How to Motivate Sales Staff

A motivated and happy sales team works harder, and strives to win business. If you want to keep your sales staff on form, working hard and more importantly, happy in their role, read on for some of the best ways to motivate your sales staff.

When staff lose passion for their work they become less productive – and passion fades when positivity does too.

Make sure your sales staff are surrounded by positivity, so they can start each campaign with enthusiasm, proactivity and enjoyment. One of the best ways to foster productivity amongst staff is simply to surround them with positive, energetic, team members. But sales professionals often travel, and as of such social outings, and group meetings, can be a good way to get the team together.

These meetings, and meet-ups, can be used to plan objectives and visualise achieving bigger goals – giving staff a chance to discuss and get excited about pursuing targets.

All staff need training in order to do their job properly, if you’re noticing a slump in your sales team, don’t blame the individuals; look at how you can help the whole team. Regular training can help to staff continue to feel relevant, and purposed, in a dynamic, ever-changing industry.

Investing in staff training makes staff feel confident in addressing new challenges. Training also shows your team your faith and belief in them as a valuable asset to your team.

Staff who feel inadequately equipped are less enthused about work, aware of how competition may have a competitive edge due to having the latest tools available. New gadgets and tools motivate staff, both in piquing their curiosity but also in making them feel relevant and competitive; new tools also improve results.

Improving staff efficiency through using better CRM systems, mobile apps, software, computing hardware means they have more time for, and better tools to deal with customers and produce results. These advancements can be hit and miss, but ones which provide meaningful benefits to your staff will motivate them, and see greatly benefit overall business.

Create individual plans by making each employee list three things that inspire them, three things they’d like to achieve, and three reasons why they enjoy their job role.

Individually focusing on employees’ personal qualities will make them feel valued, as well as giving you insight into how better to motivate them.

Consider using a motivational speaker to come and give a talk to your sales team. Motivational speakers are notorious for leaving your team buzzing with energy, excitement and positivity, that they can’t wait to showcase at their next sale.

One of the easiest ways to motivate your sales team is to offer significant financial incentives – but needs to balance sensible finances with justified rewards. 

Capping bonuses is a flawed scheme as once an employee hits their target, they then coast until a new target comes up. By making sure your reward system is linked to the profit the company makes, then the pay only relates to the money they make for the business.

People enjoy different kinds of incentives as a way to feel good about their work.
Here’s some methods:

• Recognise and appreciate your employees efforts – thanks are rarely dished out but give a huge boost, either personally or through cards.
• Showcase top performers! Introduce them to senior management – raise their profile and demonstrate that their work has been recognised.
• In-house competitions, with creative rewards, motivating staff to outperform one another – while having a bit of fun, helping with creating a positive work environment.

There are so many ways to motivate your team and keep spirits up with non-financial rewards and if your business does have the budget, consider an unusual variety of goals and incentives to keep things fresh. Try some of these out and watch your team’s attitude and selling power improve instantly!