Top 6 Ideas For Motivating Salespeople in 2024
If you’re the head of the sales department in the company you work for, there are really 2 things that you could do to improve your staff’s sales performance – you can focus on improving their skills and knowledge about the industry and you could also ensure that they’re motivated and passionate about what they do.
Enhancing their skills is relatively easy since you’ll need to evaluate their past and present work, compare it to an example of a prosperous outcome, and then determine what you may have to improve. However, motivation is so much harder to achieve, especially since there is a wide range of internal and external factors that can affect it.
This is why you might be wondering – what can I do in order to improve the motivation of salespeople? Fortunately for all individuals that are looking for an answer to this question, this article might shed some light on the entire topic. Let’s take a closer look at what you could do:
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Trust is The Key
Before you look at the rest of this list, it’s important that you understand that trust is the key to having a motivated staff. If your staff members don’t trust you, it’ll be extremely hard for them to be motivated and encouraged to do their best. When salespeople are uninspired, you won’t be capable of encouraging them except if you openly talk about all the objectives and obstacles.
This is why you have to ensure that you create trust between you and your employees and then do everything that you could to maintain that relationship by communicating with your department consistently and honestly. You should remember that being honest is the key, meaning that simply discussing some problems can be perfect for building trust.
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Ask Them How They Want to Be Managed
Similar to how your staff members need to use different approaches when talking to their customers, you have to learn how to adjust to your employees, especially since this is something that will allow you to get the best possible outcomes out of your sales department. Hence, you’ll have to ask them a few questions before you can determine what you need to do.
For example, you could ask them how many times do they want to meet during one week or month, how do they wish to receive feedback, whether or not they prefer individual or pubic compliments for their work. Additionally, you’ll want to let them know that they could tell you anything – even when you’re getting on their nerves.
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Understand All The Goals
You cannot inspire someone until you understand what pushes them to be better, hence, you’ll have to understand both their individual and corporate objectives. This won’t only allow you to learn what type of people they are, but, it’ll help you understand how you could motivate the salespeople working in your company.
For example, if some of the employees tell you that they feel motivated when they get a bonus, you could use various online platforms such as Level 6 Incentives for motivating them or if they tell you that they like being publicly acknowledged and praised for their performance, you could choose to display their achievements on a digital sign in your office space.
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Work With Them on Setting Goals For The Department
It won’t really motivate your team if you choose to set goals for them by yourself, which is why you need to ensure that you set all the goals with them. You could work on setting three separate goals – daily, weekly, and monthly. Daily aims are short-term and they should be interesting and easy.
The weekly category is a bit more complex and should have a larger impact on your overall business. Keep in mind, since the goal will be a bit more daunting to achieve, you should include a prize in the end. When it comes to the monthly aims, they’re the biggest of the three and your staff members should get a high-value prize when they reach the goal.
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Know What The Problem is
There are 2 motivation categories that you’ll have to handle – personal and group motivation. So, before you ask yourself how you could motivate them, you should first figure out how many individuals look completely unfocused and uninspired. If you learn that there are one or two people feeling like this, you’ll know what you must do to encourage them again.
On the other hand, if you learn that there are more than four people, there is a much deeper problem with the entire team. Hence, you’ll want to schedule a meeting with all of them, ask about the underlying issue, and then talk with them in order to find a solution that will suit all of them.
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The Rewards Should Be Much More Than Cash Bonuses
The prizes need to be much more than cash bonuses, after all, you’ll give them an incentive, they’ll spend it, and that’s it. This is why you should ensure that the rewards are inspiring and fun. For example, you could pay for their lunch, take every member out for a fun activity, organize a BBQ party, or you could even choose to take everyone out for movies.
Finding something truly fun is the most important thing, especially since it’ll allow them to relax, but more importantly, you’ll have time to learn more about the people you’re working with, all of which can help you understand them better, as well as learn what kind of people they are.
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Conclusion
A lot of sales department managers often feel like motivating their team is the most daunting and complex task. However, if you choose the right approach, if you’re completely transparent with the salespeople in your organization, and if you implement great reward systems, you’ll be able to inspire your staff members easily and efficiently.
So, now that you’re aware of all the things you could do, you really shouldn’t waste any more of your time – after all, in your world, time does really equal money. Instead, you should go through this article one more time and determine which strategy you might need to take in order to motivate your staff.
