Increasing sales for
Wessex Garages with Gamification sales platform

Wessex Garages is one of the UK’s largest automotive dealership networks, supplying new and used cars from some of the biggest car manufacturers, including Nissan, Kia, Mazda, ORA and Hyundai. Fiora and Wessex Garages have had a trusted, collaborative relationship for over 10 years, with the Fiora team progressively learning more about the day-to-day business. Over the partnership, we’ve worked on a huge variety of campaigns, helping to bring in a wealth of new customers and promote Wessex Garages as a premium and dependable regional dealership.

As every business knows, a happy, energised and motivated workforce can often be the key to success — especially for a car dealership that depends on its sales team performance. With over a hundred salespeople, Wessex Garages came to Fiora with concerns over workforce motivation. We were tasked with streamlining their business bonus process while creating a sales dashboard for key stakeholders to view when needed.

The business of rewards & bonuses
Wessex Garages sales team were awarded rewards and bonuses based on their number and quality of sales, taking into consideration service systems, MOT packages and specific sale objectives for that month.
These bonuses were processed through a cumbersome digital spreadsheet and required numerous changeovers between members of staff in order to be completed and signed off. This convoluted and complicated process was made even harder by the majority of bonus forms being filled at the very end of the month — causing an intense concentration of number crunching at critical times of the month.
This, married with an unclear structure of staff performance, led to poorer salesperson performances and lengthy administration processes. It was clear that we needed a new system to engage the sales team and simplify the bonus structure.

Gamification and the Premier League
The sales team needed some of the thrill and fun put back into their jobs. Getting a good bonus couldn’t be the only driving force, so we introduced the method of gamification. By tapping into one of the team’s common loves — football, we introduced a sales incentive platform based on the game.

Team members were split into three clear tables:
Premier League: the highest performing staff
Championship: staff performing at a good level
Conference: staff who were underperforming based on their sales targets

Working with the key stakeholder team, we developed a simple yet effective points system that could easily be customised based on market requirements. New models were prioritised and gained higher points than used cars, while added package deals had their own unique points.

These points directly translated into bonus rewards which were automatically added to the salesperson’s performance. The league table was updated every quarter to show the new results, with the front-facing platform allowing staff and management to see everyone’s placement.

In order to have their points added and, therefore, move up the league table, a salesperson would need to fill out their bonus points. This led to people regularly completing them, instead of leaving it till the end of the month, erasing the issue of stressful, last-minute administrative work.

We carefully wireframed the overall platform to be intuitive and user-friendly while automating as much of the number-crunching as possible. The clear layout allowed easy tracking of individual and group performance, while historical data could be pulled out to examine seasonal shifts and record growth.

Stretch targets
Through our research in gamification and work-place motivation, we discovered the previously untapped power of stretch targets. Simply put, if you can’t see how close you are to the treasure chest, save point or sales bonus, you might not have the same motivation to get there. Many sales staff were just missing out their next bonus, but either weren’t aware or didn’t have a clear target guiding them to the finish line.

To help with this, we added real-time messaging to the platform. This informed salespersons when they were close to reaching their next bonus and reminded underperforming ones of their target.
 

By tapping into the everyday need for competition, validation and tangible incentives, we increased Wessex Garages sales by an incredible £600,000 in just the first year. The teams were more engaged with their work, higher-performing salespeople were rewarded accordingly, and those underperforming were motivated to improve sales. Proof that no matter how slick and high-tech a system may be, a human element is required to be truly successful.