How to Motivate a Sales Team: 10 Secrets from the Experts

There is no single best way to motivate sales teams. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy to encourage, inspire, and engage them.

What is clear is that traditional sales motivation techniques are no longer enough. With more competition than ever, sales organisations need to be focused on more than just their compensation package to retain and motivate their sales associates, maintain customer satisfaction, increase profitability and stay ahead of competitors.

You need to motivate your team with data and science-led sales incentive solutions that help your people find their unique fit in the business. This could incorporate a number of motivation tactics, such as gamification, goal commitment, and benefits that go beyond that of simply salary and compensation.

Read on to discover the best ways to motivate your sales team, with tips from the experts at BI WORLDWIDE.

1. Set clear and achievable goals

Setting goals as part of a motivation strategy can be highly misunderstood. Businesses often think that a simple SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) objective across a team will encourage them to get to action. When in reality, goal setting and commitment should be the crux of this strategy.

The more confidence a person has that they can achieve a goal, the higher the success rate of achievement. Thus, goals set on personal baselines are going to be attained easier, and with tenacity. William Johnson, Division VP of Sales and Channel at BI WORLDWIDE, explains:

"Goals should be self-set by the individual rather than designated. Goal choices can be given by an organisation but the actual goal selected should be made by the employee or salesperson. An individual’s set goals should be in alignment with the greater goals of the organisation."

Successful goal setting can be realised with traditional goal setting techniques, from a simple spreadsheet to daily, weekly and monthly goals. However, more modern businesses may want to use a goal selection platform, such as our very own patented GoalQuest solution, which uses self-selected goals, targeted communications and rewards to deliver short-term, tactical, and target-driven sales incentives.

2. Provide regular feedback and recognition

It's no secret that feedback and recognition are great ways to motivate just about anybody. However, as part of a strategy to motivate a sales team, the correct attention needs to be paid to feedback and recognition. As it will deliver more engagement, and ultimately, an improvement in the sales team's performance.

There are a few different ways you can recognise your sales team:

• Celebrate your people: Whether you choose to recognise your sales team with a thank you note, a verbal shout-out, or through a reward, there is no wrong way to show you celebrate your team's wins.
• Say thank you: Saying thank you can be an effortless way to motivate someone in the moment, as it acknowledges the value that the individual brings and increases their sense of belonging.
• Be specific and sincere: Vague feedback and recognition can fall flat. Instead, be specific about what the sales team member did well, and how it impacted the team or company.
• Be constructive: Constructive criticism gives the individual something compelling to work towards, as they have areas where they can improve. Guidance, direction and training all have a role to play in motivating sales team members.

3. Create a positive and supportive work environment

A positive and supportive work environment is essential for a motivated sales team. When sales reps feel valued, respected, and connected with their team, they are more likely to be engaged and productive.

One important concept we like to focus on at BI WORLDWIDE is social health. Building and maintaining relationships within the workplace is vital now more than ever, as strong, stable connections between individuals helps everything from promoting collaboration and increasing productivity, to improving wellbeing and morale.

It's crucial to create a positive, and fun environment for your sales team that motivates them to collaborate and support one another, like a typical sports team would need. This could involve hosting social events, teambuilding activities, or simply creating a relaxed and supporting atmosphere with flexible work arrangements.

4. Offer competitive compensation and benefits

Competitive salary is one of the essential first steps for attracting talent, but people work for more than just a pay check. Tangible and experiential rewards are effective motivators that go beyond the focus of a great compensation package. Businesses need to learn how to strike the balance between the salary, commission, benefits and incentives that they choose.

We've asked the question many times before, 'Is cash king?', and discovered time and time again that salary really isn't enough. There are five levels of needs that a sales team member, or any employee for that matter, needs to stay motivated:

• Physiological needs: Such as a suitable salary, warmth, enough sleep, and food. Think basic living needs.
• Safety: Workplace safety also helps you meet the 'basic' needs, so your sales employee don't have any fear of coming to work.
• Belongingness: When employees feel like an important cog in the mission and values of their company, as well as the workplace relationships they make, they're more likely to be motivated to join in.
• Esteem: Regular rewards and recognition for their current skills, their learning and development, and any recent individual or team wins, helps keep employees engaged.
• Self-actualisation: Giving your sales team opportunities to achieve their goals will encourage them to strive for their own development.

These five needs can easily translate into various motivation techniques, but how you balance them is down to the unique position of the company.

According to William Johnson, "When striking the balance between your salary and benefits, it's key to understand what drives each individual. Some sales reps are motivated by money and good commission, whilst others a motivated by non-monetary rewards such as development opportunities. Your best step forward is to offer a mix to your sales team, take on feedback, and make small changes to see what has an impact."

5. Provide opportunities for professional development

Training opportunities can be instrumental in getting your sales team invested in their own growth. Learning and engagement are closely linked; people with strong learning opportunities and who are engaged in their work show 16% better performance across all industries, roles and job types.

There are a number of ways you can give your sales team the best opportunities for professional development, however, to ensure longevity in your training budget we recommend also considering learning reinforcement. This involves overlaying your formal learning opportunities such as training, with communications and incentives that remind, reinforcement and test the ongoing strength of those newly learnt skills on the job.

6. Encourage collaboration and trust

With a positive, relaxed and safe work environment, you give your sales team the platform to collaborate and trust each other, so make sure you motivate them to do so. Not only will they be more likely to speak up and share ideas, but they'll have a boosted morale too.

Fostering open communication and promoting trust within the teams is pivotal in ensuring everybody's voice is heard. Build your team on trust, honesty and reliability by being fair and consistent in your dealings with them, and keeping on the promises that you make. Your sales team will then be more motivated to reflect this behaviour.

Creating a culture of teamwork is another step in motivating the team. Your sales team incentive programme should have a view of the entire customer journey, allowing teams to be cross-functional and collaborate with each other. Provide your different teams (i.e. sales, aftersales, IT), with the platform to share, discuss challenges and work on solutions together.

7. ‘Beating the competition’

Sales teams by nature are competitive, and good old-fashioned competition is a great motivator. There are numerous ways that you can encourage competition, both between colleagues, and when it comes to beating competitor products and solutions.

Look internally to find ways that you can incite a competitive atmosphere within your sales team. A traditional technique you can use is offering tangible and intangible rewards to the top performers. Whilst top performer incentives shouldn't be the only strategy in your motivation mix, leaderboards can be a great way to motivate and retain your top 20%. To extend the reach of this technique look to segment your sales force into different performance leagues or focus on ranking based on % achievement to create an equal playing field. Equally layering with incentives and rewards for best improver, best individual sale, most collaborative sales approach can be great ways to acknowledge achievements and positive behaviours across the whole sales organisation, nudge incremental performance and create a healthy competitive environment.

8. Build a short-term, gamified strategy

If your sales team is underperforming, and you need a short-term solution to quickly get the sales back on track, a short-term, gamified strategy can be a good solution. Gamification involves adding gaming elements to a traditionally non-gaming activity such as point scoring, competing with others, and introducing rules of play. Not only is it a great way to incentivise, they're also quick and easy to launch.

To get those spikes of engagement, implementing gaming functionality such as leaderboards, badge functionality, or level completion into programmes and events as a way to drive positive behaviours and enhance the experience can be effective in getting you closer to your overall objective.

However, to see long term results and sustained engagement, William Johnson explains, "companies need to create a thoughtful program based on proven gamification strategy and tap into their employees' intrinsic motivators; autonomy, mastery, purpose, progress and social interaction"

9. Be a role model

The way that managers behave around the sales team is paramount in encouraging motivational practices. It's important that those who are managing the sales team, and leading the company, are role models to those who bring in the customers and revenue.

However, role models don't always have to be managers. Incentive strategies that include halo communications focusing on role models from around the organisation can help share best practices, and support incremental performance improvements by setting a positive example.

Whether a manager or team member, here are a few tips for being a good role model for your sales team:

• Be positive and enthusiastic
• Be honest and ethical
• Be hardworking and dedicated
• Be supportive and helpful

It's also critical that you're authentic to yourself, let your personality shine through so that your sales team feel comfortable being themselves. That way they'll feel comfortable coming to you for constructive feedback and to get support when they need it most.

10. Personalise your approach

Finding the ultimate strategy to motivate your sales team boils down to personalising your plan, and making sure you look at what motivates each individual. 'Idiosyncratic fit' is an under-utilised sales motivation methodology that takes this into account. When your salesperson on your team is offered a new incentive, there are two questions they'll ask themselves:

1. Do I believe I have an advantage over others in the program?
2. Are the rewards worth the effort?

If the answers are yes, they're likely to succeed. But those who answer no will likely underperform. It's important that you personalise your incentive programme so that each individual has rewards that meet their 'idiosyncratic fit'. Ask your sales team what motivates them, both monetary and non-monetary, and find how you can tailor your plan to meet each individual salesperson's needs.

Kari Hanson and Katie Nicklay, Life Sciences and Healthcare Division of BI WORLDWIDE, explain that "Rules structures that provide idiosyncratic fit, such as a personal goal-setting methodology or a deterministic 'Do This - Get That' structure, encourage salespeople to participate and do their personal best".

How to motivate an underperforming sales team

Motivating an underperforming sales team can be an entirely different beast when it comes to incentivising and encouraging the team to achieve their goals. They'll likely be stressed, frustrated, or feeling a lack of purpose in their team and work life.

This is where your motivation strategy might need to deviate slightly. You should be transparent about your sales being down, you should focus on small achievable goals, and identify skills gaps where your team might need a boost.

But one of the key things you can do is adopt the 'Move the Middle' technique. One of the biggest mistakes made in a sales contest strategy is directing all of the awards toward the top 10-20% of their sales audience. The truth is most whilst top performers deserve to be rewarded, most of your incremental sales can be generated by the additional 80% of your sales team if the right motivators are put in place.

There are a few different 'Move the middle' motivation structures that you could use, such as layering in smaller monthly awards, monthly sweepstakes, or a fast start or fast finish rule structure. These motivators that focus on the smaller, incremental rewards will help reengage those sales team members who might have been laid by the wayside with a 'top performer' strategy.