What Does Pokémon Have To Do With Salespeople?

If you’re a sales manager, there is a good chance you were so busy building your career that you missed the craze of Pokemon when it first came out. But unless you are currently living under a rock, there is no way you have missed all the buzz about Pokemon Go. Are you aware of how insanely popular it is? According to Time Magazine, it’s “[b]igger than Tinder and on its way to smashing Twitter’s “daily active users” ceiling.”

I bet if you surveyed your sales reps, the majority of them are already to Level 3. Take advantage of the madness and encourage your team to creatively sell more by using Pokemon Go.

What Does Pokémon Have To Do With Salespeople?

Your first reaction might be “I’m so busy trying working with my team to make their calls and follow-up with prospects, why should I encourage them to play a GAME?”

But when we asked the users of Spiro, our personal sales assistant, a top 3 challenge for all salespeople is finding enough prospects and leads.

They can use Pokémon Go to bring leads to them! I know it sounds crazy, but it really works. Here are 6 tactics that you can have your sales team try today to increase sales.

1. Use “Lures” in Pokémon Go to Bring People to Them
For a small cost your salespeople can create what is known as a lure near you, or near your shop / place of business. This essentially attracts Pokémon, who then attract customers. Here’s what one store manager wrote on Reddit: “As a manager for a store PoGo is f-ing amazing. SO. MUCH. FOOT TRAFFIC. Time to invest in some lures.” So if your team is selling in a store, automobile dealer, etc., have them go and create lures.

2. Bring Product to Pokémon Gyms
A Pokémon Gym is a place where users can fight other users’ Pokémon to make them stronger. You can only use Pokemon Gyms once you are at Level 5, so even suggesting this tactic will create some side competition amongst your team to try and get themselves to Level 5. Suggest your reps find a Gym in the app and then physically go there with some product swag to network with potential buyers.

3. But Wait, My Team isn’t In Retail…
At your next sales meeting tell your team this story, “A sales buddy of mine — Tim — had been trying to break into an account with minimal success. So he went out and created a Pokémon lure in their company’s parking lot, and then watched as coworkers poured out of the building at lunchtime to use Pokémon Go. Guess who he chatted with? Their CFO. Not bad considering he was never able to get him on the phone before.” Highlight to you team that they can use the app for internal networking as well!

4. Have Reps Use Pokemon for Rapport Building
You may be thinking that your company’s prospects couldn’t care less about Pokemon. But considering that over 10% of the US population is playing Pokémon EVERY DAY, I’m sure some of your team’s contacts do care. Suggest to your salespeople that talking about Pokemon could be a good way to build rapport and expand their relationships.

5. Get Their Creative Juices Flowing!
Tell your team to use Inc Magazine’s suggestion to “Take in-game screenshots and post them on the social-media platforms where you’re active. Use hashtags like #pokemongo and #pokemon to get the message out to your potential new customers.” Let your reps have fun with it and get start thinking outside of the box.

6. Encourage Them to ACT NOW!
There is no doubt that the Pokémon craze will fade away. Make sure your salespeople take full advantage of this trend while it’s hot, and don’t forget to share your success stories in the comments.

Adam is the co-founder and CEO of Spiro Technologies. He is a natural sales leader with a mission to help salespeople make more money using artificial intelligence — or any sort of intelligence for that matter.