Don’t ever underestimate the ingenuity of Americans. A prime example is an entrepreneur who has taken the concept of fantasy sports competition and translated it into a company that is driving sales for about 150 large and small firms such as
Two years ago, Adam Hollander created FantasySalesTeam, an online platform and mobile app that motivates salespeople through fantasy sports principles. “It started as trying to solve a real-world problem of the same people winning sales contests and how it was de-motivating to those who didn’t,” Hollander said. “We wanted to get people more engaged and change the culture.”
The idea was to reward people for more than just results through a points system and team building. Teams are formed based on positions in baseball, football or basketball so managers can group those with similar aptitudes. No knowledge of sports is needed and Hollander said he’s found no discernible difference between men and women in terms of performance.
The cost is just $25 per player per month so, for a company to enroll 100 employees, it would be $2,500 a month. The return on investment pays off in a big way as HP saw a 94 percent increase in sales over a 60-day period in 2014. FantasySalesTeam, based in Austin, has reaped the rewards of that success by growing between 50-100 percent quarter-over-quarter and recently raised $1.5 million in new funding.
Already being utilized by financial-service firms, auto companies and health-care providers, Hollander envisions the software to be used to measure customer service among other areas.
With a recent study showing fantasy football may cost employers more than $14 billion in lost productivity, it’s comforting to know someone has put the concept to good use. Whether his program is reducing the number of hours people spend on fantasy football while at work, Hollander can’t say for sure.
After all, one entrepreneur can only do so much.
