Keeping A Sales Force Motivated Is Tricky Business

For a business owner, his sales force is the heart and soul of his company as well as its life blood. Salespeople are the ones who are bringing home the bacon, so to speak, bringing in the cash flow and using their skills to grow the business by increasing the customer base. It is a well known fact that sales people constantly need to have a carrot dangled before their noses to keep them motivated and productive: the nature of that carrot may be very different for each individual, and that’s what makes keeping an entire sales force happy so tricky. Money is not always the prime motivator for a good salesperson’s performance. His personality may be such that he needs to have a personal challenge to reach or surpass to keep him motivated: getting more money is merely a side benefit. First of all, if you have confidence in your good sales people, show it to them. Too often, particularly in a tough economy when stress levels are high, owners or sales team leaders choose a knee jerk reaction of imposing more rules in an attempt to get some control over a force’s output. This unfortunate tactic often results in confusion and undue pressures on the people it was meant to help. They may be afraid to act at all for fear of screwing up or breaking a rule. Giving them the freedom to work on their own, while staying within management-imposed looser parameters, will produ
ce better results in the long term. Express strong expectations, and then let them meet them. Don’t forget the power of simple words of praise. Positive feedback makes an enormous difference to a sales person who is working hard every single day. Even though they are getting paid for their efforts, it is not enough. Recognize their accomplishments publicly, and celebrate their reaching or exceeding goal with parties and hoopla. It may seem overly simplistic, but it’s not: people are people and they like to be patted on the back. It will make for a motivated and excited group that will want to get out there and achieve even more. It’s okay to use goal-based incentives, as long as it’s proportional to the monetary revenue created by the stated goal. For example, it may seem like a mighty big carrot to offer a sales force a week’s vacation in Hawaii for two if they meet their individual or collective goals. However, if that carrot brings in a huge amount of revenue that the business would have not received otherwise, it makes great sense to offer such an incentive. Offering a different kind of incentive, like a trip, may be just the right kind of extra push your sales force needs. Take a chance and go for it. If you are unsure how to go about motivating your sales force, consider hiring a business consultant who specializes in this area to help you.