The Inside Sales Manager And The Importance Of Motivating Teams

Keeping your team motivated is a major part of being a successful inside sales manager. Running a sales organization can be intimating to an experienced manager, let alone a new one, but there are things you can do to boost team production and meet those goals.

A good inside sales manager will give their employees ambitious goals, but not ones that are impossible to reach. Dishing out unattainable goals will only put a damper on team motivation since nobody can reach those goals no matter how hard they try. It’s much better to create realistic goals with pressing, but not unrealistic, deadlines that keep the team going. This way, once they reach that goal, they are more motivated than ever because they’ve done a good job and feel like they’ve been a vital part of the team’s success.

It’s important to provide constructive criticism, not criticism. Criticizing your team will almost always cause more harm than good, so correct behaviors with good intentions in the most professional way possible. Many sales reps have great potential but never meet that potential because they feel like they’re constantly being criticized. Offer feedback by highlighting the best of an employee’s performance and talents and sandwich the correction between positive reinforcements.

Every inside sales manager wants their sales reps to do their best, so it’s important to offer them opportunities for improvement. Never assume that someone is comfortable in the position they are in. Many employees crave additional training, seminars, or team meetings to help them improve their performance. Consider scheduling a weekly “lunch and learn” or breakfast meeting as a way to come together in a casual setting to fine tune skills.

Part of keeping employees abreast of overall goals and deadlines is campaign management. This is a process that fills in employees with the details of a new campaign, including any incentives being offered and the end goal. This type of management requires follow-up meetings, typically on a daily basis, for maximum success.

You provide constructive criticism to your sales reps, so encourage your team to offer feedback. Be open to suggestions and constructive criticism regarding your management style, scheduling, and daily plans. You may find that your employees have some interesting perspectives that can lead to revised goals or training suggestions. Create an anonymous feedback system if necessary, since most employees will not provide constructive criticism for a supervisor face-to-face.

All of these tips and suggestions will go a long way in ensuring your management success.