How To Engage Your Sales Teams

Raise your hands if you enjoy being micromanaged. Nobody? If nobody likes it, why are managers still doing it? It’s because their techniques are due for an update and renewal!

Some say that motivation is built alongside trust and that those team members who feel trusted are more aligned with the company mission, making them feel free to do their best work. That begs the question - how do managers create trust?

• Nurture talent and offer opportunities to shine
• Be consistent in your communication
• Remain transparent and keep people involved in decisions
• Talk about trust openly
• Ask sales staff how they can feel more trusted as individuals
• Be a leader, not a boss

Find the overlap between personal goals and business goals

This point is key. Engagement is not only found in trust, but also in the place where the head and the heart meet. Someone who loves their work but is underpaid will not be motivated. Someone who is overpaid and hates their work will not be motivated. Someone who wants to progress their career but feels they have hit a perceived ceiling will not be motivated (and will most likely leave). So, what can you do?

The best way to get the head and the heart aligned is to create fulfilling work that also achieves other goals. Perhaps there are certifications and qualifications that can be provided alongside the job. A structured bonus system can help those looking to earn more from their work. Some people want to know they’re doing good in the world through their job. 

It’s your job as a leader to sit down with each member of your sales team and ask the right questions. One person might be financially motivated, while another wants more freedom. One person might be seeking a promotion, whereas another wants more flexibility for childcare. There is no one-size-fits-all, you have to meet the needs of your people as individuals. 

Set regular goals and track milestones

Some employees are competitive by nature, however, the best way to unlock the potential benefits of this trait is to help them be competitive with themselves and not with other colleagues. You want to build a team of collaborators. 

By setting daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals, team members can align their competitive nature to the calendar. For those who are not competitive, goals and milestones work well too, as it keeps them organised and helps them to find their working rhythm and manage their deadlines. Be sure that team members cannot profit from wronging their colleagues on deals.

Provide top-quality training opportunities

Would you want to work for a company that doesn’t invest in your future, that doesn’t see value in training you, and that doesn’t want to help you unlock your fullest potential in order to grow? Obviously not. So, how, as a leader, do you provide great training opportunities?

You need to consider the following:

• If the training is being done in-house, it needs to be bite-sized, enjoyable, and actionable, because nobody wants long, drawn-out lectures!
• If you’re paying to send someone on an external training course, how is it budgeted for, how is this opportunity provided fairly (in regards to colleagues), and do they actually want to do this training?
• Feedback and personal reviews are forms of training, so don’t for a moment think that giving your colleagues a review is a one-way street - you must be prepared to discuss your report
• Inviting experts to do workshops can be interesting and fun, but you need to consider that some workshops boost skill, whilst others boost morale. Which one do you need your team to work on? A more skilled team may find themselves more engaged, but a team that has just had some fun at work can too. 

Stratx Simulations offer one of the world’s leading training and negotiation simulation software. Our training experience is proven to boost skill and morale, with participants becoming far more engaged as they get to experiment without the pressure of making real errors. It’s a hugely confidence-boosting activity that helps foster a growth mindset, build sustainable selling skills, and improve overall sales competency. 

Offer great benefits, and some say in the matter

Many businesses offer benefits like paid sick days, target-related bonuses, dress-down Fridays, and more. What do staff really want? Time, money, and fulfilment. 

Work with your HR department to build job offer packages and descriptions that really hit the mark, and give new employees options about what benefits they might want to take. One employee might want to work remotely 6 months a year, another might want paid leave to go study, another might want extra holidays, and another might want a more challenging bonus structure. By allowing your sales team to choose not only their benefits when starting their job, but also rewards for meeting particular targets, you’ll find they will be far more engaged.

Verdict: How to engage your sales team

In conclusion, the following points are the key aspects of building an engaged group of salespeople:

• Build trust
• Understand people’s goals
• Set goals
• Provide quality training
• Offer choice of rewards

Of course, you can’t do it all overnight, but it’s a good start to be transparent with your team and tell them what you plan to do. You can involve them in this process (building trust) and ask them what they want (understanding their goals). Talk to them about what they want to learn and how (provide quality training) and how they want to feel a sense of achievement (choice of rewards).