How to motivate your sales team

After spending this past weekend at the cottage, I find myself daydreaming about what it would be like to take an extra day off so I can enjoy the beautiful weather at the lake…and possibly even squeeze in a game of golf. Needless to say, I usually find it difficult to get motivated on Monday mornings.

Instead of completely ruining my productivity for the day, I’ve decided to use this thought as a motivator. The cottage will still be there next weekend and I’ve already booked a tee-off time on Saturday morning! Now all I have to do is accomplish my goals for the week.

Over the weekend, while I was enjoying the great Canadian outdoors, one of our new clients was hard at work and submitted a request for information on Reward Recognition Programs. This request got me thinking about motivation and how difficult it is to motivate others – especially an inside sales team.

In order to effectively motivate your sales team, you must first try to understand what’s important to them. Although this information might seem difficult to acquire, sometimes it can be as easy as asking.

Once you’ve determined what can be used as a motivator, it’s time to put an incentive program in place. Like so many other programs - communication, feedback and goal setting – are all important elements that should not be overlooked. That said, you might also want to consider using an online rewards recognition program depending on what you’ve determined will motivate your team.

Reward recognition programs typically involve setting achievable and objective goals that have logical motivators attached and that are aligned with your corporate strategy. To be effective, they must be delivered in a timely fashion.

Motivating high performers isn’t the only goals of reward and recognition programs. Other key goals can include:

• Create a positive work environment
• Create a culture of recognition
• Increase employee morale
• Reinforce desired behavior
• Increase retention and loyalty

Some of the best online rewards recognition programs that I’ve come across are listed below:

www.iloverewards.com

CorporateRewards.com

Incentivelogic.com

Of course, it’s not necessary to use an outside reward recognition program to motivate your team. If you’re looking for other great ideas, visit our website @ DemandMetric/Sales Effectiveness.