How I Increase the Motivation of my Sales Team - Essay Example

How I increase the motivation of my sales team Today competitions and marketing strategies have under gone tremendous changes. As marketing becomes more complicated and customers become more demanding, sales is increasing its role to become a more critical interface between a company and its customers. Sales, or the activity of selling, form an integral part of commercial activity. Sale is considered to be an art. The methodological approach of selling refers to it as a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesperson relate his offering enabling the buyer to visualize how to achieve his goal in an economic way. The primary function of professional sales is to generate and close leads, educate prospects, fill needs and satisfy wants of consumers appropriately, and therefore turn prospective customers into actual ones (Wikipedia, 2006). Most of the sales officers ask a common question as to how to keep their sales team motivated and always on an achieving mode. Several people have thought about this and have proposed several techniques that, when properly implemented, will help in developing a highly charged and motivated sales team. Motivation is an interesting subject, which has intrigued researchers for decades. Motivation is a state of mind which is influenced by the environment, by those around and above all by us (Yates, 2002). For any activity weather it is in sales or job, goal setting is one of the most important steps. In order to motivate the sales team, it is essential that while setting the goals for them for a month or a year. This gives the people a good feeling of involvement and self satisfaction. It also improves the self image of the individual as he/she feels important. Most of the good managers recognize that involving their team members will generate a higher level of buy-in. Effective sales managers give their team a general idea or the overview of the big picture and what the company needs to achieve. Then, they work with each person to establish individual targets that will meet or exceed the corporate objectives. Making the sales team aware of the fact that they are the people who make up the company and are the most valuable assets to the company, the team will definitely be motivated to perform better. While setting the goal it is important to see to it that goal must be specific, it should be motivating, achievable, relevant and time bound. Goals should have a 75% chance of success at the same time it should also be challenging the sales representatives to push themselves beyond their existing comfort zone. Proper communication is another important aspect of sales. Weather it is to the customer or collogues or senior officers. This would help in People are naturally curious and want to know how they are doing. Im not suggesting you reveal confidential information but I do recommend you share information about the overall status of the company. If sales are down and you need people to focus on generating new accounts or business then tell them. If costs are climbing then advise your employees that they need to be aware of their expenses. Frequent update meetings, email correspondence, broadcast voice mails are some of the ways you can communicate with your team on a regular basis. Another effective method is through casual discussions. Employees want to know where they stand and, all but a few, want to do a good job. They want to know how, you, as their manager, view their performance. Thats why it is critical that you give them direction and feedback on a regular basis. Unfortunately, many managers are uncertain to provide feedback on negative performance because they are afraid of the potential conflict that may arise. Yet, most employees can accept constructive criticism, providing it is delivered in a professional manner. Recognition is the next aspect that people are looking for. People will work harder for someone who recognizes the effort they put into their work. Praising an employee or the member of the sales team is not a difficult process. It also needs to be very specific for a particular work being completed. The proper mode of feed back will motivate the sales team and urge them to perform even better the next time. Sales people are a wealth of information and can often add important suggestions to improve the business. Many managers say they have an open door policy but, in reality, will only listen to an employee if his or her ideas are in sync with their own. If you truly want to create a team of highly motivated employees take the time to listen to their comments and ideas. Foster an environment that encourages the open sharing of information. Great leaders are always open to new ideas and methods of improving business and some of the best ideas come from the front-line staff. It is essential that you must demonstrate enthusiasm, energy, team cooperation, honesty, integrity and commitment. Treat people with respect and dignity. Give them the tools to excel, grow and develop. Encourage them to participate and get involved. Solicit feedback, listen to their comments, and act on suggestions that will help your business succeed. Set and communicate high standards, provide positive reinforcement when your team members perform and involve them. You will soon see a team that will do almost anything to help you succeed! (Robertson, 2006). Marketing strategies need to include pre-planning sections where in the representative need to have a rehearsal section in front of a sales team of their own colleagues. This will help to improve the confidence in him. Besides when the sales officer sincerely appreciates the efforts put by the representative, it will boost up the confidence and will help in achieving the goals of the company. Weekly call review and role playing sessions will definitely help self assessment and sale improvement. These are also sessions that sales team gets to spend time with the fellow salesman. This gives them an opportunity to learn from each others successful techniques in sales. In selling, as in all other professions, there are many people who are just are work for the sake of money. These are men with small vision. But there are also about 20 % of the sales representatives who do 80 % of the business. They are highly motivated people and consider selling as the greatest business in the world. These are men with a purpose in life and business. The outstanding characteristic of these salesmen is their creative approaches to everything they do when business falls off and they do not blame their lack of business opportunity. They create their own opportunities. They diagnose their own problems and find solution to all of them on there own. Finally, it can be said that incentives and bonuses are a part of motivation. Incentives are motivating if they are specifically personalized to the unique needs of those sales people you are trying to motivate. A sales person gets his ultimate motivation, when his work is recognized and he gets an ultimate work satisfaction when his targets are achieved with high standards. It is essential to understand that todays sales people anticipate more from their job in the way of feeling valued, respected, involved and appreciated in the organization if you want them to perform at their best. So, while there are numerous possibilities for recognizing sales efforts, the most effective are the simple, personal ones a pat on the back or a sincere thank you for a job well done will go a long, long way. Work Cited Robertson, K. Sales Motivation For Your Sales Representatives 2006, Blue Boulder Internet Publishing, 2 April 2006 Wikipedia, Sales 27 March 2006, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 April 2006 Yates, P. How motivated are you? 04 January 2002, All about medical sales.co.uk. 2 April 2006 Read More