7 Ways to Motivate your Sales Team

Nicole Bates | Founder, Conversion Management

Have you ever asked your staff what motivates them? Do you know what drives them to work hard for your business?

Perhaps they are purely financially driven to fuel their love for travel or dining, or perhaps they have a thirst for knowledge and a career goal in mind.

Finding ways to motivate your staff to perform at their very best is paramount to the overall success of your business.

When your staff meet sales budget and individual key performance indicators, there is generally a bonus structure in place, but how do you get your staff to actively move forward to meet business targets?

By taking the time to implement a few key strategies you can motivate your staff to perform at their best.

Visible Reporting

Set a time for weekly sales team meetings. Using your CRM and sales reporting program, pull out weekly reports to see who has converted the most for the week, conversion rates and detail on budget tracking. Acknowledge their success amongst their colleagues, a bit of healthy competition is always good for motivation.

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Reward

This is the elephant in the room option. Motivating your staff using a reward system – money, movie tickets, vouchers or experiences will be a sure fire way to get some traction. A true sales person loves to win and by rewarding them with a prize will usually serve to incentivise them.

Recognise

Week on week, acknowledge your team for their efforts. Keep them updated with business opportunities and wins. Talk through the wins and remember, wins aren’t just a dollar amount, they can include positive feedback, return business or the resolution of a problematic situation.

Educate

Allocate resources to educating your staff. Allowing their professional development to flourish by investing funds to their professional growth. Training should be considered one of the key motivators. When you are investing in the growth of an employee with constant development opportunities, staff will perceive this as being considered by management as a key stakeholder in that business. Budgeting for training should be considered a strategic decision that will ultimately benefit your sales line.

Engage

Ask your team members about their personal growth. Where do they want to take their career? What is their ultimate role and how can you help them achieve this? Set out a career path and meet with them quarterly to discuss.

Environment

Is your office a creative and comfortable space? All too often, sales offices are windowless, dark environments that can leave staff tired and withdrawn. Add some plants, artwork or encourage your team to personalise their desk. Make the space theirs.

Activities

We all have to blow off some steam – especially in the high pressure world of event sales. Initiate a cook off between your team and have some fun with creative cooking. Make sure your staff have a lunch break away from their desk to refresh and revive. These simple things will increase motivation and productivity.

Conclusion:

Gen Y staff are a generation that want more – and this does not necessarily refer to money. The motivation myth of offering bonus or more money doesn’t necessarily give your staff the desired boost they need. More money could just lead to staff wanting even more 6 months later. Sure, it’s an obvious contributor to what takes us to work every day, but it’s not the only reason and it is not some individuals key driver. Do we as business owners and senior managers really want our team to be made up only of people that are incentivised by cold hard cash? By investing in your team, you are showing them your professional support. Loyalty can be the greatest reward to a business.

Guest post by Nicole Bates | Founder, Conversion Management

Nicole Bates​ is Australia’s leading expert in sales and management for the meetings and events industry. Driven by a passion to help make events businesses the best they can be, Nicole founded Conversion Management. Nicole works with her clients to grab hold of their potential, to convert prospects into clients, and to help venues and suppliers transform into profitable powerhouses.