It’s every organization’s dream to have a 100% motivated sales team. Unfortunately, that dream can’t be a practical reality. Sales staffs are subject to extra pressure such as new territories, quotas, and markets changes. Sales managers looking to create a more engaging workplace should recognize the importance of improving the working environment. A recent study has revealed that less than a third of employees in the United States feel highly engaged at their workplace while more than a quarter feel disengaged.
A motivated sales team is critical to your business success. The relationships it builds with clients not only build a foundation for your organization but for your overall reputation and growth as well. There are numerous ways to inspire your sales staff. You may use quota programs accompanied with financial rewards and bonuses. In today’s business environment, sales professionals need more than bonuses and financial rewards. They want to succeed in their career path by climbing up the ladder. Note that not all employees are inspired by the same incentive. Here are some of the effective ways to motivate your sales team.
Gifts and rewards
One of the greatest ways to inspire your sales team is to offer more gifts and rewards for their excellence performance. A recent Aberdeen study found that non-cash gifts and rewards outweigh financial compensations by far. The study found that 31% of top performers would prefer non-cash gifts and rewards than financial rewards. The best way to get the right gifts and rewards for your employees is to let them vote on their most preferred rewards. That gives your sales team a greater sense of involvement, spurring a refreshed sense of enthusiasm. The moment you congratulate your sales staff on their achievements may decide how hard they will work to reach the next quota. A good approach to this is to give gifts and rewards to top performers publicly. You may give gifts such as an original artwork or even personalized travel map. Again, be specific as possible with the details of their achievements.
Increased visibility
You should always keep your sales team current on how well or poor sales are going. In fact, Best-in-Class companies put much emphasis on non-quota sales performance reports. They not only report on sales-to-quota productivity, but also on qualitative goals that determine team members’ efficiency. These qualitative goals include response rates and time efficiency. As a sales manager, open up your sales tracking metrics to everyone and let team members assess their performance. That provides affirmation and praise for top performers and a goal worth pursuing to low performance.
Communication and Training
While being aggressive to your sales team is necessary to establish expectations, it shouldn’t be the only engagement you have with them. Make an effort to recognize even their minor accomplishments. The best way to increase your employees’ engagement is to maintain frequent communication about work-related issues and life outside of work. Sales staffs who attend regular meetings are almost three times more engaged than the ones who don’t participate in meetings. Additionally, you can support them by funding or providing innovative and high-quality training from services like Winning by Design. When employees see you encouraging their growth they will feel more loyal to your company along with delivering better results.
Gamification
Gamification is becoming increasingly important to businesses. It helps transform business models by creating new ways to craft long-term workplace engagement, extend relationships, and drive employee loyalty. Team-centered gamification is the most common among businesses. Gamification usually disperses the pressure to win among team members as a way of encouraging each other to participate. While an employee may individually opt not to participate for fear of failure, they will take part if they are part of a team to avoid disappointing their team members. The role of team-centered gamification is to encourage total team involvement, leading to high productivity.
Sharing success with your sales team
Sharing achievements with your sales staffs get them excited and makes them feel as part of the company’s success. Sharing achievements show your staffs where they fit within the company’s corporate image. That creates a path for employees to make a bigger difference in the future. Employees are likely not to have any incentive to work harder if they can’t see any advancement within the company. Therefore, make it a habit to discuss your overall strategy and strides needed to reach your objectives on a regular basis. That not only reaffirms your team members’ belief that they are making an impact but also rekindles the flame that drives their motivation.
In short, offer your sales team a clear visibility, more engagement with management, gifts and rewards, and opportunities for sharing success. That way you will be astonished at how it will enhance your business productivity.
