How do you create a motivated sales team in spite of the economy?
Is it impossible to have motivated sales personnel in today’s economy? We think not and we believe we can show you how to get your sales personnel not only motivated but actually enthusiastic about selling your products and services regardless of economic conditions.
The challenges of creating a motivated, productive team
Very often executives talk about the need to “motivate” their employees. This is very important, especially with sales people. Highly motivated employees can accomplish much more than employees that are just there for a job. This seems obvious, so why do so many executives and business owners still talk about the need to motivate their employees? Is there a force working against a highly motivated team?
News Media influence on you, your employees and society
Let us start with society. The News Media has a major influence on society, and can influence how someone feels based on the chosen information they broadcast and how they present it. Unfortunately, it is mostly bad news and this adds up and can negatively influence people. How much bad or negative information do you hear in one day from the radio, TV or internet? When was the last time you heard some good news on the radio, TV or internet? Even if you do finally hear something good, it is followed by a “but…” and then more bad news follows.
Today’s media continuously lets the society know that it is “ok to fail” because of a variety of reasons with the built in justification that life is not within our control. This media influence creates a society that continually accepts compromises and tries to live their lives within the supposed restrictions of the environment.
Unfortunately, your employees do not watch a different News Media than the society at large. There is no “good news” channel that your personnel or sales team can switch to so they are not affected by the bad news of the main stream media machine. Because of this, you in the role of the sales team leader, executive or business owner are constantly working to overcome this bad news.
You are working hard to overcome the society agreement that says “it is ok to fail in this economy.”
The external influence on you, the executive or business owner.
Executives do not have the luxury to blame poor performance on “the economy” or anything else. Executives are paid to overcome the economic and environmental conditions and improve performance regardless. Most business owners and executives started their career with the viewpoint that they could handle anything and were going to be successful no matter what. This is why they are executives and business owners!
Society hopes and needs them to maintain this point of view in any economic environment.
The problem is that over time, many bad days, months or years start to build up and we forget why we became a business owner or executive in the first place. We can lose sight of our dreams. If your original passion, drive and purpose have “faded” then realize the effect of the media machine may be exerting on you and others.
How do we get our personnel and sales staff motivated?
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- Start with yourself.Think back to when you were a kid and your parents told you, you could not do something. What did you do? Did it anyway of course! Life was ahead of you and you were creating it in your own way. So what happened? You grew up and then had “real problems”. Suddenly you developed some considerations along the way. You must realize that those problems and considerations are not “you.” You are the person who figures things out and gets things done! This is why you have accomplished so much in your life.So take a fresh look for yourself. What are you really trying to accomplish? Where are you going? Re-look at your goals and set them up again. This is the foundation to maintaining your own personal motivation. As the executive or business owner, your motivation is the most critical factor in the organization. Your employees are looking to you for leadership and have set you up as the example to follow. If you feel it is ok to agree with the society at large, and fail, then your staff will catch onto this and feel that way too.On the other hand if you feel you have a good solid strategy and can be successful in spite of the economy, your staff will feel this too. You lead them toward success no matter the environment. If you cannot maintain a high level of motivation, then how can you expect your employees to do so? It all starts with you!
- Surround yourself with people that support your goals and dreams.Take a fresh look at those individuals in your environment that you rely on for support. Do they support your goals and dreams? Do they maintain a positive outlook in spite of barriers in the environment? Ensure that you surround yourself with those that support your goals and dreams completely, otherwise you will have to constantly compensate for their lack of support and this in itself can be exhausting!
- Become interested in your employees goals and dreams.Many of your employees may think they are just focused on making money to survive but you will get so much more out of those employees who have some kind of purpose, goal or dream in mind as they work. How do you get your employees to recognize their goals and dreams and get them to align with your business?Do the following:a. Establish a basic line of communication with each of your immediate personnel and ask them what they are working for in the first place.
b. If “money” is given as the reason for their career then ask “what will you do with the money once you have it?” There will be the real passion, goals and dreams for the business or their career.
c. Find out how they measure success.
d. Next align your employee’s personal goals and dreams with the success of the business. If the business does well and expands in spite of the economy, how does this affect the goals and dreams of each of your employees?
e. With this alignment in place, you will be able to more easily get agreement to meet the expansion goals for your company and/or sales department. - You must discuss the accomplishments toward the goals and dreams regularly.
The easiest and most often thing to do given the tough economy is to talk about what didn’t go right, all those things that went wrong and everything that did not get done. You can get people to talk about these points all day and accomplish nothing.
The key is what DID go right, what you DID get done! You have to talk about this progress and show accomplishment toward the businesses goals and dreams on a regular basis. What part of the strategy did get completed? This will help keep both you and -your employees focused and reaching towards a coordinated goal.
On a regular basis ensure you discuss those things that did go right, that got done and re-enforce what has been accomplished in the overall strategy.
Remember, bad news from the News Media never lets up; it is a relentless stream of reasons to fail. You must get in there and pitch the goals, dreams and the “rightness’s” towards all of these things, daily if possible, all the while keeping your staff motivated and on the right track.
Summary: You are the hope of your employees and colleagues that goals and dreams are still possible. This is definitely a big responsibility, but a challenge that is worth it!
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