Sales are the lifeblood of a business as they keep the revenues and profits churning. Not surprisingly, organisations are willing to go the extra mile to keep their sales teams happy and motivated. Besides their skill sets, motivation is a crucial factor that takes these star employees a notch higher with their performance. But devising motivational tactics takes more than offering incentives and appreciation to your employees. You need to think outside the box to encourage people to give their best and improve consistently. Here are some surefire tactics to motivate your sales team.
Trust is the mainstay of motivation. Trusting your team reduces your burden as you can skip micromanagement and focus on growth-critical tasks. But winning the trust of your team members is even more crucial. If the link is missing in the relationship, people are less likely to be inspired by their work. Transparency breeds trust, so be willing to have honest conversations with the employees. Talk about their goals and challenges to keep them engaged and address their concerns.
People tend to work hard and give their best when they feel valued by their employers. Verbal appreciation is a good start, but you need to get more creative with making your sales team feel valued. Offering growth opportunities and compensating them fairly and adequately is crucial. Create flexible work arrangements and encourage involvement in decision-making. Think beyond cash rewards, and incentivise them with time off and opportunities to lead.
The business fails if the sales team fails to do its job properly. Instil accountability by reminding your employees about this truth often. The best way to do it is by setting up a reporting process. You can pick a sales report template with meaningful KPIs and set realistic goals and targets for people. Let the system drive them instead of scaring them to maximise their performance. They can assess themselves against the benchmarks and improve their performance by addressing the gaps.
Although salespeople are inherently competitive, encouraging them to go head-to-head with each other is the last thing managers should do. It does more harm than good because people develop resentment for their colleagues sooner than later. Emphasising collaboration over competition is a better approach as it makes people pursue a common goal. Moreover, they feel motivated to beat the competitors, not each other. You can foster collaboration by rewarding knowledge-sharing, mentoring, and efforts to work together.
Celebrating small wins is another tried and tested strategy to keep the morale up and motivation going. You do not need to throw a party whenever your sales team lands a meeting. But you can surely share a drink and say a word of appreciation for the employees. It encourages them to keep up their performance by working even harder for better results. Also, do not skimp on big celebrations for greater achievements.
Motivating your sales team is crucial as it can boost your revenues and reputation in the long run. Implement these measures sooner than later to set up your business for success.
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