Need help keeping your business development community active and engaged? Community challenges are a proven way to spark interaction, encourage sharing, and build camaraderie. Use these ready-made challenge templates to energize your group and foster valuable connections.
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Community challenges tap into the natural human desire for achievement, friendly competition, and recognition. By presenting members with fun or educational tasks, you motivate them to participate, share progress, and celebrate wins together. This approach not only boosts engagement but also helps members build new skills and connections relevant to business development.
Challenges create a sense of momentum and purpose in your community. When members see others taking part and receiving shout-outs or small rewards, it inspires more people to join in. Over time, these shared experiences strengthen trust and loyalty, making your business development community an even more valuable resource for everyone involved.
Challenge time. Share one business book that changed your approach and why.
💡 Example: "Challenge time. Share one business book that changed your approach and why. For me, it was The Lean Startup."
This week, connect with one new member and share what you learned here.
💡 Example: "This week, connect with one new member and share what you learned here. I met Lisa and learned about her SaaS journey."
Pitch Challenge. Describe your business in one sentence. Best ones get featured.
💡 Example: "Pitch Challenge. Describe your business in one sentence. We connect freelancers with startups."
Share your top productivity hack for closing deals faster.
💡 Example: "Share your top productivity hack for closing deals faster. I use scheduled follow-up reminders."
Try a new outreach method this week and report your results.
💡 Example: "Try a new outreach method this week and report your results. I tested video messages and got a better response."
Challenge. Find a free tool that helps with business development and share it.
💡 Example: "Challenge. Find a free tool that helps with business development and share it. I recommend HubSpot CRM."
What is your go-to icebreaker when meeting new clients? Share below.
💡 Example: "What is your go-to icebreaker when meeting new clients? Share below. I ask about their latest business win."
Referral Challenge. Refer the community to a contact who could benefit from joining.
💡 Example: "Referral Challenge. Refer the community to a contact who could benefit from joining. I invited my colleague Mike."
Share your biggest business development win this month. Celebrate with us.
💡 Example: "Share your biggest business development win this month. I landed my first enterprise client."
Try using LinkedIn voice messages for outreach and share your experience.
💡 Example: "Try using LinkedIn voice messages for outreach and share your experience. It felt more personal and got replies."
Weekly goal challenge. Set a business development goal and update us by Friday.
💡 Example: "Weekly goal challenge. Set a business development goal and update us by Friday. Mine: schedule 5 sales calls."
Share a recent mistake in business development and what you learned.
💡 Example: "Share a recent mistake in business development and what you learned. I sent a proposal too late and missed the deal."
Find a business podcast episode and post your favorite takeaway.
💡 Example: "Find a business podcast episode and post your favorite takeaway. I loved the episode on cold emailing."
Challenge. Cold outreach to one new potential partner and share the response.
💡 Example: "Challenge. Cold outreach to one new potential partner and share the response. I emailed a SaaS founder and got a meeting."
Share your favorite follow-up email template for business leads.
💡 Example: "Share your favorite follow-up email template for business leads. I send a quick check-in with a value tip."
Try a five-minute networking call with another member and tell us what you gained.
💡 Example: "Try a five-minute networking call with another member and tell us what you gained. I learned about a new CRM tool."
Share your favorite question to ask during a discovery call.
💡 Example: "Share your favorite question to ask during a discovery call. I ask what success looks like for them."
Try using a new sales automation tool this week and share your feedback.
💡 Example: "Try using a new sales automation tool this week and share your feedback. Zapier helped me save time."
Introduce yourself with a fun fact related to your business journey.
💡 Example: "Introduce yourself with a fun fact related to your business journey. I started my first business at 16."
Challenge. Share a rejection story and the lesson you took from it.
💡 Example: "Challenge. Share a rejection story and the lesson you took from it. I learned to follow up after a no."
Try a new elevator pitch in your next meeting and share how it went.
💡 Example: "Try a new elevator pitch in your next meeting and share how it went. Mine got a great reaction."
Share a productivity app that changed your workflow.
💡 Example: "Share a productivity app that changed your workflow. Trello keeps me organized."
Challenge. Send a thank-you note to a past client and tell us the result.
💡 Example: "Challenge. Send a thank-you note to a past client and tell us the result. They referred me to someone else."
What is one business development myth you have debunked? Share your story.
💡 Example: "What is one business development myth you have debunked? Share your story. Cold calling really can work."
Try a 24-hour no-email challenge and share how you managed communication.
💡 Example: "Try a 24-hour no-email challenge and share how you managed communication. I used Slack for urgent issues."
Share the best networking event you attended and your biggest takeaway.
💡 Example: "Share the best networking event you attended and your biggest takeaway. I met a new partner at SaaStr."
Reach out to someone in a different industry and share what you learned.
💡 Example: "Reach out to someone in a different industry and share what you learned. I found new marketing ideas from tech."
Try a video intro for your next pitch and post your experience.
💡 Example: "Try a video intro for your next pitch and post your experience. It made my presentation stand out."
What KPI do you track most closely for business development? Share your approach.
💡 Example: "What KPI do you track most closely for business development? Share your approach. I focus on conversion rates."
Challenge. Share a cold email subject line that got great results.
💡 Example: "Challenge. Share a cold email subject line that got great results. Quick question about your Q3 goals."
Share the most creative way you have landed a meeting recently.
💡 Example: "Share the most creative way you have landed a meeting recently. I sent a custom video invitation."
Try a new CRM feature this week and report back on your results.
💡 Example: "Try a new CRM feature this week and report back on your results. The email tracking helped me follow up better."
Challenge. Share a business development meme or GIF to lighten the mood.
💡 Example: "Challenge. Share a business development meme or GIF to lighten the mood. Here is a dog making cold calls."
Connect with another member for virtual coffee and share your key insight.
💡 Example: "Connect with another member for virtual coffee and share your key insight. I learned about a new sales strategy."
Host a mini demo day. Share a 1-minute video of your product or service.
💡 Example: "Host a mini demo day. Share a 1-minute video of your product or service. Here is my app in action."
Challenge yourself to attend one new online event this week and share your learnings.
💡 Example: "Challenge yourself to attend one new online event this week and share your learnings. I joined a webinar on lead gen."
Share your favorite quote that motivates you in business development.
💡 Example: "Share your favorite quote that motivates you in business development. Success is not final, failure is not fatal."
Challenge. Share one outdated sales tactic to avoid in 2024.
💡 Example: "Challenge. Share one outdated sales tactic to avoid in 2024. Cold calling without research."
Try scheduling all your client calls before noon for a week. Share your results.
💡 Example: "Try scheduling all your client calls before noon for a week. Share your results. I felt more productive."
Share your go-to resource for staying updated in business development.
💡 Example: "Share your go-to resource for staying updated in business development. I read the Sales Hacker newsletter."
Challenge. Share a GIF that represents your mood after closing a deal.
💡 Example: "Challenge. Share a GIF that represents your mood after closing a deal. Dancing cat GIF."
Choose a challenge template that fits your community's interests and goals. Announce the challenge with clear instructions, a timeline, and details about any rewards or recognition. Encourage members to post their progress or results using a designated hashtag or thread. Engage with participants by liking, commenting, or highlighting standout entries. At the end, celebrate achievements and invite feedback for future challenges.
For all platforms, use images, polls, or pinned posts to highlight your challenge. Encourage sharing across channels and make it easy for members to participate with simple instructions. Monitor discussions and provide regular updates to maintain excitement.
To focus on sales pipeline management, create challenges that encourage members to share their weekly prospecting numbers, conversion rates, or lead qualification techniques. Use prompts like 'Share your biggest bottleneck in moving deals from discovery to proposal' or 'Post a screenshot of your CRM with this week's pipeline stages.' This keeps discussions practical and highly relevant to business development professionals.
Design challenges such as 'Share your most effective script for handling the price objection' or 'Role-play a common gatekeeper scenario and offer feedback.' Encourage members to post anonymized real-world objections they’ve faced and crowdsource creative responses, fostering peer learning around B2B sales hurdles.
Frame challenge prompts around percentage improvements or anonymized metrics, e.g., 'Post about a recent 10%+ increase in your meeting-to-close ratio and the strategy behind it.' Avoid asking for sensitive client names or deal amounts, and remind members to generalize data where necessary to maintain privacy and compliance.
Introduce point systems for completing challenges like 'Pitch Review Week' or '30-Day Follow-Up Streak,' where members log their daily outreach activity. Offer badges for milestones such as 'Closed First Deal via LinkedIn' to incentivize participation and recognize achievements closely tied to business development goals.
Differentiate prompts by channel: for partnership managers, use challenges like 'Share a successful co-marketing campaign strategy' or 'Describe your partner onboarding process.' For direct sales, focus on activities like cold emailing or demo conversion rates. This segmentation ensures content resonates with diverse business development roles.
Create prompts such as 'Share a recent lost deal and what you learned' or 'Describe a pivot in your approach after losing a long-term client.' Emphasize reflection and growth, encourage members to focus on process improvements, and set clear guidelines to maintain a supportive, non-blaming tone. This helps turn setbacks into valuable learning experiences for the community.
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