6 Key Strategies to Motivate Your Sales Staff

Sales reps are often at the top of a company's compensation ladder and rightfully so.  Having to deal with complaining customers, cranky prospects and strict competition is a tough job for even the best sales rep. 

Money is a strong motivator, but it's not the only one.  A need to be on top of their game, peer recognition and prestige are often much stronger influencers on job performance.  So it's important to identify what really excites your salespeople above and beyond the paycheck. 

When considering ways to motivate your sales force, it's important to do so as a group so everyone feels like a winner, not just the top sellers.  If you create a superstar image of your best salespeople, the rest of the team will feel discouraged and settle for just being “good enough.” 

Fire up your sales team with these 6 simple strategies.

Build a winning team.  Pull your salespeople together as a cohesive team by offering incentives for your reps when they provide support and encouragement to each other.  Mentoring between sales team members can go a long way in building camaraderie where competition can thrive.

Identify what motivates your salespeople.  Different people are motivated by different things.  To find out what motivates your sales reps, simply ask them and then experiment with various options.  Offering high-end items that they wouldn't normally purchase for themselves or something as simple as the option to telecommute at times can go a long way in building loyalty and motivating them to be the best they can be.

Commission is king.  Review your current commission structure and explore ways to make it better, making sure that the financial reward is commensurate with the effort expended.  Your commission structure shouldn't discourage your salespeople from going after the tougher sale.  Don't get stuck in a rut; constantly monitor your commission plan to determine if it is motivating – or discouraging – your reps and restructure it if needed.

Harness the power of peer pressure.  Peer pressure – when used correctly – can be a key factor in producing more sales.  By publicly posting the results of your team's sales efforts, you are creating an environment of healthy competition between your reps.

Get everyone on board.  A company's sales force is its lifeline.  Structure some sales campaigns/contests and communicate them to the entire organization.  Your sales staff depends on other departments such as marketing and customer service to support their efforts.  Provide creative incentives to department members for working together toward a common goal.

Frequency is key.  Once you've found ways to motivate your salespeople, keep it consistent.  By offering small tokens of achievement at more frequent intervals, your sales reps will always be on their toes, trying to be the next to reap the rewards of a job well done.