How to Create a Motivational Environment for Sales Success

The world of sales is perceived to be extremely stressful and competitive. There is pressure to perform on a regular basis – every week, every month, every quarter. Whether you are a sales manager or the CSO – Chief Sales Officer you must have felt the pressure. Some people thrive under pressure and give their best. There are many that crumble under pressure. Their performance dips, self esteem takes a beating, and they become clueless about the solution. It is an avoidable situation if the sales team leader knows how to keep the morale of the team high. Motivation is the keyword to deal with such situations.

"Lack of motivation may result in foot dragging, passivity, feigned acceptance, hidden sabotage or outright rejection in the implementation and use of new knowledge," opines Gabriel Szulanski, assistant professor of management at Wharton. The same applies to the implementation of existing knowledge and over-all performance.

Inspire and Motivate Through Setting Examples Personally

It is the responsibility of the sales team leader to motivate the team not by mere talk but by action whenever the situation demands. As a leader the best way to motivate a team of sales people is to do the difficult thing yourself. You lead from the front and automatically the team gets inspired and vows to perform better. A leader should show the way and motivate others. He cannot safely sit in the office, shuttle form meeting to meeting, and bark orders. Like a brave captain he has to stand first in the line of fire and battle. He has to go out and demonstrate that it can be done.

The leader should demonstrate courage, skill, and results in sales. Just one or two real examples in difficult times would suffice. The sales team members may be discouraged by tough market conditions or higher sales targets. If the leader shows them that it can be done they will give their best to do it. If the leader fails to lead from the front the team members will not show faith in the leadership and will not be motivated to perform.

Be Judicious in Offering Incentives and Perks

Google has set the trend as far as motivating its employees is concerned by way of offering many comforts. The provision of gourmet breakfast, lunch, and dinner, a fitness center opened 24 hrs, yoga classes, in-house doctor, nutritionists, dry cleaners, availability of a personal trainer, the swimming pool and the spa, and high-tech buses with WI-FI access for commuting to work have earned it the reputation of having a creative and fun working atmosphere. These facilities are meant for all the employees of Google.

Perks are only a part of the package. The whole package includes a good salary and well structured incentives. All these largesse make Google the best place in America to work for, according to a recent Fortune magazine report.

David Sirota, co-author of The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want, concludes from the study conducted by his firm that employees are not valued in far too many companies and are "treated like paper clips." These companies pay a heavy price for treating them that way. Typically the morale of a new employee remains high for as little as six months, and after that the level of morale can nosedive precipitously if employees feel unvalued.
An unfair compensation policy is perceived as being disrespectful and callous towards the employees.

This soon leads to a lack of motivation. It is nice to feel valued. Sales people that are hard workers should be compensated well by way of adequate salaries and incentives. The incentive structure should be so designed that there are no reasons for complaints from the sales team.

Know Your Team Well
Oftentimes good sales performers pass though tough phases in their careers and lives. New comers to the team also may be at a loss to find their footing in the team. At such crucial junctures they need some mentoring and counseling. A leader should know each and every member of his team thoroughly. He should know what the motivational triggers are for each person of the team. He must find out what problem ails a sales person and fix the problem. He should listen to the troubled sales person patiently as he may have a genuine concern. As a friend, philosopher, and mentor he can help them bounce back to good form.

Praise Openly and Criticize Privately
Another mantra for creating a light and cheerful atmosphere in the sales department is to praise achievements openly and criticize failures privately, in a one-on-one conversation. The criticism should be constructive and shouldn’t be too strong.
Hire Humorous Motivational Speakers from Time-to-Time
Yes, do that. They are the masters at diffusing tension. They are the gurus of motivation. They will motivate you and help you out of the rut with humor. When you have tried everything and failed remember these people can transform your dull and drab sales environment in to vibrant ones with their expertise.

The Fundamentals of Sales Management

Sales leaders and managers frequently talk about: hiring the right people, sales process mapping, sales strategy, sales force deployment and customer coverage, economic drivers of profit of the customer, sales force effectiveness, and sales compensation. The entire gamut of activities listed above and some more tasks form sales management. Selling is the vital activity of a company on which the question of very survival rests. And the entire process of selling involves these tasks that need proper management to ensure a cohesive selling process. After the research and development team has given a credible product to the manufacturing department and the product is out of the manufacturing pipeline, it’s up to the sales team to take the product to the customers and exchange them for money and good will. The onus lies on the shoulders of the sales manager to strategize the sales process and methods so as to bring in the maximum possible revenue as well as forge enduring relationships with the customers. Selling through a team of sales people is possible when the sales manager knows how to manage the sales team to optimize their potential.

Treating the Sales People Well

What then is good sales management? It’s something akin to the Southwest Airlines’ model of sales management. When the entire airline industry is reeling under the blows of skyrocketing fuel prices they are the only airline to have registered profits in 2008. Instead of mulling over job cuts and travel fare hikes the managers have stood behind their sales staff and treated them like family. Whenever an employee had a problem or an employee had an issue with a customer the managers came to their rescue and together they sorted out the issue. They have followed the simple rule, “treat employees the way you wanted to be treated”. That’s the fundamental rule of sales management. A sales manager should be a mentor, guide, and a leader to their team.

Does the sales person shift their gaze to the side when they see a customer approaching? Do they suddenly remember that they have to restock merchandise instead of greeting the customer and getting interested in his needs? A Retail Customer Dissatisfaction Study conducted by Wharton’s Jay H Baker Retail Initiative confirms that the biggest saboteur of profits is a disinterested sales force. When the customer is dissatisfied a good sales manager checks their sale staff first. Recruiting the right sales personnel, providing them adequate training, making all required knowledge accessible to them and motivating them to achieve their sales targets with enthusiasm – all falls under the ambit of responsibility of a sales manager. Half of the sales team management problems wouldn’t arise in the first place if the recruitment process is solid and weeds out people that may turn out to be incompatible to the organization and a sales role.

The fundamentals of sales management includes first knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your team. Is each sales person on the team entrusted with the kind of sales they are capable of? Are they motivated enough to do well in good times and tackle the tough times? Is a sales person compensated well for their achievements? Does the sales manager listen to their suggestions and give feedback?
If there is a problem during a call the sales manager should go on “buddy calling”. Buddy calling entails that the manager would accompany the sales person on a call but let them do the job and intervene when the going gets tough. This gives the manager insight in to the way that sales person works and the sales person learns from the manager - on the job.




Keeping the Sales Channel in Peak Condition

Is the sales process vibrant and functional? Has the prospecting been done correctly? Is everything from cold calls to closing deals moving smoothly? A good number of cold calls should lead to real sales when the sales process is effective. Are the sales people concentrating on the needs of the customer? Can the sales process be revamped? Is there an Internet based sales system present? How much selling should be apportioned to the Internet and how much should be accomplished physically? Is there a gap between what’s promised to the customer and what is delivered? Is the delivery taking place in time? These are the things a sales manager should be examining constantly.

The fundamentals of sales management require the observance of some common sales fundamentals. The appearance of sales people should be smart and professional in accordance with the guidelines of the company. They should exude a certain level of confidence in their day-to-day jobs. There has to be proper guidance about prospecting and enough time should be allocated to each prospect based on their worthiness. Presentations and the closing of deals should be of top quality. Periodic training on presentation skill enhancement and personality development workshops improves the competencies of the sales people. All top sales managers spend a good amount of resources on training of their sales force.

It is also essential that sales management take in to account a comprehensive sales strategy. A sales manager should formulate a good sales strategy and execute it well. Execution is as important as strategizing. The role of synchronization – getting the right product to the right customer at the right time, cannot be undermined.

The fundamentals of sales management shouldn’t be confused with something complicated but simple attention to the details in all activity related to sales. A liberal dose of humaneness and loads of common sense as well as a goal oriented approach form the basics of good sales management.

How to Motivate and Coach a Winning Sales Team

We have heard that success is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. But sales is a profession that requires large doses of inspiration and motivation on a regular basis in order to be successful. Professional sales people face a lot of rejection and for every ‘YES’ there are at least nine “NOs’. It can be difficult sometimes experiencing all the rejection successful sales people recognize that the constant barrage of “NOs” is not to be taken personally, but that its just part of the sales game. Even if one gets used to the rejection over time, the stiff competition from rivals, adverse market conditions, and the need to keep meeting or exceeding sales targets can affect the performance of a sales person. Even top achievers are not immune to this. At such times the antidote is the motivation from the sales manager. Applied in the right amounts and at appropriate times, motivation can lift the sagging spirits of the sales force. Their body language changes, they start performing better, and their results improve.

Know Your Sales Team

Strengths and Weaknesses: As a sales manager you must know your sales team thoroughly. You must know the strengths and weaknesses of each member of your sales force. A sales manager has to work with the sales team that they have been given. Each sales person has certain strengths and drawbacks. The talent of a sales manager is to optimize the results by capitalizing on the strengths. It helps if you know that X is good with institutional sales and Y is better at individual sales. Or that A can get along with up market clients better and B can maintain a certain type of account. If you know that C has worked in the service industry earlier in his career and can gel well with professionals from that industry it would help you both. It also helps when you know within the team who works well with whom. Ultimately you want them to perform better and having a coherently working team is always good to achieve the sales goals of the individual and the organization.

Driving Forces: Even knowing about their personal lives is helpful when it comes to dealing with the sales team. It is hard to compartmentalize personal and professional lives. Somehow they affect each other no matter how hard we try to segregate them. If their personal life is going great, things are more likely to be brighter on the professional front and vice versa. If you know that sales people are interested in earning extra incentives by working harder to pay their new car loan, they would show all the enthusiasm to do so. It would be wise to give them the opportunity to do so. Young sales people will be keen to earn more money to pay off their student loans or finance car loans. Middle aged sales people would like to finance their kids’ college education or pay-off their home mortgage. It is important to know the driving force of each sales person on your team.

Encourage them to Share with You

Professional: You should encourage your sales people to talk to you about things that are influencing their work. This includes product information, sales processes being followed, sales support, their relationship with co-workers, attitude towards the management policy, their equation with you, and any other factors. You should sort out if there are any issues. If a sales person provides valid suggestions about improving the sales process then the best motivation for them would be to modify the sales process and attribute the credit to them. Some members of your team may be interested in periodic training and workshops. Encourage them by providing the opportunities for such skill sharpening and enhancement training.

Personal Joys and Sorrows: As a sales manager you can be the friend, philosopher, and guide of your sales staff. Encourage them to open up with you and discuss their personal matters with you on a one-on-one basis. Try to provide friendly counseling. Offer solutions and ask them to put everything behind and march ahead. Knowing their personal joys and sorrows you can be a part of their lives and they would trust you more as a leader. This will help you in getting things done. Also it will be easier for you to understand that the reason for somebody’s poor sales performance in a given month are the challenges in their personal life.

Rewarding Achievements

Recognition is the key in sales. When a sales person achieves something appreciate it by way of incentives, perks, and gifts. Also acknowledge the success publicly so that he feels recognized and appreciated. This acts as the best booster to perform better.

Be Gentle Yet Firm

When somebody on the team is not reaching their sales goals be gentle with them. The worst thing would be to single them out in a sales meeting in front of everybody. Try to find out why they are failing. Ask them to meet and talk to you one-on-one and find out their problem. Provide the solution if there is any. Point out where they can improve. Be gentle and firm with such people. Allow them enough chance to improve. A little compassion and understanding goes a long way as a sales manger and can help your sales team to get back on track to sales success.

Don’t have a Sales Manager – Hire a Sales Training Consultant to Help Increase Sales!

Omnipresent Sales Forces
In the increasingly competitive business landscape, sales teams of business establishments have become indispensable features. From start ups to established big multi-national companies – every organization that sells products or services has a sales team. The size of the sales teams may vary from a one man army to battalions of sales people, but a sales department is a must for most companies and firms.

Role of Sales Managers
Usually a sales manager leads the team of sales people. This need not be true in all cases. With sales persons reporting directly to the vice-president or to the owner (in case of small firms) there are no sales managers in many organizations.

However, a sales manager is expected to lead the sales team. He is supposed to be the friend, philosopher, and guide of the sales persons. Typically a sales manager monitors the progress of the individual sales persons and the team as well. Due to various reasons, ranging from personal to professional, performance of the sales team gets affected from time to time. The sales manager sorts out the professional issues and advises as a friend on personal ones. He also acts as a link between the sales staff and senior management.

Sales Training Consultants are not Mere Substitutes, They are Better
In the absence of a sales manager this vital role can be entrusted to sales training consultants. Sales training consultants are seasoned and skilled sales professionals that have sound market knowledge and profound insight in to human behavior as well. Their sales wisdom and information about the latest market trends come with diligent study and years of in field experience.

Sales training consultants are adept at detecting flaws in the sales methodology of a business organization. They are equally skilled in zeroing in on causes of under- performance of the sales staff. They are part marketing experts and part psychologists that are respected for their capability to suggest remedies to increase sales.

From motivating the sales staff to weeding out unproductive sales practices, these gurus of marketing are good at the entire gamut of sales related activities. These pros not only perform what sales managers can but they also do some more such as:

• Sales training consultants can present the much emphasized out-of-the-box thinking.

• They can develop better rapport with the sales staff by their friendly and easy manners. It has been observed that sales personnel trust sales training consultants and open up about their problems.

• They can call a spade a spade when it comes to honest analysis as they are not on the pay roll of the hiring firm.

So, hire a sales training consultant to boost your sales with the use of tested and proven methods.

The Principles of Professional Selling

The sales profession is the highest paying hard work and the lowest paying easy work. Virtually, the sky is the limit in earning potential in sales. So it’s obvious that such a profession would require a disciplined and professional approach. A casual and halfhearted approach would only result in lost opportunities and revenues in this field. To rise in sales your approach has to be thoroughly professional. In fact, the more professional you are in your approach the more money you can make. The professional approach to sales is based on certain principles that anybody can follow and master easily.

The Professional Approach

An ordinary approach to sales is what produces mediocre sales people. A professional approach on the other hand transforms an ordinary sales person into a super achiever.

1.Being Assertive and Selling with Dignity
A professional sales person is assertive. They operate from a position of integrity and strength. They are neither aggressive nor submissive. They treat their customers well and in turn get treated well too. An ordinary sales person may allow the client to take them for a ride or be unnecessarily rude to the client, thereby losing the opportunity to make a sale. An unprofessional approach to sales also means allowing the client to be rude with you. It doesn’t matter much if you make the sale but lose your self-esteem. This is not so for the professional sales person. A professional sales person creates win-win situations for both the customer and himself. A professional person sells with dignity.

2.Doing Homework Well
A professional sales person does their homework well before calling prospects or meeting them in person. Even the process of prospecting is done with a professional approach. Bigger prospects are typically given more weight than smaller ones. But all prospects that provide even the smallest sales opportunity are taken in to account. They find out everything that needs to be known about the prospect and sets about calling or meeting them.

3.A Cool Attitude
The attitude and mannerisms of a professional sales person is cool, calm, and self-assured. They should talk in calm voice and at an unhurried pace.

4.Professional Turn Out
Attire and appearance speak a lot about professionalism. A personal sales person is smartly dressed. They maintain their mental and physical fitness and acts with honesty and integrity. The old sales adage is “who you are speaks so loudly, of course I can’t hear what you are saying”. Who we act, dress and communicate, both verbally and non-verbally influences our success with prospects.

5. Proper Ettiquette
You wouldn’t interrupt the customer while they are talking. You would rather listen to the customer intently. Make note of the customer’s requirements. Note the objections very clearly.

6.Talking About the Needs of the Customer
A professional sales person knows that the customer is more interested in themselves. A customer is least bothered if a salesman meets their sales target or not. They don’t even care to talk on the phone for more than one minute if there is no mention of their needs. A professional sales person knows about this. They tailor the sales presentation to suit the needs of the customer. When their turn comes to talk, a professional sales person talks in a clear and pleasant tone.

7.Remove objections This is where the cool and professional approach comes to the fore. You remove objections so swiftly that the customer doesn’t even realize that they were ever listening to a sales person. The customer feels as if it was their trusted friend that was removing doubts.

8. Closing Deals
A professional sales person knows when to talk and when to stop. They don’t keep rattling on when there is no need to. You also don’t rush in to close a deal. Your timing is perfect like the drop volley of an ace tennis player. Once you sense the close is approaching you cease the opportunity swiftly and ends the deal with a warm smile and a handshake.

9.Honoring Commitments
A sincere salesman only commits what they can deliver. You don’t over-promise and under-deliver. That’s a professional approach. A professional sales person would say, “Perhaps we can give you a maximum reduction of 12.5%”. And you would give at least a 12.5% reduction, not less than that. You promise less and deliver more. You wouldn’t promise a reduction of 15% to the client and retract his commitment.

10.Punctual Service A customer’s time is very important. A professional sales person keeps this in mind and honors every appointment as per schedule. You wait for the customer and never keep the customer waiting for him.

11.Doesn’t Give Up
A professional sales person doesn’t give up easily. A ‘NO’ for this person is a signal to try harder. try
12.Looking For More Customers
When one sale has been made with a customer, a professional sales person takes it as just the beginning. You know the same customer may buy more or provide many referrals later.

Optimism and stick-to-itiveness are the traits of professional sales people. Professionalism in sales involves paying attention to the details. That’s where ordinary sales people falter and professional sales people excel.