Motivation is Key

Motivation is Key For those of us who manage a sales team youll know and understand just how difficult it is to really get your staff properly motivated. It isnt quite as simple as saying to one of your team members here sell this.. sometimes and especially in my experience you can find that although some members of your team might be excellent sales professionals they can and do lack enthusiasm. Especially if its a product they cant quite get excited for personally and in this competitive sales market, turning down a product or service isnt possible especially if the reason is as simple as, I dont quite like it! And as Ive found on occasion, no one wants to buy from a glum or disinterested sounding sales team. It might seem ridiculous but people can tell if you have a smile on your face even during a telephone sales call. One of the ways I have found to motivate my staff and previous teams is to offer a simple reward scheme, something that all the members of your team can appreciate. It might be an added bonus to those who sell the most, or even (and this is my personal favourite) a gift hamper at the end of the month. What you are after is something other than the product itself to sell for, you need to make it an internal competition, friendly and fun but with real rewards that your staff can aim for. You would be surprised how quickly and efficiently your staff can sell a product or service they previously had trouble with before. One thing that is incredibly important with any form of competitive reward system is that the scoring and judging system is perfect. From personal experience I have found a once fun and interesting competition turn into a fully fledge argument based on somebody recording the sales results for the day wrongly. One way I have found to solve these kind of problems is to use technology, one such program that is easy to use and works to my specifications is Hoopla. With its visual leader scoreboard system, team members can not only check on a daily basis their current scores but also easily spot any discrepancies to be instantly fixed. You can even have it shown on a large screen TV that you can put up in the office directly and to be honest this has to be my personal favourite as not only can everyone see it from where they are sat but it is more efficient from a time management point of view. Hoopla is also fully customizable allowing you to add your own photos and music, which is another great way to get your team motivated. By using their photos along side their name you are making this into a more personal goal rather than a generic scoreboard. Its not only easy to set up you can even link with other sales teams, giving not only your team a boost in motivation but yourself too. Making Hoopla one of the best sales motivation platforms I have seen in a long time. Image Credit   ©Jeff Djevdet