It goes without saying that motivated sales personnel love their jobs more and perform better, which leads to a healthier bottom line.
However, it is not possible to achieve this by cracking jokes all day and expecting a good level of morale.
While happiness at work can be difficult to achieve, there are a number of practical things we can do to help.
RisePath lists down 19 strategies to keep your salespeople motivated and satisfied.
1. Prioritize critical sales activities over outcomes.
Focusing solely on sales results can be difficult, especially since you can influence but never control results as a salesperson or sales manager.
Your activities are the inputs that have the greatest positive impact on reaching your objectives.
For example, you can choose whether or not to make a sales call, as well as how much you talk versus how much you listen during that conversation, but the prospect’s decision to buy or say goodbye is entirely up to him.
Sales Motivation Tip: Encourage your sales team to organise their schedules around essential sales actions to keep them motivated. Concentrate on the means, and the results will follow.
2. Public expressions of gratitude
Whether you feel appreciated for your work is an important driver of workplace happiness.
Any organisational plan to boost motivation at work must include appreciation.
Sales Advice: Here are a few short ideas to show your salespeople that you care:
- Celebrate all of life’s milestones, not just the big ones.
- Compliments should be specific.
- Tell employees you trust them, then back up your words by demonstrating to them you do.
- Encourage transparency and openness by having an open door policy.
- “Thank you,” say the words that everyone wants to hear.
- Have an “appreciation day” every month for a remarkable employee who doesn’t necessarily have the best sales that month.
- Consider giving “appreciation rewards.”
3. Choose a destination rather than a route.
While we all enjoy the sensation of ownership, it’s critical to offer employees control over their projects.
One method to do this is to give your salesmen a “destination” (the goal itself) but trust them to “discover the path” to get there (to decide what work needs to be done to achieve the goal).
4. Make the distinction between boss and employee less clear.
Employee happiness is enhanced by a sense of ownership, hence executives are advised to share.
Specifically, anytime a new project occurs, it should be assigned to a new team leader (rather than the manager). Giving each team member a turn behind the wheel fosters a sense of ownership and unity.
Sales Motivation Tip: As a sales team manager, what responsibilities can you delegate? Another way to think about it is: What tasks can you delegate so that your team members can grow?
5. If efficiency isn’t tied to significance, question it.
Businesses often strive for efficiency that, on the surface, should make workers more productive.
However, such routinization and division of labour have an unintended human cost: employees are less satisfied with their employment. It’s an often-overlooked trade-off: efficiency goals — and, eventually, higher profitability — come at the expense of employee happiness.
Sales Motivation Tip: Be on the lookout for boring, routine tasks. If you find it, make it as significant, demanding, and interesting as possible.
6. Independence
Some people are just unaware that they already have a lot of liberty in their professions. What you should do in that case is both simple and brilliant:
Remind staff of their current level of autonomy.
Sales Motivation Tip: What liberties are your salespeople ignoring?
7. Interdependence
Medicare began utilising patient satisfaction survey results to determine how much money to pay hospitals. Although this adjustment improved the patient experience, it also resulted in alterations that did not make nurses happy.
A survey on how happy caregivers create a happier patient environment, speaks volumes about the importance of happiness and how we shouldn’t just stress one group’s happiness while ignoring the happiness of another.
It was discovered that 60% of workers are happier at work when they see others pleased.
Sales Motivation Tip: Your sales team should not exclusively focus on the satisfaction of your clients. Keep in mind that if your team focuses on each other’s satisfaction, the client experience will improve. Happiness “brushes off” on others.
8. Go overboard
Why does over-delivering make me more joyful and productive?
Here’s some advice on how to over-deliver. Instead of giving people what they anticipate, offer them what they deserve.
Sales Motivation Tip: Do you ever feel like we live in a society where you have to take anything you can get? If that’s the case, try turning it around and giving what you can.
9. Honesty and transparency
Transparency and honesty affect happiness. Although some employees may disagree with the decision or policy, if management explains why it was made, employees are more likely to accept and respect it.
Sales Motivation Tip: Have you recently made significant changes to the way you handle sales? If yes, did you gain buy-in from your team as well as a sense that they understood why the move was made?
10. Traditional “happiness therapies,” such as chocolate…
In recent studies, a research team called chocolate and clips from a comedy movie “happiness interventions” and “short-run happiness shocks.” These studies were carried out by researchers to see if they could “induce happiness” in their patients. They discovered a relationship between pleasure and performance in humans. Indeed, they found that happy workers are around 12% more productive than the norm.
Sales Motivation Tip: We wouldn’t use these findings to justify stocking your workplace kitchen with Hershey’s Kisses and M&Ms, or allowing your employees to watch YouTube for an hour every morning at work. However, if it is for a better cause…
11. Please show me the cash.
Can you purchase happiness with money?
While many workplace experts tout non-financial incentives as critical to employee pleasure, a consistent income motivates a huge number of employees.
Compensation is the No. 1 aspect that motivates — and makes people happy — according to three recent surveys.
12. Show me the advantages
However, it’s not all about the money.
Even if your salesmen are making six figures, there will be times in their careers when nothing matters more than the advantages your firm offers, such as wellness programmes, vacation time, nutrition counselling, child care assistance, vision insurance, and employee discounts.
Employees who are content with their perks are twice as likely to be satisfied with their work.
Sales Motivation Tip: What perks do you provide your sales team that aren’t available on the market?
13. Forget about money and benefits; just thank me.
Pay and benefits may not be the be-all and end-all.
How you treat employees on a regular basis — such as positive workplace encounters — has a crucial influence on their satisfaction.
Saying “thank you” and articulating why you’re appreciative can help improve employee opinions of the workplace.
Sales Motivation Tip: Gratitude as a happiness elixir appears to be self-evident. Yet, how many of us are adequately compensated for our efforts? On the other hand, how many of us adequately thank others for their efforts?
14. More breaks and fewer meetings
Yes, it’s true – certain meetings are simply a waste of time.
We also have meetings just for the sake of having meetings. Hence it is recommended to have fewer but more structured meetings as a result. Moreover, corporations should encourage employees to take more time off so they can network.
Sales Motivation Tip: How many of your scheduled meetings are truly necessary?
15. Anyone up for a backyard barbecue?
While we wouldn’t go so far as to encourage interoffice romances, the idea that colleagues who play together work well together does have some merit. Offsite social gatherings for employees can boost team building and office relationships.
Small bonuses like these go a long way toward keeping morale strong. Surprise your employees by giving them breakfast or taking them out for lunch on the spur of the moment. The simplest, smallest things can often have a huge impact.
Sales Motivation Tip: What extracurricular activity can you offer your sales staff and charge as a team-building expense in the name of fun and better working together?
17. Get to know your sales crew.
Learning more about employees is a simple approach to keeping them satisfied.
As a newcomer, you spend time learning about your colleagues’ talents and limitations. This leads to a more motivated and engaged workforce..
18. Happiness maps and intentionality
Mapping your happiness is one technique to become more aware of your happiness levels. Workplace happiness is difficult to achieve.
Make a list of the feelings you wish to have at work and then put down the actions that will bring those sentiments about. Then pin the document to a prominent location in your office, such as your cubicle wall.
Sales Motivation Tip: When you’re feeling down, go back to your happiness map and focus on what makes you happy.
19. Work out together
You should not only urge employees to leave their desks, but also support them in going to the gym together. Exercising with co-workers boosts morale and allows them to get to know one another better.
Most folks don’t want to exercise weights or do yoga alongside their co-workers. If getting your salespeople to exercise together is an impossibility, consider paying for their gym memberships.
Discovering your inner happiness officer
You should consider happiness while tracking leads, using your sales abilities to generate cash, teaching your team about the power of yes, managing customer success, or transitioning your team to concentrate more on activities that push sales forward.
A workplace that promotes happiness will not only enhance productivity and profitability but will also create a dynamic culture where your teammates look forward to going to work.
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