“Great sales teams don’t just happen overnight; they are built from the ground up”
In order to create a culture of motivated, enthusiastic, and positive sales teams, you will need to start with the basics and build an organization that challenges them, rewards them, and provides opportunities for growth for all kinds of players.
Salespeople are a vast and varied group, what motivates one seller doesn’t mean it will motivate another. If you can find a way to keep them motivated, not only will they increase revenue sources, but they will also bring energy to your organization that will continue to attract the right people. Let’s dive into how you can build better sales competitions for your whole team.
Establish Solid KPIs
You don’t need to track a million different performance indicators; especially if you don’t understand what half of them even mean. A sales team who understands the organization’s most important performance indicators and who drives together to move the needle on those is guaranteed to boost revenue and performance in your organization.
For instance, most sales teams generally track conversion rate, new leads per month, forecasted vs. actual sales, offers sent, and budget progression. We track these because we believe they are the best indicators of our total sales growth as a company. Whatever KPIs you choose, be sure to choose what fits you best.
Tracking performance on KPIs can increase your revenues in three simple steps:
- Sales reps who have a clear understanding of how you determine, track, and calculate value can easily see exactly where they fit into the organization and how they contribute.
- Those reps who understand their direct contributions feel more fulfilled.
- Salespeople who are more fulfilled will bring positive energy, excitement, and confidence into the meeting room; all of which are all highly likely to influence closing a sale and thus increasing revenues.
Help your sales teams out by determining your most important KPIs, clearly defining them, providing recognition when they are achieved, and giving continuous feedback and support to continue the cycle. Don’t be afraid to collect all the data you want, but when it comes to KPIs that your sales reps are measured by, less can oftentimes be more.
Coach with Data
Sales Coaching is a key component to encouraging growth and performance. Establishing consistent performance review sessions that are led by real performance data insights is not just a great way to hone in on areas of attention but also instills accountability to hit performance numbers. Plus, difficult conversations around performance are made easier for both manager and employee, since data is transparent to all parties, real-time, and automated.
Inversely, coaching sessions are an excellent way to motivate your intrinsically motivated players by giving acknowledgement and encouragement in areas of growth or improvement. And with gamification elements like achievements, rewards, and endorsements that show up for the whole team to see, coaching sessions becomes something that everyone looks forward to.
Challenge Your Sales Reps
Everyone is driven by competition. The challenge is understanding the best competitions that will motivate everyone on your team and get them engaged so they are achieving and surpassing their goals. This can happen through a variety of ways, bringing in elements of chance into a competition always helps mix up the expected leaders and gives everyone an opportunity to win, or tier multiple different rewards so the top three or five can win. Nothing kills a sales culture quicker than sellers not believing that they can win in a competition.
Make sure your switching up the rewards you dole out, too. Rewards for the winners can range from a free paid day off or lunch at their favorite restaurant. As much as salespeople enjoy competition, they also like being rewarded for their efforts. By doing this, you can simultaneously increase morale and pipeline generation.
