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How to motivate your sales team
There is a direct correlation between the motivation of your sales team and their performance. It is important to develop strategies to motivate your sales team to increase the performance of your company. It’s simple – the more motivated your salespeople are, the more sales your company will have.
However, motivating a sales team can be a difficult task in modern businesses. Business owners and sales managers need a comprehensive strategy that leverages the power of psychology to motivate your sales reps to succeed while giving them access to the tools and resources necessary to do so.
Here are some tried and tested strategies that you need to implement within your organization to amp up the levels of motivation within your sales team.
MOTIVATION STRATEGIES FOR SALES EXCELLENCE
1. Establish trust with your sales team
Trust may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about motivation, but it may be the most important factor. Trust lays down the foundation for motivation and your sales team is no exception to it. In the absence of trust, two way communication between you and your sales reps cannot be established.
If your sales team doesn’t believe that their best interest is considered, they won’t be motivated to make sales for you. In order to motivate someone, they must be open about goals and concerns that they have, which won’t happen if trust has not been established. Being honest and straightforward with the members of your sales team will grow the trust.
So, how do you go about establishing trust within your team?
Create a culture of transparency. Foster two-way communication within the organization. Focus on being a leader rather than a boss and actively seek feedback from your team. Instead of simply telling your team that you trust them, show it to them through your actions too,
When your sales reps believe that you have their best interests at heart, they will be intrinsically compelled to succeed and motivated to give their 100 percent.
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2. Determine how to manage individuals effectively
Everybody is different, and thrives within their own environment based on their personality. Because of this, not every salesperson should be managed the same way. Have a conversation with each individual salesperson and find out their preferences. There is no one-size fit all approach when managing a sales team and customization is the way forward when trying to achieve sales team motivation.
One-on-one communication is crucial for a high functioning and highly effective sales team. Engage with your sales reps on an individual level to uncover what works for them. Cater your strategy as per their individual needs and requirements. Be upfront and ask them what they need from you. What is the level of supervision and interactions they are comfortable with? Direct questions are an effective strategy going forward.
By tailoring the way you manage your sales team to the preferences of individuals, they will be more satisfied and you’ll get the most out of them. Not only that, but being responsive to the preferences of your salespeople will solidify the trust they have in you as a manager.
3. Identify the individual motivators
The members of your sales team may have different motivations. While someone may thrive on monetary returns, others need rewards and recognition to stay motivated. Some sales reps are intrinsically motivated while others need extrinsic motivators to keep them going.
It is important to identify what drives the individuals within your sales team and draft incentives that are designed to elicit performance. When building a sales team, drafting compensation plans that factor in the individual motivators is a great way of building a high performing and highly motivated sales team within your company.
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4. Implement performance-based incentives
Performance based incentive work. They help to motivate individuals; especially sales professionals. There is a theory that they only work for the short-term, however, this isn’t always the case.
Performance based incentives don’t work for people who are just looking to coast. However, they’re highly effective for people who are hungry and already highly motivated. People who are hungry for sales actually lose their edge when their hunger isn’t rewarded. Planning a sales compensation structure that keeps your sales reps motivated to give every deal their best shot is something you need to be mindful about.
5. Provide regular and useful sales meetings
The keyword here is useful. Sales meetings intended to micromanage and justify your position are useless. Having meetings where people collaborate with enthusiasm, share progress and ideas are highly useful and can serve as a reminder and re-energizer to a tired sales team.
Use the team meeting as an avenue to recognize and reward the high performers. This not only fuels up the reps who achieved the goals but also act as a vital motivation booster for other team members to perform and excel as well.
Sales meetings should serve as a platform where you and your sales team set concrete goals. These goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time bound). Instead of micromanaging your team and dictating your terms on how you want your team to achieve the set goals, let the goals be the destination and let your team decide how they want to achieve the goals.
Team Assessment
We use a combination of Kolbe and PRINT® assessments to identify every team member’s strengths and motivators and even illuminate bad-fit placements amongst leadership and salespeople.
6. Be a leader, a coach, and a cheerleader for your sales team
Sales teams want a positive leader, who will motivate and provide positive reinforcement. If the team leader does nothing but criticize, micromanage and belittle then the salesperson is sure to lose their motivation fairly quickly.
Rather than being a boss, try and be a leader to your sales team. Walk the talk and motivate your team through actions rather than words.
Be a coach when your team needs you and help them navigate through the tricky spots. Celebrate their wins and be their biggest cheerleader. Blur the lines of hierarchy within the team and give them the autonomy they need. Sales reps that have a sense of ownership of the results are the most driven to succeed.
7. Provide opportunities for professional development
Continuous training gives 50 percent higher net sales per employee. Providing learning and development opportunities to your sales team allows them to learn about the latest techniques and network with other like-minded professionals. It can serve as a catalyst for real inspiration when you connect with people who inspire and energize you!
By understanding what the sales reps need and proactively working towards providing it to them, you can unlock the true potential of your sales team, keep them motivated to close more deals and bring greater revenue for your business.
Boost your sales performance with Rose Garden
We help your sales leader and sales manager close deals faster and at a higher rate. Rose Garden is solutions-focused, so if you want me and my team to ignite your revenue growth, we will do so with our Sales Accelerator Process and Team Assessment.
Startups and SMEs must stay up-to-date and ahead of the competition in today’s ever-evolving sales landscape. We provide Founders and CEOs with hands-on coaching, tools, and support to create systems & strategies to scale their sales teams.Â
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About the author:
Ali Mirza is the Founder & CEO of Rose Garden, a national sales consulting organization, and featured in Forbes, Inc, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, Business Rockstars, and The Wall Street Journal.
Ali is a highly sought-after public speaker presenting at multiple national conferences on innovative ways to accomplish transformational growth on your sales team.
Rose Garden provides unparalleled support and guidance to growth-minded founders via sales strategy differentiation, world-class sales culture creation, and exclusive playbooks, processes, and scripts to position them for limitless growth.
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