BRX Pro Tip: Gamifying B2B Partnerships
Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I haven’t really looked into this or talked about it in a while, this idea of gamification but with particular respect to the B2B world.
Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think there’s an opportunity for B2B companies to gamify certain elements of their business, whether it’s their partnerships, whether it’s their clients, things like that. But I think that just thinking about kind of these loyalty and gamification tactics is a useful exercise for a lot of people that might open up some ideas or look at things a little differently than the way they’re currently looking at them. And when I’m talking about kind of using these tactics, it’s not just for customers, it could be with vendors, partners, and any other type of B2B relationship.
Lee Kantor: So, one way to think about your partners is creating kind of a tiered partner status, where there’s levels and you have kind of clear advancement levels. And, you know, basic levels like silver, gold, platinum are obvious, but you can be as creative as you want to be when it comes to defining and what these levels are. And then, base those levels on activity, revenue, referrals, engagement, and then create kind of a reward progress base, you know, whether it’s badges, or different types of support, or co-marketing opportunities, or access to exclusive things that are encouraging people to kind of move up the tiers.
Lee Kantor: Some of this stuff, if you do it well, you can be facilitating kind of a level of community and social recognition. You can build kind of peer groups within the different communities you’re serving. You can create private online communities where partners can earn social currency by sharing tips or wins or supporting each other. This is a great opportunity to spotlight partners who are helping other people innovate or giving them special titles, whether it’s mentor or MVP or rock star, or whatever you want to call it.
Lee Kantor: Gamification can work in B2B relationships when you make kind of the participation clear, the progress is visible and obvious, and everybody feels recognized for advancing the partnership. And it goes beyond just kind of making more money. So, the result could be more motivated partners, it could be stronger relationships, and greater shared success for everybody if you can pull this off well.
