The sales team of any company are the cutting edge of the sword, without which there would be no orders and keeping your sales team motivated will never be far from your thoughts. In this short article, we take a closer look at ways that you can boost the morale of your team of salespeople.
- Recognise winners – Nothing motivates a team more than being present when their colleagues receive awards and prizes. Of course, the winners receive a boost in self-esteem, yet those who didn’t make it this month will want to try harder next month and seeing colleagues rewarded is great motivation.
- Arrange team-building activities – Find a company that provides in person team building activities and let the experts design activities that strengthen team bonds. The course provider would issue you with a detailed report on each team member after a post-activity evaluation, so you know each team member’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Developing trust is the key – Trust comes before motivation, so you need your team to feel that they trust your leadership; only then will they go that extra mile. You can hire the services of a provider of team-building activities with the aim of developing trust and with regular sessions, trust is developed over time.
- Goal setting – Goals are typically set weekly or monthly, depending on the nature of the business and you should offer suitable prizes for those who achieve their sales targets. Take care not to set goals too high, as failing to reach them can lower morale; it is a good idea to work with individuals to find out why they did not reach their targets. It might be to do with closing techniques, or perhaps they are not qualifying leads well enough; as you know, there can be many reasons why a prospect is not converted.
- Pay attention to personal motivation – As a manager, you are supposed to motivate your team as a group, but you also need to spend time with individual salespeople in order to motivate them. If someone seems down for any reason, ask if anything is wrong – if you have a good relationship, the employee should open up and hopefully, you can help. Personal issues can affect performance and having someone to talk to can be all that is needed.
- Be a positive role model – Having a manager who is super-positive is definitely a big plus for a sales team; be the type of person who is always happy and focuses on positives rather than negatives. A good manager leads by example and people respect that and respond positively, which is very important with a team of salespeople.
It is a stressful job to manage a large sales force, which is why the override commission is usually very generous and we hope the above tips help you to keep your sales team motivated and hungry for success.