How to Motivate Your Sales Team: 6 Management Tips

Does your sales team need a little nudge in order to boost their motivation? I bet they do.

An unmotivated sales team can slowly bring your business to a grinding halt.

Let’s face it, being a salesperson can be quite hectic; phone calls to make, hunting for customers, door to door sales, deadlines to meet, targets to reach… burning out is inevitable!

Having a motivated team is, therefore, essential.

They should wake up every day feeling energized and ready to tackle the day.

Not just because of the paycheck they receive, but for the passion and love of what they do.

So how do you motivate your sales team?

How do you ensure they don’t burn out?

We’ve rounded up 6 ways to motivate your sales team.

1. Provide Them with the Right Tools

You cannot expect your sales team to do their best if they don’t have the right tools. Equipping them with the right tools ensures that you get a return on investment. Some of these tools include:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for streamlined sales processes;

• Tools to organize their conversations, proposals and more
• Video and conferencing software
• Screen sharing tools to ease the sharing of documents with prospects
• Email tracking software to help track how their email campaigns are doing

Integrating all the many sales tools needed makes it easy for them to switch between applications without duplicating information. Integrations allow for an organized team, better collaborations, focus and saving on time. You can integrate your CRM with critical apps like email, marketing automation, customer support, QuickBooks, and document management apps.

2. Build Trust

The sales team must trust that you have their best interest at heart. Have open conversations with them about their goals and challenges. If they don’t trust you as their manager, they will do just the bare minimum.

If they trust you, then they will be engaged, creative, and seek solutions that will streamline sales processes. This will also lead to employee retention.

Things to include:

• Get to know your employees. This will also help you understand their strengths and weaknesses, so you can assign duties and tasks accordingly.
• Find out what the employees think is important. How do they want feedback and how would communication be easier for them?
• Have regular effective communications and ensure employees are always up to date on company performance.
• Allow employees to complete tasks on their own, without butting in, unless it’s completely necessary.
• Respect them.

3. Set Goals

Employees are different. Some are motivated by long-term goals, while others appreciate short term goals. You can have daily, weekly, monthly, and annual goals depending on each task.

The small smarter goals help the sales team build confidence through quick wins. Setting specific goals boosts their motivation.

4. Recognize and Reward

Commissions alone are not enough. Inspire them with varied gifts such as:

• Hosting a lunch or dinner for the winner(s). Celebrating such achievements with the rest of the team will boost their morale and that of the team.
• Present awards and unique gifts like personalized softcover photo books. These meaningful and tangible rewards can create lasting memories and a sense of appreciation.
• Give them an extra off day or two. This will enhance their wellbeing too.
• Take them out for movies or bowling. You can use this time to bond.
• Attend a sports game or hold a match between teammates. It will encourage teamwork.
• Volunteer at a shelter or hold a CSR event.

The rewards must be something that makes the sales rep want to go the extra mile. Employees need to feel appreciated, compensated and satisfied for increased productivity.

5. Involve Everyone

Dismantle the silos. Bring the teams from sales, customer support, and marketing together. Allowing everyone to have a say makes them feel involved, removes hurdles, increases motivation, and increases productivity. The collaboration will also lead to a different approach to problem-solving which results in improvements in sales.

Management has to reduce frequent long meetings, hold cross-departmental training, have accessible meeting rooms and encourage constructive feedback to ensure maximum collaboration.

6. Ensure Your Sales Team Understands and Appreciates the Company Goals

Keep them engaged and focused on the company mission. The more you engage the employees on the mission, the more productive and focused they become.

Make sure they understand what part they play towards achieving this mission. It gives them a sense of purpose that inspires more productivity and loyalty.

A happy employee makes for happy customers. The above actions will lead to employee happiness and satisfaction. These will ultimately lead to an increased return on investment.

How do you motivate your sales team? What are your tips and tricks? Share them with our community below.

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