A sales organization has sales reps as its lifeblood, and keeping their sales motivation at a high level should be a top priority.
Sales leaders are always looking for ways to motivate their sales reps. An energized sales rep is more efficient at meeting their sales quotas and adding to your company’s bottom line.
Numerous sales motivation techniques can help your sales team find more satisfaction and fulfillment in their work.
While one thing may increase one salesperson’s motivation, another may help a different sales rep. Try to gain an understanding of each team member to know what will work for them.
That being said, here are 7 key sales motivation techniques that can help your sales team to get motivated to sell.
Build Trust to Increase Sales Motivation
The first step that a sales manager should take is to build trust with their sales team. Get to know sales reps as individuals and as an entire team so that you are in the best position to motivate your sales team.
This means that a generalized approach may only sometimes work. You should use targeted, focused motivational methods to affect sales performance.
Observe sales reps and identify specific challenges they are facing or sales goals they want to reach.
The most obvious way to get this understanding is to ask each sale team member what they need to be motivated. This will help the sales professionals see that you are trying to help them individually.
A good sales leader will only check in with their direct reports once. Continual interaction is the best way to gauge how salespeople are doing and gives you more opportunities to boost motivation.
Focus on Activities, Not Results
An important sales motivation technique is emphasizing the activity, not the results. It can be disheartening for a sales rep to put in a lot of time and effort and then see potential customers exit the sales pipeline.
The selling process can break apart through many external factors that sales reps need more control over, like customer budget constraints or redirection of company focus.
You want sales reps to close deals, but when that is the only metric for success, it leads to stress. Make sure your sales team understands that rejection is always part of the sales process.
Encourage sales staff to reach other goals, not simply sales results. For example, can they work to maintain the best ratio of talking to speaking when making a sales call?
Or they can stretch to reach a specific number of pitches rather than a specific amount of sales.
Set the Goal, Not the Manner of Getting There
Another way to motivate individual sales reps is to highlight the end goal rather than the method. Why is this effective?
Some sales reps feel stifled when weighed down by too much managing. They can feel motivated when they are given autonomy in reaching their goals.
This gives sales reps a chance to stretch their skills and can be a great motivator. This is one of the best tips for a self-motivated person, but it should also be used cautiously.
You want the best chance for success for your salespeople, so keep them from losing sight of the goal. It may require check-ins, not daily but at least regularly, to ensure they are still on track.
The feeling of ownership they gain can drive motivation and increase sales.
Create Incentives
Sometimes we need to see the dangling carrot to get us moving forward. Sales team managers can help their salespeople stay motivated by offering great rewards each sales period.
The promise of future rewards may lead to hard work across the team. Going that extra mile seems easy when a nice bonus is attached.
Consider using a variety of incentives since only some offerings will make every sales rep feel inspired. Trips, gift cards, and cash bonuses make for motivational extras and can create real buy-in.
Closely tied to special individual incentives is the thought of team-level perks. Could you spring for gym memberships for the group or an appreciation dinner?
What’s needed to get salespeople to make the next call or start the next sales prospect list?
Generate Healthy Competition Within Sales Teams
A sales team may benefit from the competition. There’s nothing like a sales contest to shake things up.
Top performers may thrive in this environment. Make sure you are using this process to keep the sales team motivated and not fighting with each other.
A toxic work environment will have the opposite effect and lower sales morale and motivation.
So never reward bad behavior. Instead, give rewards for the best customer service or most helpful teammate.
Show Appreciation for Sales Team Members
Sales teams that feel appreciated will continue to show the motivation that leads to success. Motivate your sales team members by letting them know you care about their hard work.
Offer specific compliments to salespeople. Of course, this requires that you pay close attention to their activities to be ready to offer some praise.
Most sales team members appreciate an open-door policy that lets them provide feedback, which leads to transparency and a feeling of security.
Don’t be afraid to say “thank you” when you catch someone exceeding your expectations. Take time to celebrate the small wins.
Avoid Unnecessary Meetings
If the meeting could have been an email, next time, make it one! While a sales team can grow when there is time for camaraderie, there may be better methods for accomplishing this than long sales meetings.
Fewer meetings may be a good strategy to motivate your sales team near the end of a sales period, giving them more time to increase sales instead of increasing their stress.
The key is to reduce unnecessary meetings. There will still be a call for some meetings, like sales training or key stakeholder discussions.
But if there are chances to reduce the number of meetings that require an entire sales team, take them.
Conclusion
Finding the right tools for motivating people can be a challenge. But when you take the time to see the bigger picture and understand what motivates your sales team, you will be in a good position to give them what they need.
Whatever sales motivation techniques you use, try various methods for the best results. These sales tips are designed to work cohesively for the benefit of your sales team.
You’ll soon find more smiles and greater motivation within your sales team when you spend extra time and attention.
