What is motivation? It is vital to the success of a company. It pushes your sales reps to break records. It brings joy when you have it, but when it’s gone, business suffers. Ultimately, it’s a complex emotion which ebbs and flows. So, how can we sustain it?

For when employee-of-the-month and posters on the wall aren’t enough, here are five quick tips that will help you spark motivation in your sales team. 

1: Know Your People And Adjust Accordingly

Everyone works differently, but by understanding the specific behavior and strengths of your team, you can implement systems to maximize their potential. A 2012 Harvard Business Review article explains that each type of sales rep requires different targets and incentives to work at their best. 

Underachievers responded well to quarterly bonuses; Overachievers continued working hard when they knew they’d receive an overachievement commission. Consistent performers, who make up the largest portion of the sales force, can make a huge difference if goals are split into micro-targets over the sales period. By understanding the individual rep, you’ll discover the best ways to motivate them, and potentially save money while doing it. 

2: Communicate Consistently and Transparently With Your Reps

Timely, transparent communication is vital for maintaining a motivated workforce. Warwick University published a study in 2017 which showed that sharing information with employees, good and bad, positively impacted performance and motivation. By acknowledging success and underlying issues in a timely manner, reps feel more included and respected. 

Avoid mistrust and low motivation by regularly connecting with your sales reps, be it on a group chat or a speedy Zoom catchup; they will value your initiative and work harder because of it.

3: Collaborate To Create Reasonable Sales Targets

Creating an ambitious, yet achievable, sales target is no easy task. In a 2018 article, The Journal of Business Strategy explained that sales teams feel unfulfilled when faced with unreasonably high sales targets; what motivates Star performing reps doesn’t work for the majority. Instead, collaborate with your sales team to create achievable objectives specific to each rep. Often, breaking large targets into easy-to-manage chunks can make them seem easier to achieve and more motivating for reps.

4: Identify The Greater Good

Lisa McLeod (2020) describes intrinsic motivation as an attitude where salespeople are motivated by the understanding that their actions are having a positive societal impact. For example, a rep who understands that the high quality auto parts they sell help mechanics provide a better service, putting safer vehicles on the road, will be a more motivated rep. Believing your work holds power to make positive societal change is a stronger motivational source than being told the company is relying on your performance to succeed. 

Step back and consider how you could relate intrinsic motivation to your industry; you may find several instances where your sales reps are helping enact positive change. 

5: Use A Rep-Focused Sales Target App, aka Numerik

When it comes to typical sales software like CRMs, many sales managers, and reps, feel apathetic; why should I waste my time doing admin when I could be making money? Numerik can fix that. Numerik is a sales target app designed for sales teams, helping sales reps achieve their targets, and stay motivated.

Featuring rep-specific target setting, a social media style team live feed, customizable target cards, and instant access to customer data, Numerik gives sales reps and managers the tools they want, wherever they need them. 

Built specifically for sales people, Numerik isn’t just another CRM; it uses data straight from your ERP and can be set up in just hours. We’d love to help your team reignite their motivation and break records; reach out to us today to get started.  

Finding our quoted sources:

• Harvard Business Review, 2012, T.Steenburgh & M.Ahearne, Motivating Salespeople: What Really Works.
• University of Warwick, 2017, Brandes, Leif & Darai, Donja, The value and motivating mechanism of transparency in organizations. 
• Journal of Business Strategy, 2018, C.Jaushyuam & B.D.Gelb, Another look at motivating- and retaining- salespeople.
• Forbes, 2020, L.E.McLeod, New Research Reveals Unexpected Source of Sales Motivation.