Distracted Team? Motivate Your Sales Department for a High-Efficiency

When it comes to the workplace, plenty of reasons can distract you. Currently, mental stress and doom-scrolling on our phones might be the trends, but retaining focus in the workplace has always been one of the biggest challenges. And being a sales manager or director, you can only influence your team’s sales performance in two dimensions:
 

• The skillset (what they can do)
• Motivation (how frequently or devotedly they do it)

Improving the team’s skill set is mainly an objective procedure. Meanwhile, you have to evaluate current performance metrics; compare them to the set goals, and diagnose the areas of improvement. Especially, in sales, the team cannot consist entirely of stars; they are usually solid performers, comprising smaller groups of laggards and rainmakers. And all these groups are motivated by something different; however, most compensation plans approach them as if they are the same, shows research.
 

Did you know 70% of workers say sales motivation would improve if managers just said thank you more?

Every company can coax better performance from all their salespeople by accounting for those differences in their incentive programs. The key is to treat compensation not as an expense to control but as a portfolio of investments to manage. Moreover, you don’t have to do the extreme to motivate your teams. Be open-minded and empathetic because many external factors affect motivation.

What if the leads they are talking to tell them ‘no’ over and over? Don't you think this might be the wrong time to sell in the market, and maybe something is affecting their ability to sell? So, how can you motivate your sales team, which increases the productivity and positive culture of the organization?

Explore Here the Tactics to Boost the Motivation of Your Sales Team

Use Psychology for Sales Motivation

If you truly want to motivate your sales team, get a comprehensive understanding of what they want. What drives them? What do they value? 

As per the Google study, the highest-performing teams have one thing in common: ‘psychological safety’.

To explain simply - it is a belief that the team won’t be punished/embarrassed when they make mistakes.

A psychologically safe workplace encompasses collaboration as the team is more secure, and they don’t feel embarrassed when they suggest ideas. Thus, focusing more on how team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions. Additionally, you’ll get the best out of them by making them the risk takers, focusing on positive motivation and engagement tactics.

Take help from the well-respected researcher Andrew J. Martin. he created a “Motivation and Engagement Wheel” to showcase positive and negative motivation and engagement. Refer to the wheel below and check where your team members currently fall and what next step you can take.



Encourage Their Individuality

Don’t forget that your team members are individuals, and everyone is different. A leader needs to take a step and understand what motivates them. Some common practices team leaders can follow:
 

• Public recognition - Hosting a party and honoring them
• Private recognition - Boss's respective handshake behind the closed door
• Convenience - Adding an extra rotating vacation day

Keep having one-on-one conversations with agents or send out short surveys frequently to determine what energizes each team member. Find out their career goals and align them with your business targets. You can also personalize your tactics and strengthen your relationship with your team.

Include Autonomy in the Workplace

Give your team flexibility to set their own priorities, schedules, goals, and work habits. A person feels a high sense of ownership when allowed to take/make their own decision, which ultimately motivates them to be more productive. What more does autonomy do in the workplace? It enhances the ability to telecommute, the freedom to set their work hours (as long as the work gets done), and encourages them to meet quotas.

When it comes to dealing with customers, the sales team has to be open during non-business hours or festivals. And in a call center or customer service setting, autonomy may be complicated, but you can incorporate it in other areas. Like, you can follow intrinsic sales motivation techniques that encourage customer service representatives to set their goals and choose their own metrics. It further helps boost the culture where people can make decisions and explore their abilities.

Don’t Just SELL, SELL, SELL!

Your team cannot be all about selling, selling, and selling! You need to add variety to your representative’s days - encourage them in activities apart from sales. Motivate them to structure their time around key sales activities rather than solely focusing on results or achieving numbers. Help them develop habits around activities that will support improving sales results.

Besides this, find new ways to recognize your team, like organizing fun outings - trips to an escape room or a sports game. You have to think outside the box to keep them excited. Encompass communication and collaboration via team activities. It will increase trust, and they will function for the organization's benefit. Also, research has highlighted the benefits of working at higher-trust companies.
 

• Less stress
• More energy at work
• Higher productivity
• More engagement
• Less burnout

Recognize & Celebrate the Wins

It doesn’t matter whether the wins are small or big. Celebrate and recognize their achievements, and make them feel appreciated.

According to a study, 66% of employees say they would quit if they felt underappreciated. It should not always be about reaching quotas.

Celebrate wins and achievements with small gestures like:-
 

• You can give a bottle of champagne for achieving the quotas.
• Tie a gold balloon to their office desk or chair (so it will be noticeable).
• Ring a bell to indicate an agent has achieved their goal.
• For virtual teams, creating a #kudos channel is another way for agents to acknowledge each other’s wins.

Remember, a hike in compensation will always be a priority, but it can’t be a fix-all. You have to motivate your sales team with:-
 

• Work/life balance
• Care packages
• Saying thank you
• Spending time with the team

Motivate & Get a High-performance Sales Team

The ultimate goal of every organization is finding out the things that make your sales team willing to go the extra mile. Keep a watchful eye on the numbers and salespeople’s physical well-being. Motivate your team with a set of goals and use CRM dashboard metrics to monitor the objectives. Your business can avoid creating a culture of anxiety and inspection over the metrics.

Furthermore, people are motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Whenever they are put in a situation where they have control over their circumstances, they will always have a chance to excel at their tasks. They will find a larger unifying purpose, causing sales to flourish.