How to Keep Your Sales Team Motivated

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Editor’s note: The following is a guest post from Ellen De Beul, a digital marketer at PieSync with a passion for storytelling. PieSync provides a two-way contact sync between the most popular business tools, keeping teams informed and productive.

Your team is the fuel, engine, and driver behind your company’s success. Needless to say, they are your most important asset.

And let’s face it, working in sales is not easy. You need to be a good listener, empathetic, competitive, and resilient. So once you’ve found the right people, how do you keep them motivated? How do you make sure they want to create a thriving future for your company?

It all starts with creating a good company culture. All work and no play can deflate even the most talented sales professionals.

Here are some interesting and fun ideas that you can implement today (or at least in the next 30 days) to make sure your team loves working for you.

Show appreciation

Your team wants to feel valued. It’s a universal desire. Being valued and appreciated reinforces a positive sense of self-worth. Appreciation breeds happiness and satisfaction among employees.

There are a couple of ways to show your appreciation without raising everyone’s paycheck (although, keep in mind, being underpaid never motivated anyone).

The easiest way? Just say “thank you” more often. These two words can make someone’s day. It shows that you noticed the effort someone put in.

Also, try to celebrate team successes together. Did you land a big contract? Reach a target ahead of schedule? An after-work happy hour to celebrate will strengthen the spirit and give you the chance to praise the team’s efforts.

As a personal anecdote, PieSync used to have a bell that we’d ring when a rep closed a big deal. Was it cliché? Yes. Did it make everyone excited about new business? Definitely.

Work with incentives

In addition to outward celebrations, incentives are a great way to give people that extra push they need to close the deal. While bonus compensation is a common practice in sales, incentives don’t always need to be monetary.

You could let your team earn “points” by gathering more knowledge of your products or partners. It will help them become experts in their field, which again translates to better sales.

With these points, they can purchase items from a “company store.” Maybe a pair of noise-canceling headphones? A bicycle kit with some fun gadgets? A team lunch? Maybe a team offsite is in order for when everyone reaches their target.

Need to get some boring stuff done? Like cleaning out your contact’s lists? Consider setting daily or weekly targets for those tasks. If your reps meet their targets, reward them by bringing breakfast for everybody the following Monday.

Another great way to incentivize is by giving a purpose to their work beyond making a profit. Share your charity or eco-friendly initiatives with your sales team, let them know there’s more to their hard work than increasing the bottom line.

Use technology to your advantage

Without the right tools, great sales professionals can’t reach their full potential. Slow WiFi, dated laptops, and glitchy software are universally despised. Investing in up-to-date technologies will lead to more profit in the long run.

Cloud applications are a great way to automate your business processes and make your reps’ lives easier and more productive. With the Aircall mobile app and integration, your sales reps will have all their contacts on the go. All their call data will be automatically stored in your CRM, saving time and avoiding errors.

You can also use a third-party integration, such as PieSync, to sync your contact’s information to and from your marketing automation platform, letting it trigger a call reminder when your lead clicked a call to action.

Using the latest technology gives your sales team a competitive advantage. And it’s also good for the company’s image.

Organize regular training

Give your team members the chance to expand their skills. By providing training, you ensure your sales reps stay on top of the latest trends. Your team could benefit from courses in:

• Presentation skills

• Negotiation and persuasion

• Spreadsheet hacks

• Email copywriting

• Analytics

• etc.

If you don’t have the resources, there’s no need for this training to be in-house. Give every employee a training budget to spend on business-related courses. You can find great online courses on Udemy for example. There will be something for everyone’s budget.

Do you have a big team? A lot of specialized agencies offer custom workshops for your sales reps based on your industry and target audience.

Ask your team for feedback

Don’t guess what your employees want, ask them. Send out regular and anonymous questionnaires to see what you’re doing well and where you could improve. Are your employees happy? What are their top concerns? Do they still see themselves working for you in 3 years?

Don’t forget to share the results with your team. Talk openly about issues and work together toward a solution. Open company communication builds trust. And a company you trust is a company you’d be happy to work for.

There are some great free tools on the market you can use. SurveyMonkey has a basic free plan to do small questionnaires. But if you have a small team, Google Forms might also be an option.

Encourage autonomy

A salesperson should never have to wait to be told what to do. By giving your employees the trust to work independently, you are encouraging them to get more involved.

A sense of ownership is directly related to motivation. Letting employees set their own schedules, priorities, and metrics is an effective strategy. Telecommuting can also be a motivating factor. Persistent observation hurts some employees just as it helps others.

Motivation multiplies

Having a stable and talented team is something to be proud of. It’s the key to success for any business.

By keeping your team motivated, you not only hold on to your most valuable assets you create ambassadors and advocates for your brand. This gives your all-star team a chance to grow even larger.

Published on December 11, 2018.