If your sales team has lost its drive, use these tips to help team members find their motivation again
Has your sales team lost the fire in its belly? Have team members stopped performing to their true potential? A demotivated sales team can be devastating to your numbers, but here’s the good news – the team was motivated once and it can be motivated again.
A quick note about demotivation: Demotivation refers to someone who was motivated in the past but isn’t right now. In contrast, an unmotivated team simply lacks motivation. It’s not clear if they had it in the first place or not.
Sales teams go through slumps. If your sales team is in a rut, you can get it out. You just need to figure out why the team lost its motivation and find ways to build it back up. Check out these tips.
1. Set the right goals
Without goals, your sales team doesn’t have a clear direction. Goals show your team what it needs to do. They help your team measure progress. But they also play a strong role in motivation.
If the goals are unattainable, your salespeople will feel unmotivated. After all, they’ll never reach those goals so why should they even try? That’s the attitude that prevails when goals are too tough. On the other hand, if the goals are too easy, salespeople know that they can slack off and still reach their quotas.
When setting goals, look for the right balance between challenge and ease. Rather than just looking at sales numbers or revenue, get more granular. Think about customer retention rates, profit margins, number of cold calls, reviving cold leads, deal size, or customer acquisition costs. Then, have regular meetings with the whole team as well as each team member individually. When your team knows it needs to be accountable to reaching the goals, people tend to work harder and be more motivated.
2. Find out what motivates your salespeople
Every salesperson has different motivations; if you want to be an effective leader, you need to understand what motivates your team. Here’s a hint: It’s often more than money. Of course, your salespeople want a great salary and competitive commission. But when dealing with a demotivated crew, you need to look beyond that basic metric.
Some people want recognition and praise. They work harder when they know that they’re going to please the leadership team. Others thrive when they have a lot of freedom and respect. They want the room to pursue their sales goals in their own way. Others are driven by safety and security. They want to know that if they work hard, their salary and benefits will make their lives more comfortable outside of work.
These are just a few of the elements that motivate people. To tap into your sales team’s full potential, you need to figure out what motivates each individual member. Pay attention to the tasks or interactions that seem to make each person soar. Talk with them about their personal lives to get insights into their motivations.
Then, leverage what inspires your team members to make them work harder. You can’t necessarily force your sales team to make more calls, give compelling presentations, or deliver stronger rebuttals. But if you find out what motivates people, you can put that carrot on a stick and they will work harder to pursue it.
3. Provide positive reinforcement
When employees aren’t performing up to par, it’s easy to get down on them. This is especially true when the team used to be motivated so you know that it can do better. In this situation, it’s tempting to focus on your team’s flaws, but if you’re only giving negative reinforcement, the situation will get worse.
Don’t just point out what the team has been doing wrong. Instead, identify what has been going right and give employees positive reinforcement. People tend to work harder when they know that they’ve got a champion in their corner. If they know they’re just going to be lambasted for their mistakes, they’ll often shrink away from the challenges.
4. Coach your team
Focusing on positive reinforcement doesn’t mean that you should completely ignore your team’s mistakes. It just means that instead of providing negative reinforcement, you need to offer constructive criticism and coaching.
Coaching is a specific type of leadership style that focuses on motivation, and whether you’re in business or at the gym, it builds intrinsic motivation. With coaching, you don’t just give people instructions and expect them to hop to it. Instead, you develop a partnership with them. You care about their progress, and you help them develop their skills.
Constructive criticism is part of this process. With this leadership style, you don’t shy away from offering critiques, but you don’t just point out what someone did wrong. Instead, you talk about their weaknesses in a way that helps them strengthen their sales skills.
Criticism on its own breaks people down. They lose confidence. They don't want to keep trying. In contrast, constructive criticism (keyword: constructive) builds people up. It shows them how to optimize their talents. It makes them want to try harder and improve.
5. Offer more training
Training should never be a onetime thing for your sales team. It needs to be constant. Make sure that team members understand what they’re selling and why it’s valuable to sales prospects. Refresh the team’s training every time you update a product or service, or change costs. Also, provide adequate training around sales tools and technology.
When people are well trained, they’re more confident. When they lack training, they’re confused. People won’t want to pitch prospects something they can’t understand. If you want your team members to be motivated, you need to ensure they have the right skills when they jump on the phone or go out into the field.
Reinvigorate your team and find success
Don’t let a demotivated team hurt your organization’s success. Instead, find ways to make work enjoyable again. Schedule meetings to set goals and reward your team members in a way that speaks to their unique motivations. Provide positive reinforcement, embrace coaching as a leadership style, and make sure you offer a lot of training. When you combine these strategies, your team will regain its motivation and start posting the numbers you want to see.
At MetaGrowth, we understand how to build, train, and motivate sales teams. We can help you get the most from your sales team, whether you’re building a team from scratch or remotivating a team that’s lost its spunk. Ready to watch your sales team soar? Then let’s talk! Contact MetaGrowth today to see how we can help you and your team.
Written by
Joe Arioto