In direct contact with clients and prospects, sales teams are the pillars of many businesses. It is therefore crucial to know how to constantly motivate your sales staff in order to develop your business.
Without high-performing employees, your whole company may face difficulties. Here are five tips on how to motivate a sales team.
Identify personal motivations
Each person has their own driving force and personal motivations. To encourage your employees to achieve their objectives, you must identify what motivates each of your team members.
This analysis would subsequently enable you to focus on the added value and impact your employees could make to each of your sales campaigns.
For example, if a member of your staff is a born competitor, he is only interested in success. Therefore, if you spur him to strive for first place on the podium, he will do his utmost to meet his performance targets.
If he is aware of the gap between his own results and those of the person who is (temporarily) in first position, you will motivate your employee to plan ahead and reach his target.
Adapt your bonuses and rewards
Now that you are aware of your employees’ underlying motivations, you must take these into account when working out the types of challenges and incentives you will implement.
By boosting sales via high-potential sales initiatives, you will create a buzz for your staff. No longer just “simple” sales representatives, they will be able to fulfil themselves professionally. It is therefore essential to choose your bonuses and rewards carefully.
Indeed, if you have discovered that the majority of your employees prefer financial rewards, it is more appropriate to drive and motivate them with merit payments rather than with trips or other high-tech products.
The best way to motivate your employees is by adapting to them.
To motivate your staff, develop their competitive spirit
It is not unusual to notice a touch of rivalry or even a rather exacerbated competitive spirit emerge within your sales team. Don’t hesitate to capitalize on this to motivate your employees!
Employees have always been compared to one another. If employees see their colleagues earn more recognition than themselves, it can hurt their pride and push them to achieve greater results.
Be careful, however, to maintain a “healthy” competitive spirit that will drive all your staff in the right direction, and not to foster intense rivalry which could harm your company.
Capitalize on the “group effect” to motivate your sales team
The group effect is intrinsic to a sales team. Indeed, it is quite common to see one person become the driving force which sets the wheels in motion, inspiring the rest of the team to keep pace and follow the leader.
You must therefore identify your natural leaders; for example, those who are capable of motivating your sales staff and who will get the message across effortlessly and take on a “coaching” role.
Use team spirit to motivate your employees
To motivate your team, remember to use team spirit and teambuilding to bring out the best in each employee. By working on team incentives, your employees will be encouraged to help each other and this will promote teamwork. The “top dogs” will be able to guide the younger members of staff or those who are struggling to meet their sales objectives, by giving them tips and advice to help them reach their targets. It will no longer be seen as an individual victory but a collective one where everyone participates and is duly rewarded.
Discovering how to motivate your sales team and your employees is a challenge for all businessmen and company managers. However, it is possible to achieve this provided you have the right tools.
