On Monday, the announcement broke out that Microsoft acquired FantasySalesTeam, an online platform which allows companies to “draft” players to their team. It will be a part of the sales team strategy to turn their work in a fun and competitive atmosphere that has worked well for other companies.
Microsoft bought Texas based Incent Games LL, the company who has created the innovating way of conducting sales, promoting team work and bringing forth that bout of competition that might be an excellent motivation. It allows others to “draft” staff working in managing, marketing, service, finance and operations and it’s said to increase both the coordination and collaboration among them.
FantasySalesTeam allows employees to create teams in a fantasy-sports-like style, essentially combining gaming with sports and business at the same time. They will be teams drafted in order to create the best combination to bring the greatest results possible, creating a roster as any sports team would. And then the season kicks off, so to speak.
Both individual and team results will be put on display, as when each team goes up on the leader board, they earn points for both themselves and the rest of their “teammates”. It’s said to boost productivity, revolutionize team building and increase team collaboration, which will in turn show better results and business growth.
Some might believe that the strategy might become too distracting, that will refocus the employees attention from the actual work and focus more on making their own fantasy team. However, Incent Games CEO, Adam Hollander begs to differ and he has a case study to prove it.
Service Corporation was the first to use FantasySalesTeam with its 130 sales representatives compared to 700 others and came up with positive results. Wireless Zone, a chain of mobile stores, increased profit by 9% and their sales were 176% up since starting to use the software within the first 30 days.
The fun aspect could be easy to see, but it seems it does indeed have a practical reason that boosts productivity, and Microsoft is following in suit. Other companies such as HP and Comcast are reportedly using FantasySalesTeam as a platform for their sales and other departments.
The terms of the deal have not yet been revealed, and instead a Microsoft spokesperson only claimed that they are bringing in a “handful of employees”. The strategy might just prove to be successful in the end as it promotes teamwork, competition and better team dynamics.
Image source: microsoft-news.com
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