7 Ways to Motivate a Sales Team
Human nature makes all of us want to achieve more: a higher salary, better opportunities, more influence and power. That’s why we can make quite a logical assumption that the most common motivation strategies are connected with income and career. Although they do work in many cases, there are a lot of other ways to motivate and inspire your sales team.
1. Set clear goals and KPIs
When motivating your sales team, keep in mind that they need a clear understanding of the main goals and priorities. Vague OKRs can make your team feel as if they are working hard but not getting anywhere. This leads to stress, anxiety and finally may cause a professional burnout.
We recommend you to set SMART goals. They may become an efficient tool for team motivation and improve the sales process.
Additionally: watch our video on setting sales goals for your team.
Another thing to take into account is personal and team KPIs. Always discuss your team performance altogether and allow sales reps to take part in articulating KPIs for the next period. This way they will take the job more personally and make bigger inputs.
2. Encourage initiative
If you still wonder how to motivate your sales reps, remember: freedom does make a difference. Give your salespeople more freedom of action and you’ll get knocked off your feet with all the creative ideas. Your trust gives employees the possibility to prove themselves and impress you. Thus, you’ll be able to discover new talents in case you underestimated someone before, and bring your sales process to the next level.
One more thing that may encourage your sales reps’ initiative and autonomy is remote work. Modern trends prove that the vast majority of employees prefer to work on their own to hit maximum productivity. So one of the unconventional sales team motivation ideas would be to allow them to work remotely from time to time.
And by the way, speaking of some time off work. A great example is Hasbro. This globally-recognized toy producer at some point decided to introduce a more flexible schedule. Now, every Friday is a half-day and the employees may go home much earlier. Nice move, huh?
3. Give and request feedback
One of the crucial components of any team’s workflow is providing feedback. Yet, you should not only articulate your performance review to your employees. It is also important to ask them for the feedback of your interaction and cooperation as a manager.
Open feedback culture is integral when motivating a sales team. It lets your employees understand their strengths and learn about the skills that require improvement.
A good feedback session includes a review of positive and negative points, support, and recommendations. Yet, it is not an annual thing as you may think. The best option is to do it quite often, let’s say once a fortnight or once a month.
4. Integrate useful tools
We all love working with efficient digital tools that may facilitate our workflow. And sales teams are no exception. Integration of their favorite apps may help you build better relationships with your employees. It will enhance credibility, build trust, and bring joy to your team members.
One of the tools worth consideration is NetHunt – a free Gmail-based CRM. It integrates some G Suite apps, automates data flow, and makes information available anywhere you work. Besides, it is easy to use and doesn’t require any special skills, so your employees may start using it right away.
5. Organize events, games, and competitions
Team building activities are a great way to motivate a sales team and lift their spirits. Arrange some outing in nature or visit an outstanding place as a bonus for a good job. This way your employees will have some rest and get charged with positive energy.
Many companies now offer some fun activities right in the office. The staff may play table tennis, board games, and even PlayStation. Such things may give a boost, inspire, and motivate to work faster and more efficiently.
Another fun way to motivate a sales team is to organize an internal contest among your sales reps. Get them into the competitive spirit encouraging the most productive employees with a bonus or some extra benefits.
6. Reward achievements and positive behavior
Achieving KPIs and showing good results shouldn’t go unnoticed. It is always a good idea to dedicate a part of the budget to monthly bonuses for good performance.
Yet, you shouldn’t only focus on the personal results of your employees. Sometimes, the whole team deserves a reward for doing a great job: closing deals, working under pressure or at short notice.
And most importantly, you should also focus on rewarding positive behavior that you’d like to instill in your sales reps. Encourage them for using a CRM system consistently, performing follow-ups or doing any other day-to-day tasks that you consider worthy.
7. Celebrate your team’s and clients’ success
The power of small victories is impactful. For that reason, recognize all achievements of your employees, no matter how big they are. Closing a deal is as important as generating new leads, so never neglect an opportunity to say a couple of good words to motivate your sales team.
Celebrating your clients’ success is also vital. Thus, your sales process should never end at closing a sale. Get feedback from your customers, ask them to write a review and share these stories with your team. You know, a real spark in the eyes may only appear when you know that you’ve done something valuable and useful.
Post Scriptum
Certainly, there is no exact guarantee that your sales will rise twice or more after you start encouraging your staff. Yet, the result is expected. All you need to do is remain patient and incorporate all of the tips to motivate a sales team mentioned above. Take care of the needs of your personnel and the service provided to clients and you’ll prosper.