Even with the best product or service that money can buy, if your sales team lacks motivation to sell, you will not be able to build successful sales. Motivation is the key to success. Sales managers must find ways to keep their sales teams encouraged, inspired and enthusiastic. This is not always an easy task. Tools and techniques must be developed to keep your sales team motivated. These motivational techniques need to have substance to be effective. There are some basic techniques that you can use to keep your sales team feeling motivated and excited about what they are doing.

1. Implement performance-based incentives.

This is the most obvious of all motivational techniques. What you do and how well you do it determines how much you will earn. It is a very simple concept.  Keep in mind that performance based incentives are more than just commission. The incentives need to be fair, openly communicated and not impossible to achieve. Making the incentives grow in value as sales numbers increase will motivate the team to achieve even more.

2. Provide regular and useful sales meetings.

Unfortunately, sales meetings can have the reputation of being time wasters and actually become a demotivating force for your sales team. But, sales meetings that are open, stimulating and provocative can be extremely motivating for your sales team. Sales meetings give you the opportunity to build your team, train your sales staff, and share information that is a strategic way to motivate your sales team. It is extremely important that your sales team feel comfortable sharing openly and honestly in these meetings so that they are open forums of discussion. These meetings should be full of energy not just an hour of reporting facts and figures. Make it fun! 

3. Be a leader, a coach and a cheerleader for your sales team.

As a sales manager, you motivate your team by being there for them. It also helps to build trust between you and the members of your team. Whenever you get the opportunity to praise good work, do it. Let your team know that you have an open door policy and you are there for them. Lead by example. Coach members of the team to help them develop good skills and drop bad habits.  Cheer for a job well done. If there is a problem, talk to the individual and never reprimand or embarrass members of your sales team in a public way. When you earn the trust of your sales team, it becomes easy to learn what motivates them.

4. Use non-monetary incentives to motivate your sales team.

There are many ways to motivate a sales team without using cash. These types of incentives can be used regularly and cost very little.

• Include members of the sales team in marketing or planning meetings.
• Give an added vacation day as an incentive.
• Provide direct access to upper management or the company CEO.
• Give local gift certificates for reasons other than sales quotas.

This is where you need to think outside the box. Also, by getting to know your sales team, you can learn what motivates them individually enabling you to provide specific motivators as incentive.

5. Provide opportunities for professional development.

By providing professional development and training opportunities to your sales team, you are accomplishing many things.

• The members of your sales team will feel valued.
• You will increase the skill level of your sales team.
• The sales team will not become stagnant in their selling techniques and will feel more loyalty to you and the company.

Motivating the sales team is key to obtaining and maintaining sales success. If you can inspire your team to produce, you have found the key to building a great sales team that can achieve and continue with great success.