vertical as is highlighted in the webinar.

“We’ll find a client that has benefitted from working with us, and we’ll get them on a webinar to talk about their experience with eCompliance. It’s easy to get people to speak on the webinar – end of the day we’re looking at reducing incidents, so people are more than open to it. Delta Airlines, for example, has spoken about the product,” says Da Silva.

“And we leverage that when reaching out to similar companies. It’s a story we can tell on the phone.”

As for the ping pong and the penalty box: throughout the day members of each team square off in a ping pong battle, the loser is sent to the penalty box for up to 5 minutes. While in the penalty box, they have option to answer a skill testing questions, related to the theme of the day, to get out faster.

Beyond the fun each rep has during the competition, the Blitz Days has proven a success. At their most recent event, the team was able to book 30 registrants for their webinar. That said, eCompliance’s marketing team also works book registrants.

Typically, Da Silva says about half of the registrants actually attend the webinar. From there, about 10% move to a need assessment (qualification with an AE). Those who don’t show are followed up with by SDRs as well.

Sounds great doesn’t it? Da Silva says Blitz days are a lot of fun, and good opportunities have come as a result, but the real benefit has been a strengthening of the culture around the office. Reps are more engaged and team members are working together more than ever before.

“I think if you have the right culture in place and you’re open to new ideas and strategies, then you will find new ways to find success. This worked for us,” says Da Silva.

“We’re producing good leads and opps for the company, but it’s really helped with culture in the office. People are working together, and the energy spills into the days after too. Give it a try once.”