Conduct Frequent Team Check-Ins
One of the simplest, yet most powerful, things you can do to create a motivational environment is conduct frequent check-ins with your sales team. While part of these check-ins should be asking about progress, leads, and other essential parts of the sales team’s job, the goal is also to check-in with your people as people. Ask them what they need, what ideas they have for maximizing opportunities, what’s working, and what can be improved. Let your people know that these check-ins are a time to discuss ideas, voice concerns, and generally get the sales team and management on the same page. They are not punitive or a type of evaluation – they are so that you are all working together, and so that everyone has what they need to succeed. You can use these check-ins as a time to voice your confidence in your team and pump them up, which is key to motivation. You might conduct weekly check-ins, or schedule them less frequently depending on what your team needs. Ask your sales team how often they’d like to check in, as well as whether they prefer to meet in person or to check-in via phone or conference call.
Train Your Team
Team members who are not properly trained cannot be expected to succeed! Invest time and resources in training your sales team in your organization’s best sales practices. Training should not end with the onboarding process. Offer frequent trainings, whether internal or external, on new sales practices, new technology, and new skills that can help your sales team members maximize their skills and succeed. Create an environment in which people are given continuous opportunities to grow and develop; one in which people are motivated. Because your team sees the organization investing in them through training and skill building, they are likely to be more invested in their roles and in the organization. Find ways to continuously offer new and exciting trainings to keep your sales team engaged.
"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Emulate Best Practices
Emulating the best practices of industry leaders is another key way to motivate your sales team. Look to organizations that have successful, engaged sales teams. What are they doing? How do they motivate their teams? How do they reward them? Spending time reading about these organizations and even asking management within them, can help you hone in on a handful of best practices to implement in your organization.
Some best practices might include:
- Frequent communication
- Personalized rewards
- Recognition of successes
- Incentives for individuals
- Incentives for groups
- Continuous training and development
One Size Does Not Fit All!
Not all people are motivated by the same things, nor are all teams motivated by the same things. It is vital to keep this in mind as you seek to motivate your team. Get to know them, as a team and as individual team members. Talk to them about what motivates them, what their goals are, and what excites them. To properly motivate your team, you will likely need to come up with a variety of strategies. A best practice many organizations use when motivating employees, is to tailor the motivation or reward to the individual – that way you can tap into what motivates them rather than offering a motivation that really doesn’t inspire or excite.
