How to Motivate Your Sales Team
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You’re a great sales rep, so what does your company do? They promote you to head the department.
Or maybe you were just hired to lead a team you’ve never worked with before.
Now what do you do?
1. Keep in mind that what motivates you might not motivate others. Yes, you’re a great sales person or you wouldn’t have your current position. What works for you, though, might sabotage someone else.
2. Realize that their motivation might not be just about the money (just as yours might not be). It’s easier if it is since there’s a direct relationship between performing well in sales and money. Nonetheless, it’s rarely that straightforward.
3. Meet with the members of your team individually to figure out what does motivate them. Sometimes you’ll learn surprising things one-on-one that you wouldn’t learn at a group meeting. If your top rep is about to get divorced, for example, you might not find that out in the group, but you might when meeting alone.
When meeting with your team individually, find if prestige is important to them, and whether that means internal prestige or external prestige. Will internal weekly competitions benefit their performance? Or will a longer-term motivator like being nominated for an industry reward be effective?
Do they want little perks, like better coffee? Free lunches? Company parties? Flexible hours (if your industry customs and hours will allow that)? What will make them look forward to coming in and doing their best each day?
4. As time with your team passes be sure to reevaluate what motivates them, especially if their performance changes. What motivated them last year might not work this year.
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5. Give them a chance to evaluate your performance. An anonymous evaluation will allow you to find out what you’re doing that’s negatively influencing their performance. Confident you’re perfect? You can look forward to the glowing reviews and compliments! But in case you’re doing something counterproductive, you’ll find out and be able to fix it.
Are you in charge of a team? How do you motivate them? Please leave your comment below, and be sure to sign up to receive a free weekly newsletter and a free report (form is at the top of this article).