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10 Ways to Inspire Your Sales Team to Increase Sales

Posted by Maria Shayna Tzouvelekis | Tue, Jun 07, 2016 @ 10:00 AM

Keeping a sales team motivated can be hard work for an owner/operator or sales manager. In addition to engaging with potential clients and leads, you've got to hold it down on the sales floor and continually inspire employees to stick around and work harder. Salespeople may be short on motivation for a number of reasons.Motivating your team can be a trying task but with some concentrated effort, employees will surely be inspired.

According to Forbes.com, only 30% of employees in the US feel engaged and inspired by their careers. Common factors for workplace demotivation include micromanagement, lack of confidence in company leadership and plain ole’ boredom.

“It’s critical to find ways to ignite an entire department, not just identify your leading sellers,” says management consultant Doug Johnson. “You have to create a program that allows everyone to win at some level.”

With decades of experience and some tips from sales experts, we've accumulated a list of ten sure-fire ways to keep ‘em motivated to increase sales and perhaps make your supervisory position even more exciting.

  1. No to yes – In order to motivate employees who aren’t at the top of their game, reward sales representatives who have the greatest amount of “no’s” — after all, with enough no’s comes a yes! Perhaps providing them with gift card for coffee could be the extra boost they need to land more yes’s.

  2. A paid day off or an all expense paid activity – Encouraging employees to let off stress outside of the workplace will rejuvenate them in between long weeks. Mark Faust, business consultant and author of Growth or Bust: Proven Turnaround Strategies to Grow Your Business, believes in awarding performers with a day off such as a golf course pass with paid parking and a meal. At CrossCheck, human resources helps boost company morale by raffling MLB games with parking passes and paid time off if it’s scheduled on a weekday. CrossCheck holds raffles for employees to enjoy local baseball games with a friend!

  3. Provide creative alternatives to gift cards or cash such as weekly gourmet meals, a month’s worth of housecleaning, or a paid hour of free time in conjunction with lunch to take a walk or exercise. A fun way to involve the whole team could include offering a massage chair, ping-pong table or basketball hoop for group play. 

  4. Lunch with the boss – Sales reps always appreciate having their ideas heard by company leaders, especially over free food. Thus, treating them to a one-on-one meal will allow them to get an inside look into the company strategy that they many not garner in typical group settings.

  5. Be a coachHubspot says that “feedback” and “coaching” vary greatly, and while feedback is necessary, it is designated coaching time that allots managers specific time to role play sales tactics and share insights that may help sales reps improve.Getting the whole company in on a motivational plan can provide an extra level of team work and employee involvement!

  6. Involve the whole company – Publicize sales rep numbers weekly or daily to motivate individuals to compete against themselves and ignite a friendly peer pressure fire under them to work harder. Posting goals publicly also allows other non-sales employees to see how the team is doing and encourage those that need it to step it up. For example, CrossCheck offers casual dress days to the whole company when the sales team meets or exceeds its goal.

  7. Promote company culture – Creating bonding rituals, nurturing young and experienced leaders, and having ongoing socials helps unify the team and break up the regular routine. In addition, providing team members with company swag and recognizing departments as a whole for their efforts results in company pride and job satisfaction.

  8. Turn quota into a gameHireology describes a process called “Gamification” that tracks leads and sales wins in real time, and awards sales people with company-wide recognition and immediate gratification like ringing a bell. Morphing sales or other work activities into a game is a fun and exciting way to make the hard stuff in life fun.Mixing things up at work can be a fun way to get employees out of the routine - ask what they want.

  9. Ask your sales team what they want – Remember that not everyone feels satisfied or valued by the same efforts. Checking in with individuals and managers is important when it comes to feedback and incentives. Communication is key.

  10. Make it easy for sales people to earn commissions by providing them with an easy way to accept payments such as CrossCheck’s Multiple Check service. With the ability for customers to write 2-4 checks within their means, CrossCheck guarantees the payments and the team makes the sale. Learn more about this winning service by downloading the free guide below.

Multiple Check Insider's Guide

Topics: Increase Sales

Written by Maria Shayna Tzouvelekis

Maria Shayna Tzouvelekis is an Inbound Marketer at CrossCheck in Petaluma, CA.