When it comes down to it, everyone experiences a downtime. It’s part of the human condition. Typically, managers are charged with the duty of ensuring that there is sufficient zeal at the workplace. In today’s analysis, we’ll seek to highlight a couple of effective ways sales managers can motivate their teams.
From a statistical point of view, one gets to see a grim situation about the levels of motivation. In America and Britain, less than a third of employees are highly engaged at work. On the other hand, a Gallup study shows that more than a quarter of the employed population is highly disengaged.
Obviously, the numbers reflect a less than ideal situation. We can try to remedy the situation by following through with the pointers listed in order to bridge the gap between employee engagement and disengagement.
Importantly, there’s a slight caveat to note about team motivation. A lackluster, monotonous motivation strategy will ultimately do more damage than a non-existent strategy. Naturally, humans get bored once any activity starts to feel like a drill and simply going through the motions.
Mixing up the order of things every once in a while can help ensure that motivation levels never dip too low. Let’s take a look at six effective ways sales managers can motivate their teams.
6 Ways You Can Motivate Your Team
1 – Spotlight
By increasing the focus on the sales team, managers can boost motivation levels. The spotlight helps employees believe that they have an active role to play towards the success of the company.
There’s an inherent need for managers to share data and reports showing how well the sales process is going. If possible, real-time updates should be provided in order to keep employees in the loop concerning their performance levels.
The competitive edge is embedded in human nature, thus, in no time; competition is likely to thrive in-house among employees looking to establish themselves as the best sellers. For any manager, competition is highly encouraged since it involves a win-win situation, to both the organization and the employee.
2 – Reward System
Providing incentives to employees can help boost the morale of the workforce. The incentives can take the form of gifts, time offs and money. Having such incentives at play helps employees keep things in perspective.
Encouragingly, employees will strive to better themselves at what they do because they will have full knowledge that management seeks to see the best version of themselves. An insightful study conducted by the Aberdeen group has gone to prove that non-cash incentives actually produce better results when compared to monetary rewards.
However, as a sales manager, the best way to harness the full power of incentives is by giving employees choices and letting them cast votes on which option to go with. Democracy allows the best-bet preference to be picked and helps employees come to terms with the fact that they are in full control of their destiny.
3 – Gamification
Introducing competition into the workplace equation can have fantastic results. The employees will love it because it brings fun to even the most mundane of activities. On the other hand, management will love it because it actually works.
In a competitive environment, employees actively encourage one another to play along. As previously alluded, the human psyche is built to be naturally competitive. Interestingly, empathy is the other side of the coin.
Creating an inter-team completion ensures that all members actively remain motivated to work towards achieving a number of set objectives. On an individual level, an employee can opt not to partake in the gamification process. However, in a team setting, employees will always strive to put their best foot forward in order to avoid disappointing their fellow mates.
Ultimately, the rewards are split between the organization and the employees. Having employee subsets competing over a single objective helps drive growth, productivity levels and increased sales.
4 – Active Engagement
Face-to-face communication has been shown to be the most effective way to raise awareness in the workplace. Thus, having regular sit-in meetings where the employees and employers discuss issues is important.
Notably, effective communication dictates that the talk should not only center on the work environment. There should always be the provision to talk shop and share information on the trivial intricacies of life.
Research actually backs up these notions. On average, employees who attend meetings are three times more likely to be engaged in the welfare of an organization compared to those who don’t participate in the meetings.
Once employees comprehend that active engagement does not necessarily translate to vilification, they will echo positive vibes all around them. In the end, this will lead to increased sales.
5 – Crystal Ball
Making projections about how the future will look like helps bring employee focus to the here and now. Every company has a vision, mission and motto that they live by. The trick lies in convincing every employee about the role they have to play towards the attainment of set objectives.
Every employee should feel invaluable to the organization. Once management convinces them that their services are highly valued, employees are likely to seek ways to make a difference at the company.
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The buy-in process helps tide the sales team towards what the objectives set out by management. It also helps create a level of excitement among the employees. Knowing that they have role to play towards the betterment of the company helps them overcome lingering fears about job security. Thus, all their attention is devoted to the job. When this mentality is tapped into, sales teams can deliver on their set out objectives, and then some.
6 – Lead by Example
As simplistic as it sounds, leading by example can have a profound effect on employee motivation. Being in charge of a sales team can at times sap out the energy out of you due to the numerous commitments. At times, one can find themselves being unable to hit their personal sales quotas.
Having a positive attitude will resonate off members of the sales team. The little things like promptly arriving at work on time and punctuality during meetings help enhance employees’ confidence in your ability as a leader thanks to the visible work ethic.
While being boss has numerous rewards, that should not go to your head. Instead, you should constantly seek to innovate and learn about the industry by the day. Reading industry blogs, newsletters and research material can help one stay atop the game.
