These unusual takes on motivation might be just what you need to make your next sales goal
Motivation is a valuable life skill. It’s the reason and driving force behind everything you do, not only in your personal life but in work life as well. This is especially true if you work in a team, where morale and motivation are infectious.
Motivating sales teams is crucial to ensuring success. However, the right motivation goes far beyond engagement and spurs greater productivity and purpose. Here you’ll find seven effective ways to motivate your sales team to unbelievable heights.
1. Share the big picture
The biggest motivation most people have for going to work is being able to pay their bills and support their families. A CEO who shares the company’s big picture with their employees has a chance to instill the same excitement and motivation they have with their team.
Showing your team the company's mission, values, and vision helps them feel your passion and find a deeper value in their work. Suddenly, going to work is about so much more than the paycheck.
2. Show progress
Sales reps benefit from seeing how well they perform against their existing goals. Presenting a view into their progress as both a group and individually can be inspiring when they see how far they’ve come and how much is left ahead.
It’s an even more effective tactic when you add progress in other areas outside sales to the report. Busting through quantitative goals is important to sales numbers too.
3. Talk about setbacks positively
Everyone in sales has a bad week every once in a while. Heck, even a few weeks. It’s important to remember that a few bad weeks are a lot different from a trend of poor performances.
When sales team members struggle to meet quotas, broach the subject quickly before it causes productivity issues. Constructive criticism is hard to give correctly, but it’s even harder to take.
Nip troubles in the bud by pulling aside individual reps or making a group announcement with lots of sales tips, ideas, and suggestions to fix the things you notice going wrong before anything drastic happens to keep morale up.
4. Create healthy competitions
Gamifying sales goals is a fun and effective way to boost sales team motivation. It makes the workplace somewhere to look forward to being. Simple, short-term contests work well to boost motivation.
Contests for everyday tasks, such as the most appointments scheduled, or sales calls made in a day are games that all team members can participate in. They bring teams together in a healthy competition that encourages both office camaraderie and better productivity.
5. Offer Incentives
Incentives, which are different from competitions, are highly effective ways to motivate your sales team. Most CEOs think of money when talking about incentivizing their teams, but there are many other options. The key is to find what things incentivize your team. When someone closes a big deal for your company, giving them a bonus that is in tune with their life and needs is a double win. Bonuses associated with sales milestones work well, but things like extended breaks and extra vacation days are also well received.
6. Know your team
A profitable sales strategy starts with getting to know your sales team, individually and as a team, and how they work best. It’s the most effective way to learn how to boost sales team motivation and what to use as incentives.
Using a generic, across-the-board approach produces a quick fix, but really familiarizing yourself with your team works best for the long run.
7. Keep goals short-term
Setting short-term goals, daily, monthly, and quarterly, make long-term sales goals seem more achievable. Your team can see the successful steps and watch as they get closer to the main goal each day. It’s not only motivating but boosts self-esteem, too.
Excited, motivated salespeople are the most successful. They are the ones people describe as “go-getters” and always seem to make their quota and then some. You are the only one who can build the type of salesforce you need for your business. Knowing how to motivate them will be a part of your sales strategy forever.
Attempting to motivate an entire sales team with one tactic is impossible. Sales leaders, CEOs, and founders must get to know their team so they can lead them in the most efficient way possible. When it comes to motivating others, take the time to figure out what makes them get out of bed every day and come to work. The rest comes naturally.
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Written by
Joe Arioto