Selling is not an easy task and it takes a person with the right skills, attitude and proper training to succeed in this field. Finding this right person to be a part of your sales team is not an easy job either. It takes a lot of patience during the screening process and more importantly, good judgment whenever it’s time to decide who to hire. Once you’ve found the people who you believe will do best for your sales team, a harder responsibility comes along – getting them to be the best and keeping them at their best.

Sales representatives, regardless of skill and past success, can occasionally require some external motivation from their Manager. Here are some strategies proven to motivate agents and boost sales performance:

Creating a Competitive Environment

If there’s one thing that sales agents are great at, it’s competing. The more they see competition within the sales team, the more they feel fueled and passionate to beat everyone else. A good way to challenge them to do so is by creating a leader board and publicly posting their productivity and conversion rates. This does not only make each one of them work harder to be on top but also allows them to personally monitor their performance.

Acknowledging your Sales Team 

Everybody needs recognition every once in a while. Always see to it that whenever your agents perform well, they receive something nice in return. A simple team awards ceremony would do the trick. Present an achievement certificate to your top 3 agents weekly, monthly and annually.

Creating a Support System

Initiate a program that involves encouraging and supporting your weakest agents. Have your top agents mentor your bottom agents. Give out an extra incentive to each top agent for every bottom agent that they successfully helped improve.

Getting your Sales Team Involved 

Let your sales team feel comfortable in the work place. During team meetings, ask them about what motivates them, it is imperative that you hear them out. Create daily contests and agree on special prizes such as extra cash, luxurious gift items, or even early outs as long as it’s not against company policy. Plan a lunch out to a nice restaurant of their choice whenever their sales are high, socializing outside the office helps remove stress while increasing camaraderie at same time.

Compensation 

Money after all, is still a key motivator. Allocate generous commissions on the bigger and harder-to-sell products. Make sure your commission structure matches the level of sales power needed for each product. Sales agents are more likely to target products that are easier to sell when they know that they won’t be compensated enough for exerting extra effort when trying to sell the bigger products.

Being Consistent

Be committed; implement your motivational strategies constantly. If you need to increase the productivity of your sales team, you need to stay focused to continuously lead your agents towards that goal.