10 Effective Ways To Motivate Your Sales Team
With the right team attitude, you can stay motivated while experiencing dips and ebbs in your sales. Even though things may slow down, ensure that you have a team that keeps moving forward with the same motivation.
Luckily for you, BBC Member, we have prepared a list of 10 effective ways to motivate your sales team. Remember that the first step is completing any of these fantastic courses and the second another important step is to take action even if it’s imperfect action.
The average organization invests $2,020 per salesperson on sales training annually. Seventy percent of those organizations plan to maintain or increase their spending on sales training in the year ahead.
As a team leader, it’s your job to motivate your team when they feel their progress is slower than desired. You must provide them with the resources and tactics needed for success so that they can keep moving forward. Here are tips you can use to motivate your sales team.
Number one, Form a mentoring program
For sales apprentices to learn about the job and further their careers, a mentoring program in which successful and experienced sales leads help new reps better understand the field is practical. Younger salespersons most commonly learn from coaching, but much of that occurs within the framework of a mentoring relationship.
With better mentorship, there is more potential for both the mentor and mentee to benefit. This means relationships should not be made arbitrarily. Some of the more effective mentorships consist of a match where both parties collaborate to maximize benefits.
It is critical to define the following when planning a mentoring program as part of an organization’s overall sales training effort:
- The best date
- Get a better understanding of what should be talked about
- Evaluating mentoring outcomes
- Exit Strategy
A mentoring relationship is typically six to nine months long and includes weekly meetings. At the beginning of each meeting, mentors specify what their goals are for the interaction and their expectations for each other. The end of the relationship typically consists of checking in about what was accomplished and taking any necessary steps before continuing with the next session.
Some sales team leaders are assigned the responsibility of being a mentor, and they are evaluated based on their mentoring activities and accomplishments. When mentoring is done well, the mentee develops his or her knowledge and becomes more effective in their position with the company. The mentor also gains leadership skills that support their career advancement.
Number two, compensate for them well and offer advancements.
One of the biggest motivators for salespeople to reach the results that a sales leader wants them to is to make sure their compensation plan aligns with those results.
Each business has different needs and goals, so the kind of compensation plan that’s successful for one company might be ineffective for another company. For example, a plan geared towards winning more customers might not help a company that already has too many customers. To ensure your sales compensation plan is strategic, take time to think about the overall goal of your company.
With an already struggling economy, adjusting your sales compensation plans appropriately is crucial for a team to make progress toward their goal. Schedule meetings immediately after promising demo results; do not just compensate them for the number of demos they make, but reward their performance on successful meetings.
Make sure that your compensation plan has an accelerator built-in to motivate reps to exceed a specific target goal and break into the next commission tier. Remember not to limit any commissions, so be sure to clearly communicate that to your reps!
Aside from compensation, offer advancement to the sales team who deserves it. As an employer, offering advancement opportunities to your salespeople can help the employees that are inclined to take you up on the offer. These individuals will remain loyal and dedicated to their jobs.
A business’s ability to encourage and use the skills of each employee can motivate them to do their best now.
Number three, don’t micromanage
One sign of micromanagement is that you may find yourself being unproductive because you’re keeping a watchful eye on your business. Jobs are increasing the need for organizations to delegate, but for those benefits to take place, a company needs to constantly monitor its performance and metrics.
Managing too much or micromanaging can be demotivating; it prevents creativity and causes stress. It also makes you too dependent on your own judgment and skills in a given situation and not aware of others’ strengths.
With work becoming more and more complicated, management is another thing. Eventually, your goal should be to hire people with self-motivation, who have a proven track record of selling themselves and working autonomously. This can be one of your criteria when considering remote or self-managed work.
Instead of micromanaging, you’ll want to hold meetings with your sales managers and individual meetings with your salespersons. You’ll also want to give them specific goals so that they know what they need to do and know where you expect them to be. However, you’ll also have to let them work in their own way as well because that’s how they will learn – by doing things on their own.
Autonomy is important for sales teams, who need to feel as if they have the freedom to make their own decisions and carry out their own plans.
Number four, Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Without specific goals to aim for, you will struggle to motivate your employees, as a generic goal of “let’s sell more” won’t lead them to do anything. Specific goals allow you to successfully activate your team and achieve success.
But, What does S.M.A.R.T. stand for?
S for Specific – Identify exactly what you want to achieve.
M for measurable- track progress and report on your progress.
A for Achievable- adopt a goal that your company can realistically achieve with its resources.
R for Relevant- Check your current sales goal against your business objective
T for Time-based- Every sales goal should have a deadline. Without deadlines, your sales team will not act in time to make money on these targets.
Set a monthly or quarterly sales goal. Use your sales professionals to break down the goals and help them reach their expected results by aligning them with the company’s plans.
Number five, Make Work Meaningful
You can be selling widgets or services, but that does not mean you are worthless. They help your customer in some way; by providing them with what they need in some way.
Some online businesses lose sight of what they want their substance to be as they sell widgets and services on a daily basis. This is true not just for the business in question, but also for their sales reps.
It’s up to you to remind your sales team that your product offering has value and meaning. Remember that thinking of selling your product as a commodity can be demotivating and they will work harder if they consider it is solving an important challenge in their customers’ life instead.
You need to keep reaffirming this to your team members. You are not selling an item, instead you are offering a solution with added value and your sales representatives will be motivated to work harder when you do this.
It’s essential to share customer success stories with your salespeople. Salespeople need reassurance that they are making a difference. If a company doesn’t already have a “mission statement,” work with others on your executive team to create one.
Number six, gain respect from the team
If you want your salespeople to respect your authority, you should do the things that make them work hard for you. The top three things sales leaders can do to earn the respect of their team is to demonstrate expertise in their industry, take accountability for every aspect of their business, and focus on customer service. But here are more additional tips on how you can gain respect from your team.
- Be transparent- As a general rule, the more transparency and honesty you have in your business, the better. Unfortunately, some companies only share information on sales if they recognize it as successful. Instead of hiding things from their salespeople because it wasn’t considered a success, these companies could build trust with their own data systems rather than relying on outside sources.
- Be consistent- Your reps should be treated equally to reach their highest potential. When something applies to Sally and Sue, they should both benefit from it. Your salespeople can detect inconsistencies quickly, so you should have a level playing field.
- Ask for their feedback- Don’t ask for feedback then not use it. Feedback is really important and should be used to improve your work culture. Companies who ask for feedback from their employees get better results and stronger engagement from team members.
- Offer help- Help to make them feel secure by acting as back-up support and making it known that they can count on you when they have a woe. If you’re booked solid for demos, consider helping them out by drafting up a proposal for them. Follow-up with a lead that has been hard for them, help to smoothly re-engage, and ensure your work appreciates their trust in you will reap the same rewards. Attaching yourself to your client’s success is most rewarding when others are authentically helpful.
Unsatisfying work environments can lead to anxiety and put a damper on team productivity. Openness to questions and concern will teach your team how to seek solutions and improvement.
Always be a source of support. As you progress through your sales career, you know what it’s like to feel like an outsider, especially if your company is not experienced in sales. Bringing new viewpoints to the table can provide fresh ideas for a team and allow your prospects to feel more confident about buying from you because you won’t turn down their requests for additional resources.
Number seven, Educate your sales team
Education can make important differences to your sales team at work. You can offer training, webinars, and books as tools to help them improve their career. Working with these methods gives you the ability to steer individuals on the right track.
In order to access relevant data, sales representatives need access to your information technology infrastructure. You can give your sales team a one-day workshop (physical and virtual) that teaches them new techniques regarding their work, which will help them produce better results and receive bonuses in return.
A proven strategy is having a 1-on-1 coaching session between the rep and sales manager, reviewing every call or demo with that individual, to identify their strengths and weaknesses each week. Create a “scorecard” which defines your standards of excellence for particular parts of the sales process or skills that you are looking for in your reps and assess their performance based on those standards. Choose one area where potential growth could be seen by the employee monthly, as growth can only come from consistent coaching.
Consider taking your team on a fun trip together when you can feel comfortable doing so because the world is a safer place. Having a positive work environment will help increase productivity.
Number eight, Be Flexible With Your Leadership
To explore the different incentives that direct sales people face there is a need to understand what each of them thinks of success. By understanding each individual’s personal motivation, how they react to different leadership and the types of activities that suit the department best, this will give you a realistic idea of how to pave the way for them to succeed.
If you want this one-on-one program to grow, take the time to chat with your salespeople about their thoughts on what works best for them. Ask them questions such as “How often do you prefer to interact?” or “Do you like praise in front of others or privately?” While these questions may be different for each salesperson, as they progress and learn more about the business, your one-on-one reviews should adapt with them.
If there is a pandemic, or if employees feel more productive from working from home, let them express this preference and have flexibility in their schedules. Surprise your employees by considering your flexibility options, and avoid forcing them to come into the office unnecessarily.
Number nine, Foster Collaboration and ignite creativity
Naturally, salespeople are competitive. However, that does not help when your sales team is competing against each other. You wont notice it often, but your sales team is going against one another, that will eventually lead to reduced motivation if one salesperson is seeing better results than others.
For example, to avoid anyone taking too much precedence over others and getting ahead too easily, foster an environment that emphasizes collaboration with activities and exercises to help your sales team grow together rather than being individuals.
And when they collaborate, try asking your sales team to think outside the box and explore new ideas—rather than being too restricted. A great way to help them is by offering them the opportunity to test, research, and error using techniques like creating a whitepaper or testing different calls-to-action.
Salespeople on your team are the ones most in tune with your tactics and, because of their skills to garner market knowledge, will come up with new ideas based on those tactics. They can also see how the business is doing and any shifts in demand for pricing or marketing strategies. Lastly, when a salesperson is more invested in an idea, that translates into a better chance of going mainstream and seeing success.
Number ten, Show Appreciation
Rather than thanking people with money, let your team know that you value the work they are doing throughout the company. Show appreciation for their hard work by praising them to boost the morale of everyone in the studio. The more co-workers feel appreciated, the more engaged and motivated they’ll be to contribute to a great work environment.
Organizations that have a sales strategy, implement training, and offer opportunities for higher levels of knowledge and advancement will find increased revenue from their salespeople. The less obvious, but substantial, benefits for organizations include the ability to retain talented employees and market to them more effectively.
In recent days, job seekers are looking for opportunities and to make employers look good. Companies that provide sales training with a continuous learning component are considered likable.
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