Creative Businesses Will Introduce Fun And Games To Engage Customers And Employees
The average human attention span, according to a study by Microsoft, is eight seconds. This fell from an average of twelve seconds in the year 2000. In comparison, scientists measure the attention span of a goldfish at nine seconds. The study shows that smartphones and mobile devices contribute to this phenomenon. If you recognize that Millennials are the largest segment of consumers and employees, then we better figure out how to capture and retain attention.
One way creative businesses will achieve better engagement is through gamification. Whether it be in the form of electronic games, or traditional games, the idea is to make activities fun and engaging. Let’s face it, would you rather do something fun, or boring? In my business, for years we would work to get teams to embrace role-plays to develop sales skills. Rarely would teams follow-through. We introduced Same Side Improv – a game to allow teams to practice real-world customer dialogs. My clients often report, “I see them laughing and having a good time. Of course, what we care most about is they are seeing better results.” Now they practice weekly and the results speak for themselves. All we did was make it fun.