If you’ve ever been a part of a company with a sales team, you’ve probably heard the bells or gongs that are sometimes used to celebrate various accomplishments. The process is very simple. When you close a deal or secure a new client the person who closed the sale rings the bell or hits the gong. The idea is to add energy and excitement into the workplace and motivate the rest of the team to strive that much harder for the next sale or client.

At SET, we’re known for developing one of the most innovative video targeting technologies in our space, so we wanted to create our own unique version of this common celebratory experience. We dedicated evenings and weekends to creating the ultimate sales motivator. The ideation process began where it often does, the dry erase board. The initial inspiration came from an existing product, the “Cash Grab Game.” We added a police light, a siren, laser-cut SET logo and a plexiglass case.

Step 1: Design Your Money Blower

Our design was a miniature version of a cash grab inflatable game. See the photo for some inspiration on how we designed our money blower. The final design that we selected was based on a museum podium concealing the high-powered blower and tubing. On top, there's a display case to view the swirling bills. As long as there's a vertical space for the bills to fly and air to escape, you should be in good shape.

Step 2: Source Your Materials

Once your design is finalized, you'll need to purchase/acquire the parts for your money blower.

Parts you can buy online:

Acrylic display case
WeMo switch
Blower fan
Police light
Loud siren

Parts you need to acquire elsewhere:

Wood for podium
Paint for podium
Laser-cut logo
Laser-cut top
$$$ bills (crumpled)

Step 3: Build Your Podium

In our design we decided to build a museum-esque podium to prominently display our money chamber. Since our display case is 10" x 10", it's crucial to have an opening that matches those dimensions. As you can see in the photo, it's sized accordingly.

All of the construction is basic woodworking with cuts, glue and screws. Get creative here.

Step 4: Connect the Blower to Tubing

Now that your podium is built, you need to connect the tubing to the blower. In our version, we used some basic cardboard and duct tape. Simply create a gasket like shape around the blower output and then tape the seams around it and connect the tubing. Ensure that the seals are tight because you don't want to lose any air pressure.

Step 5: Connect Tubing to Opening

This step can be done in a variety of ways and we achieved success with these two methods.

1. The bottom angled channel method (pictured). Create a four-sided angled cone that flows the bills back into the airflow. When the airflow is coming from the bottom direction, you'll need to install a mesh grate over the opening so the bills don't fall straight in. The angle of your cone will vary on your design but something a little steeper than 45 deg is desirable.

2. The bottom/side airflow entry method (not pictured). Using a box that matches the size of your opening, use an opening on one side that matches the tubing and then a steeply angled piece of cardboard/wood that channels the air upward and the bills downward. This will create a swirling motion within the chamber and a natural path for the bills to fall back into the airflow.

Step 6: Install the Display Case

Using screws or mounting tape, install the display case onto your podium or supporting structure.

Crucial step regarding airflow: You must create holes in the top of your display case for the airflow to exit. We laser cut small circular holes in the top of our display case. In our version, approximately 70% of the top was removed so the majority of air could exit without bills escaping.

Step 7: Add the Money and Connect the Tubing

Now that the display case and tubing are installed, add the bills and connect the tubing to the display case.

Please note that crumpled bills are much better at swirling because they catch the air more easily and don't get stuck. You'll also need to determine the right amount of bills and the desired airflow setting...

This stage will require some trial and error to get the proper amount of bill swirling and tumbling. In one test, we added ping pong balls to the bottom of the display chamber to agitate the bills. They weren't required after final testing but did add some cool sound effects.

Step 8: Add Your Logo

Now that you've tested the cash blower and achieved the perfect amount of swirling effect, get a logo laser cut and hang it in your display case with some string. Here you can see we've added the SET logo to our machine.

Step 9: Final Steps and Integrations

Now that you have everything installed and working. It's time to build out some of the most impressive integrations. We had two simple connections built to make our desired experience possible. A salesperson closes a deal for new business and the money blower activates for 30 seconds.

First we used a WeMo wifi enabled power outlet to be the switch for the power. Second, we connected that to Salesforce so that when a deal was closed, Salesforce would notify our WeMo switch. Voila! When a salesperson closes a deal the money blower is activated and the office goes wild.

The basic flow: User switches status of Salesforce opportunity > Perl script listens for Salesforce notification > Notification from Salesforce is sent to WeMo > WeMo turns on money blower for set duration > Office experiences applause.

UPDATE:

Here's the source code link on Github.

Watch the video the see it action:

Thanks for reading!

The Product Team at SET
San Francisco, CA
http://set.tv