Your sales team is the lifeblood of your business and keeping it performing is vital to ensure the rest of your business thrives. Here are 7 simple ways to keep your team energized.
1 — Encouragement. Specific encouragement to individuals and the team is a great way to stoke the fire. Instead of the generic “Great job!” try pointing out things they did particularly well. Tell Sally she handled the Smith account with flair or Bob that he did a great job smoothing over a rough situation with the QT account. Singling people out in recognition for a job well done is a great motivator both for them and for those around them.
2 — Focus competition. Your sales team should be competing against your competitors, not one another. Compensation and a competitive environment that encourages self-reliance over teamwork is going to fail eventually. Your team should be a team, not a group of individuals in the same office. They should be actively encouraged to not only get those sales, but to help one another to do it.
3 — Practice fundamentals. We know what they are: qualifying, demonstrating, asking rather than telling… these should be role-played and practiced regularly within your staff. Remember: clients and potential clients are not practice dummies, they’re the real thing. This also encourages team work.
4 — Use threes. The “rule of 3s” is to focus everything on the number three. Our brain tends to break up complex concepts into 3 parts for easier comprehension and analysis and we have learned to process information this way since childhood… ABCs, 123s, rock, paper, scissors.
Three steps, three measurements, three to a quota, etc. For your sales team, it may be three new prospects a day or week, three management review sessions a week, three steps to close the deal, etc. It’s very likely that most of the processes in your company, from sales to everything else, can be broken into groups of three to make it easier to remember and quantify.
5 — Don’t ask why. Asking “why” implies it’s the fault of the person being asked. Instead of asking “why” a sale didn’t go through, ask “how” or “what” instead. “What could have convinced them?” “How did the competition land the sale?” These keep people away from the defensive and create solution-focused responses rather than excuses.
6 — Find their motivation. Each person on your sales team likely has different reasons for being on the job. Some enjoy the work. Some like the money. Some like the atmosphere. Others might prefer the hours or even like working for you specifically. Whatever their reason, learn what it is and use it as motivation to keep them happy. Give rewards for personal accomplishments based on what drives them professionally.
7 — Focus on positives. Rather than telling your team what you don’t want them to do or using the word “no” a lot, instead focus on what they should be doing and using “yes.” This is a positive affirmation idea and people respond better to positives than they do negatives. So encourage them to do things by using positive ideas: “Do it like this” is better than “Don’t do it like that.”
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