Sales Coaching

As a Sales leader/manager, you want your salespeople to be motivated about their sales goals, to work towards their goals and the company goal, and to go the extra mile to reach beyond these goals. You also want them to be motivated about their overall performance on an ongoing basis. The hard part is identifying how to motivate salespeople. There are a number of obstacles to overcome when influencing others through motivation. Follow these Sales Motivation tips below to help guide you to that process.

First of all, not only is everyone different, but we have different motivations. Secondly, those motivations can change very quickly, as can their intensity. You may feel charged up and ready to face any challenge your job offers after a raise, bonus, or some other form of positive recognition. That intense drive may not be there all the time.

To be a successful sales leader/manager, you must be adept at identifying dominant motivations and recognising motivation signals. No leader has ever been able to motivate everyone 100 percent of the time. Your objective is to increase each of your salesperson’s motivation to at least achieve sales goals. That might mean taking someone who is operating at 85 percent and getting them to a 90 percent level, or it may mean increasing a salesperson’s motivation from 40 percent to 80 percent.

Top 5 Sales Motivation Tips:

1. Positive Praise
2. Public Compliments
3. Set Personal Weekly/Monthly Goals
4. Celebrate Success Every Day
5. Remove the Negative Noise

1. Positive Praise

Getting straight to the point and praising someone for the work they have done, nothing has a stronger impact on someone’s performance than praising them directly. What they did well, Why they did well and How they did well.

2. Public Compliments

Highlighting the positive work done by someone to others will drive everyone to a higher level of performance. The key to this tip is, it has to be a genuine compliment, otherwise peers will see it as picking a team favourite.

3. Set Personal Weekly/Monthly Goals

What builds momentum? Momentum builds Momentum. By setting smaller personal goals you can actually accomplish and that lies solely on you, helps you feel better and will in turn help you achieve even bigger results.

4. Celebrate Success Every Day

Before heading home at the end of each day, look back at the work you have done, what you have a achieved and congratulate yourself for the most significant thing you accomplished during that day. It doesn’t matter how small it may have been. Never end the day without feeling good about it. Doing so will help you begin the next day in a much better frame of mind.

5. Remove the Negative Noise

Don’t allow anxiety, negative voices, and bad thoughts enter your mind space. Whether the noises come from an unhappy employee or “water cooler” talk, don’t allow it to impact your day. Avoid them completely if possible, and if you are exposed to them, immediately seek out someone positive to move you back to a positive outlook.

Top 5 Sales Motivation Mistakes:

1. Trying to do everything at once – Don’t think you can tackle the biggest goal or sale quickly. It will only set you up for failure.

2. Dwelling on what didn’t work – The sooner you forget about what didn’t work, the sooner you can focus on what will work, it’s ok to make mistakes.

3. Calling a close friend when you have a bad sales call – Too many salespeople when they come out of a bad sales call will call their spouse or mother as a way of gaining sympathy. Don’t do it. When you do this, they will only validate your beliefs. Instead, when you have a call that goes bad, pick up the phone and call one of your favourite customers and let them pick you up.

4. Trying to sell to people who can’t buy – It might make you feel good right now, but in the end it will only serve to suck the energy out of you.

5. Not having a plan – Thinking you can either “wing it” or somehow figure things out as you go day in and day out is not wise. Doing so will only allow you to waste a tremendous amount of time. Sure, you may have the feeling you’re busy, but you won’t accomplish anything.