How to Motivate the Sales Team

Have you ever walked into the office and felt a strong need to turn back home? Unwillingness to spend time at the workplace is a key indicator of low motivation levels. Luckily, there are many ways to overcome this problem, which we’ll discuss later in this article.

Motivation is the driving force behind success. So, if you’d like your sales team to attain long-term success, it’s time to step up your motivating game! First, let’s begin by observing why employee motivation plays a crucial role in determining a company’s success…

Why It’s Important to Motivate Your Sales Team

Research conducted in 2020 informs us that highly motivated employees perform better at work than their lesser motivated counterparts. Furthermore, the same study claims that motivated professionals work better in teams, maintain greater job satisfaction levels, and remain loyal to their workplace heads.

Factors fueling employee motivation include acknowledgment and appreciation of work, occasional rewards, and financial incentives.  

Though the original model concerns hospital employees, the same concept applies to sales teams. As previously noted, motivated workers produce better outputs than neutral or unmotivated ones. When applied to the world of sales and marketing, this implies that motivated performers are more profitable to the company. Hence, they are prized assets – without their hard work, profits would decline, submerging the company into bankruptcy.

As business leaders, we’re all aware that our assets are only worth as much as our investments. This notion applies to sales team members, too – you need to invest in them to generate greater profits.

However, unlike with material assets, employees don’t necessarily require financial investments. Instead, as their leader, you must invest time and energy towards motivating them to work more efficiently.

But how does one successfully motivate their sales team?

Read on to find the answer to this question in the upcoming section…

Sales Team Motivation Strategies

Here are some excellent ways to motivate your sales team:

1. Maintain a Goal Sheet

This will help focus your team, hence streamlining their otherwise scattered efforts at achieving your goals.

Set small goals and ask team members to cross out fulfilled goals in time. Doing so will help employees keep track of their progress and celebrate small achievements.

Acknowledging their own progress will help workers feel motivated. It will give them a sense of purpose and drive to keep up the good work.

Consider diving up your goals list regarding time. You can set simple daily goals for your team, followed by larger ones with one-week deadlines. Breaking up the work can help employees work more efficiently without feeling overwhelmed.

• Give Regular Motivational Talks

Motivational talks can help boost team engagement and result in better-performing employees.

As their leader, you should regularly check in with your sales team and keep tabs on their strengths and weaknesses. Then, when the time rolls around, you can include these points within your speech.

Try to avoid giving cliché speeches riddled with filler content. Such speeches seldom have a true purpose behind them and are often given simply for the sake of saying something smart.

Instead, focus on bringing up points relevant to your company. For example, consider politely addressing team shortcomings. Be sure to provide effective and sustainable solutions to help your team overcome these problem areas. Remember that the key is to show your team that you believe in them, hence motivating them to become better performers.

You should deliver speeches in a way that makes workers feel like they are part of an important cause. Do so by reminding them that the corporation values their individual contributions and that their input, if any, is welcome.

Also, take out time to acknowledge examples where your team has excelled. Feel free to name outstanding performers, too. Doing so will motivate them to keep up the good work. Remember, employee appreciation is key!

• Employ Gamification

Gamification is a process within which a traditional, non-competitive environment is gamified. Gamification includes performing regular tasks as though they are games to be won. As a result, rewards are a staple part of almost all gamification strategies.

‘Sales gamification’ refers to gamification processes operating within the workplace. This type of gamification targets sales teams in particular. According to a report published in 2019, gamification helps boost individual happiness levels. It also improves employee workplace engagement by presenting mundane tasks as fun side quests.

Gamification processes are largely influenced by B. F. Skinner’s work in operant conditioning. In his ‘Skinner’s Box’ project, the award-winning psychologist studied the effect of positive reinforcement on mice. During the experiment, participating mice were rewarded after producing desired behaviors. Conversely, those that failed to do so were not rewarded. Over time, Skinner realized a pattern in the mice’s actions. After gaining awareness of the reward system, more mice began engaging in desired behaviors while abandoning unfavorable ones.

Though it may seem undignified to compare mice to men, there’s no denying that the same concept applies to humans, too. According to another study published in 2021, rewards can help shape employee behavior. This is why gamification encourages the use of rewards. Some even call this process ‘behavior gamification.’

• Cultivate a Healthy Workplace Environment

All its members must work together in harmony for a team to succeed. As the team leader, it’s your responsibility to make sure everyone within the workplace is willing to cooperate.

So, be sure to keep an eye on all your employees and scout for any intrateam rivalries. If you come across tension within your teammates, take steps to resolve the problem. However, do not pin the blame on a single team member when confronting your employees. Instead, encourage both parties to work together to relieve tensions.

Remember, a stress-free, harmonious environment is a productive environment!

You should also try and hold regular conversations with all members of your sales team. This will help both of you get well acquainted with one another. Eventually, you’ll be able to overcome the ‘us’ and ‘them’ gap, resulting in a set of employees that see you as one of their own.

Once this distinction is gone, workers will feel more comfortable approaching you for guidance and help. Knowing that they can share their struggles with a trusted mentor will help employees feel more welcome within the workplace. They may eventually develop a sense of belonging and greater motivation to work harder at their job.

Sales Gamification Strategies

If you’re new to sales gamification but would like to learn more, check out these popular gamification tactics:

1. Leaderboards

Allow sales team members to compete against one another throughout a single sales cycle. Keep track of employee performance with a leaderboard. Whoever has the most successful sales by the end of the term wins a prize!

• Employee of the Month

Acknowledge employee contributions by naming the best performers. The best way is through the ‘employee of the month’ scheme. Be sure to grant winners suitable rewards, too!

• ‘Super Hours’ for Hyper-focused Work

Allow team members to take longer breaks if they promise to focus harder during the rest of the day. Set aside a few ‘super hours’ for intensive work and grant ‘happy hours’ for relaxing. The two should be interchangeable, and employees may cash them in as seen fit.

Final Thoughts

As is evident, there are many brilliant ways to motivate your sales team and boost workplace productivity levels. However, when encouraging your team to work harder, be sure to keep their mental health in mind, too. Avoid pushing employees too far – they should be able to maintain a healthy work-life balance despite being encouraged to perform better at the office.

That being said, gamification is hands-down the most fun and stress-free way to engage employees at work. Try incorporating it into your daily routine – the results may astound you!

References:

How to Motivate Your Sales Team: 9 Tried-and-True Strategies

6 Ways to Motivate Your Sales Team

Gamification, the new way to boost your sales team!

How to Create Sales Gamification Ideas That Inspire Your Sales Teams