Why Contests Don’t Work

July 2, 2010

(Note: This is the second part of a series I am posting over the holiday weekend. The first part of this series lays out the basic premises this post and the rest of the series is based on. In order to full appreciate this series, please read “The Epiphany” where the research behind this post is presented.)

Over the years I have been in countless serving contests. The manager comes out at lineup and explains that whoever sells the most of the evenings fish special wins a lovely pink women’s size small t-shirt with the phrase “Buy Me a Tequila Rose” across the front. Immediately visions of sporting this stylish shirt out to the club on my six-foot tall frame to pick up women go through my head. Nothing says “class” like liquor company promo shirts. All I have to do is regale my guest with mentions of the finely aged fish special that guests who came in the last three nights did not choose. Tonight I can tell them that it truly is a limited time offer. I will leave out that if they don’t buy it the kitchen manager can no longer in good conscience avoid throwing it out.

Fortunately, most of the contests were not as bad as the previously mentioned tale. Most managers have accepted that cash is “one size fits all” and far more effective in the aforementioned club. What surprises these managers, and myself in my time as a manager, is how poorly it works as a prize to motivate a staff. The previous pos t outlines numerous studies that show cash incentives actually harm performance. At first glance, this seems to make no sense. Servers tend to be highly money motivated as a whole. Yet cash incentives don’t lead to better performance. Upon further examination though it can be easily explained.

Here are the basic reasons why financial incentives in the form of contests fail to motivate servers:

Read the full post at The Manager’s Office

Becky
Jul 02, 2010 @ 13:42:05

My boss runs contests for things that are nearly impossible to sell, like a minimum of 100 B-52 shots in a month’s time (I work 3 nights a week and sometimes only 2) or buckets of Malibu concoctions. That’s fine on a Friday or Saturday night after 10pm, but during the dinner hour it’s a real stretch. He announced one meeting that the desultory results from these contests are our way of saying “**** you!” to him.

When we have a new menu item or draft beer, I can sell them like crazy and I do – but the contest subject has to be realistic, otherwise he’s pretty much right about what he thinks we’re saying to him.

tipsfortips
Jul 02, 2010 @ 17:41:51

Do people still drink B-52s? Might as well run a contest on Gin Rickeys or Planters Punch. I still think the most effective and easiest contest is to let everyone pick an item and if they sell 5 or 10 or whatever number makes sense, they get one of whatever they picked. Sell 10 hamburgers and your prize is a hamburger. Sell 10 lobsters and you get a lobster. I always try to sell what I think is the best item. It is the old, “let the punishment fit the crime” idea in reverse. There can be multiple winners, supports autonomy, and does not conflict with purpose.