It is the dream of every sales manager to have a sales team that is 100% motivated. However, for this dream to become reality sales leaders need to work for it. They need to find ways to ignite their team members’ inner desires to win, to do better, and to be praised.
Money talks, but it is not enough to get you a highly motivated sales team. Motivation runs deeper than numbers. Thus, apart from monetary compensations use frequently changing, motivational tactics tailored to salespeople.
There are many ways to increase your sales team’s productivity and motivation. These 6 ideas will deliver:
1. Encourage Everyone to Track and Share Wins
In sales, it is common to focus on rejections and drawbacks and be demotivated as rejections happen quite often. However, have your sales team focus more on wins by asking them to track daily or weekly wins – and send you a message or mail about it. They can be as small as a great conversation with a customer, a new tactic they learned, a breakthrough, a tentative “yes” from a prospect, or their own professional growth. Sharing wins with another person, be it a small or big win multiplies the morale-boosting effect.
2. Gamification
As the name suggests, Gamification is a modern strategic attempt to digitally engage and motivate people to accomplish their goals by using game mechanics. Similarly, gamification is a great solution for motivating sales teams. Salespersons are ambitious and competitive in nature and gamification plays into that perfectly. It helps you set up competitions, perform certain tasks and get points for them. These points accumulate and can be exchanged for rewards. Thus, the routine task becomes much more entertaining, leading to higher engagement and motivation levels.
3. Make Your Reps Feel Valued
A key driver to motivate your employees is to value them and make sure they know it. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, it was found that feeling valued at work is linked to employee performance and productivity. Half of all employees who do not feel valued at work intend to look for a new job, causing high employee attrition. Thus, here are the top five ways to make sales reps feel valued:
- Include them in the decision making and strategy-making process
- Create opportunities for their professional development and advancement
- Offer adequate and fair monetary compensation
- Non-monetary rewards such as flex-time, mentoring programs, public recognition, time off, discounts, experiential rewards, etc.
- Create flexible work arrangements
4. Share the Big Picture
The key here is to show the reps where exactly do they fit within the big picture. Show them that whatever they do actually affects the success of the company. Have a discussion with each of your teammates regarding your company goals, what strides have been made to reach these goals, and the path available to them through which their contribution will make a great difference in the future. If they don’t have a clear view of development within the company, they will not have any inducement to work harder. Hence, help them set up a path to get there with the broader context of their long-term goals.
5. Offer Incentive Choices
Offering more money, time off or gifts is a great way to give employees a goal to work toward. However, every salesperson is motivated in different ways. One perk or benefit will appeal to the masses, others will be compelled by a different kind of incentive or benefit. Your best bet of getting the right incentive for your team is by giving choices and let them decide on what incentive they’d prefer the most. Research shows organizations that adopt different kinds of incentives have seen 33% more sales reps achieving quota, 23% higher rate of team quota attainment, and 10% greater satisfaction.
6. Recognize the Sales Team Publicly
Do you acknowledge your team for their contributions and celebrate their accomplishments in a way that the whole company can recognize them? If you’ve ever felt underappreciated at work, then you definitely know how crucial recognition is in the workplace. While a huge paycheck is always appreciated, it is observed that a public demonstration of appreciation can be more motivating. To build high morale all year long, here are 8 small but powerful ways to recognize employees:
- Give shout-outs
- Annual recognition with monetary bonuses or trips
- Facilitate social events to commemorate huge achievements
- Give kudos to teammates individually at team meetings
- Take them to lunch/ dinner
- Award “most valuable player” status monthly or quarterly
- Just say thank you!
Closing Word
Always remember that your sales team is a direct link between your company and its customers. Hence, give your sales team better opportunities, share the bigger picture, provide fair incentives and make them feel valued, and you will be surprised at how all these factors prove immensely valuable to your company as a whole and will return invested effort, resources, and money many times over.
In short, do everything in your power to make and keep your salespeople motivated. Be direct and ask them, “What would motivate you?” Be open to their input and try different methods and tactics. You never know what might work for you.
How do you motivate your sales team? What tactics have worked best for you and what haven’t? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
