As a sales manager, it can be challenging to motivate your sales team when they’re working in high-pressure sales environments, have low morale, feel burnout, or lack incentive to meet sales targets. But a recent study found that motivated employees increase profitability by 21%.

Successful managers rely on sales motivation techniques to resolve these issues and boost their team’s morale and productivity. We’ll cover the ten most effective sales motivation techniques to inspire your sales team.

10 Key Sales Motivation Techniques That Make a Good Salesperson

Here are ten effective sales motivation techniques successful sales managers use to improve their sales team:

1. Set Achievable, Specific Goals

Help your sales team set achievable, specific goals by designing a plan to achieve them, including a reward for reaching sales goals. Some best practices for setting sales goals include the following:

• The goals should be clear, concise, and measurable.
• Sales goals should be challenging enough to motivate the team but not so difficult that they become demotivated.
• The goals should align with the company’s overall business objectives.
• Goals should have a specific deadline for completion to create a sense of urgency.
• Involve the sales team in the goal-setting process to build buy-in and motivation from the team.

Need help executing your sales plan? Contact Twiz to learn how we can support you and your sales team.

Related Link: How to Close a Sale: Actionable Deal Closing Tips & Tricks

2. Provide Frequent Positive Feedback

Recognizing your sales team’s hard work and accomplishments can boost your team’s confidence and motivation. Positive feedback can help to build morale, create a positive team culture, and improve performance.

• When providing positive feedback to your sales team, you should:
• Be specific about what the sales rep did well.
• Try to give feedback soon after the sales rep has done something well.
• Be sincere and authentic, or your sales reps will know if you’re not being genuine, which can hurt morale.
• Make it public by giving feedback in front of the sales rep’s peers or in a team meeting.
• Tie feedback to the company’s overall goals and objectives to show how their work contributes to its success.
• Avoid comparing sales reps to each other to prevent an unhealthy competitive environment.

3. Offer Incentives

Offering bonuses, commissions, or other incentives is an effective sales motivation technique to encourage your team to hit their targets and exceed their sales goals. A Harvard Business study found that removing incentives decreased performance by 10%. Salespeople are highly motivated by incentives, so be sure to use them.

The key is to find incentives that align with your team's goals and values and provide motivation and rewards for their hard work. Possible incentives include:

• Cash bonuses
• Commission-based incentives
• Travel incentives
• Recognition programs
• Training and development opportunities
• Prize incentives
• Team-building activities
• Flexibility and work-life balance

4. Provide Training and Development Opportunities

Training and development can help the sales team improve their skills and stay current on industry trends, boosting performance and motivation. It’s smart to provide a variety of learning opportunities tailored to your team's needs and that help them improve their skills, knowledge, and confidence in selling.

A recent study sited for every dollar spent on sales training, it had a $29 return in incremental sales. You can provide training and development to your sales team using the following:

• Formal training programs
• On-the-job training
• Mentoring
• Role-playing
• Sales coaching
• Sales meetings
• Online resources
• Conferences and events

5. Sales Contests

Create friendly competition among the sales team by organizing sales contests with prizes for the winners. The key is to find contests that are tailored to your business and sales team that will motivate and reward them for their hard work. Here are five effective sales contests that can motivate your sales team:

• Create a leaderboard that tracks each salesperson’s performance monthly.
• Set individual or team sales goals and provide a specific incentive, such as a cash bonus, for achieving those goals.
• Use a mystery shopper program to evaluate and incentivize sales reps based on their customer service skills.
• Hold a product knowledge challenge to test your sales reps’ knowledge of your products or services.
• Create a team-based sales contest that encourages collaboration and teamwork.

Need more sales and marketing resources? Learn more about our sales and marketing agency and what we can do to support your sales managers and their teams.

Related Link: Overcome 10 Common Sales Objections and Close Deals

6. Remember to Celebrate Your Team’s Success

Celebrate the team’s successes and individual achievements to show your appreciation and build a positive team culture. You’ll want to identify ways to celebrate the team’s success that are meaningful and relevant to your team’s accomplishments. This will build team morale and foster a sense of accomplishment.

Some of the most valued ways to celebrate sales team success include:

• Recognition and rewards
• Public recognition
• Team outings or events
• Personalized gifts
• Opportunities for growth

7. Give Your Team Autonomy

Give your sales team the autonomy to manage their own time and work independently. Autonomy can build their confidence and motivation. But for autonomy to be effective, you need to define sales goals and expectations and provide the right tools and resources to ensure success.

By trusting and empowering your sales team to make decisions and take action on their own, you can create a sales team that is confident, motivated, and capable of achieving its goals.

8. Offer Performance-Based Promotions

Offer promotions and career advancement opportunities based on performance and achievement. Performance-based promotions provide sales teams with clear goals and the opportunity to earn tangible rewards, such as promotions, higher salaries, or other benefits.

This creates a sense of achievement and recognition for their efforts, leading to:

• Increased motivation
• Higher engagement
• Improved sales performance.

9. Provide Clear and Consistent Communication

Clear communication is critical with your sales team. You need to regularly communicate company goals, progress, and expectations. This can help to align your team’s efforts and motivation with the company’s vision. Some best practices for clear communication include:

• Use simple and direct language that is easy to understand.
• Provide context and relevance to your message, explaining how it relates to the team’s goals and objectives.
• Use a variety of communication channels, including in-person meetings, phone calls, email, or instant messaging.

10. Cultivate a Culture of Transparency and Honesty

To increase confidence and trust within your team, you need to lead by example and communicate honestly and transparently with your team. This will encourage them to trust you and ask questions when they need help. To lead by example, you should:

• Own your mistakes and recognize your shortcomings.
• Ask your team for anonymous feedback.
• Host regular team meetings and small team meetings to encourage better communication.
• Deliver on your promises.

Twiz is a full-service sales and marketing agency offering a way to extend your resources and generate higher-quality leads and customer-focused marketing campaigns. Related Link: Inside Sales vs. Outside Sales: Best Advice from Industry Pros

‍