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Motivated Sellers: 5 Creative Ways to Challenge Your Sales Team

Anica Oaks

May 18, 2017

No matter what business you're in, selling your goods or services is important. Your sales team, therefore, is among the most critical components of your business and its continued success. The better your sales team performs, the more money your business will make and the more clients it will have. This is why it's important to motivate your sales team at every opportunity. Here are five creative ways to challenge your sales team to close more sales, acquire more customers and deliver better performance.

Offer a Commission on Sales

If you really want to spur sales, one of the best ways is to get your sales team members personally invested in closing is by offering them commission pay. Though it will cost you a percentage of your profits, offering commissions can make up for it by encouraging your salespeople to generate a higher volume of sales and increase the total value of the average sale.

Turn Selling into a Game

Like almost any other kind of goal, an easy way to get people to work toward your sales goals is to turn it into a game. Once you've set a goal, let your sales team know about it, and track each member's performance, thus turning it into a game to see who can meet and who can break your goals. A simple way to do this is with resources like Salesforce gamification. Through Salesforce, team members can track their own activities and see how they are doing in comparison to the goals you've set.

Reward Your Team at the End of the Month

If you want your sales team to perform at its best, you should offer some incentives. A simple but very effective way to do this is to schedule a lunch event at the end of the month if the sales goals are met or exceeded. It doesn't have to be too fancy, but hosting a barbecue or pizza party is a good way to incentivize your team and reward them for a job well done.

Post Your Team's Stats

Most people are, to some degree, competitive by nature. Using that to your advantage can mean more and larger sales. As your teams sells, post the results of their sales somewhere that all of the team members can see how they are doing in comparison to others. This will encourage friendly competition among your team members and drive them to produce more and larger sales to keep up with everyone else.

Extend Small Perks for Top Sellers

Though you shouldn't devalue members of your sales team who aren't the highest sellers, there's nothing wrong with offering small perks to the ones who bring in the most money. Simple things, like an extra day of vacation time or being taken out to lunch by you on a given day, can give sellers the added push they need to bolster their numbers. You shouldn't make the rewards too grandiose, however, or the other members of your team might begin to resent it.

At the end of the day, motivating your sales team is all about giving them a reason to do their best and creating an atmosphere of friendly competition. Be careful not to let things get too competitive, though. If you exert too much pressure on your salespeople, you'll actually be hurting their ability to sell, rather than helping it.

Above all, be sure to recognize and encourage every member of your sales team. People who work in environments where they feel appreciated are more likely to perform well than those who don't, so don't forget to let every salesperson know he or she is a valued member of your team.

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