Fire up your performance with the call centre Jackpot Game
If you lead a team in a contact centre, you know employee engagement directly impacts performance.
I’m always looking for ways to boost team morale and keep targets on track towards our business objectives.
Here’s a call centre jackpot game I created for my team, the All-Stars which was used to boost call centre performance and create some healthy competition in the team.
Maybe you can use it?
Or, it just may spark a new idea for you!
The game is called Jackpot.
And it’s super easy to play and implement.
The Call Centre Jackpot Game
The call centre Jackpot game lasted for a month (although you could run it for shorter or longer periods) where I made fake money, called ‘All-Stars Bucks’.
Consultants earned All-Stars Bucks by making sales.
Different products paid out different amounts, but either way, everyone got money by answering the phone and doing their job. Nothing extra required.
Consultants had choices of things to buy with their cash. Some prizes were more of a risk (buying a ticket into a ‘prize draw’), others were guaranteed (an instant prize).
Pretty green pieces of paper can light up a desk and Jackpot generated daily interest amongst the team!
Knowing that everyone could win and choose to spend cash how they wanted was a great benefit.
There was certainly a boost in both sales and morale, however, it did take a little bit of time each day to get organised.
Return on investment of this time made it well worth it.
Award ideas
You can be quite creative with how the team can use their money.
I’d suggest personalising it as much as possible to gain maximum buy-in.
Some prizes I used for using All Stars Bucks:
- $2 = Entry to win $10 Coles Myer Voucher (2 Winners)
- $10 = An entry to win 3 months of Netflix (1 Winner)
- $11 = A chance to win 3 months of Spotify (1 Winner)
- $25 = Mystery Prize Bags (20+ bags, see below)
- $30 = 1 Entry into $50 JACKPOT prize
The Mystery Prize…
The most well-received component was the Mystery Prizes – every couple of days someone would give in to their curiosity and spend their hard-earned Bucks.
Interestingly, it wasn’t just the purchaser who got the benefit here; the whole team would find joy in discovering who won what prize and what was inside.
The Mystery Prizes were all in identical bags, stapled shut and lined up on my desk.
They were structured cardboard bags so you couldn’t see any clues.
The discussion over which one to pick was kind of like that Millionaire Briefcase show.
Summary
Throughout the month, the call centre Jackpot game generated excellent discussion between our team.
It was something we could all talk about, in person and over email, that was not overtly about targets. Each individual was in charge of their own involvement.
Some consultants loved it and thrived off the instant choice, others didn’t get into it much.
I made sure to capitalise on the excitement.
Every time someone got a Mystery Prize Bag, I’d take a photo of the consultant and their prize and email it out asap.
This took a lot of work, but worth it.
Call centres are about dynamic results, so games must harness this instant gratification.
Key Learnings from the Call Centre Jackpot Game
In hindsight, I’d do a few things differently.
Initially, I had a consultant be “Team Banker” to gain buy-in.
However, this didn’t work well.
They got bored and it became too much work for them between calls.
I also originally had some fines that could be imposed, eg: missing a non-negotiable in a sales calls may be a $4 fine.
This didn’t translate well to all personalities and in the end, was removed from the rules.
Additional takeaways
- The call centre Jackpot game was targeted towards individuals, so high performers and low performers were both able to play and enjoy.
- There was no extra effort required from the staff. They did their job, and I facilitated the cash and prizes.
- I put an option for the team to join all their money together and buy a free lunch. This was a key move towards ‘one team’ mentality.
There was no need for a big budget – I just purchased cheap prizes from Kmart, Ikea etc. that were usually around $3.
I had more girls in my team, so candles, body products and makeup were common prizes that were well received.
In my experience though, it really wasn’t about the money; it was about the game and the recognition for a job well done.
So I’ve shared my call centre Jackpot Game, I look forward to hearing about yours in the comments below.
Recommended further reading: 4 Motivational Games for Call Centres
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