The question of how to motivate sales reps when numbers are down has been around for a while.
If you’re asking the same question, keep reading.
You’re about to learn how to motivate sales reps and teams across your entire sales organization.
Why You Need to Motivate Sales Teams and Reps
Motivating your sales reps is important because your reps help you drive company growth each and every day. While doing this, they face rejection, tough competition, and high quotas.
Without motivating them, they’re more likely to burn out. But if you’re motivating sales reps effectively, they’re more likely to push past objections, close more deals, and build client relationships.
18 Ways to Motivate Sales Team
These are the 18 best ways you can motivate sales teams, all of which we will cover in more detail below:
- Implement a SPIF
- Publicize President’s Club
- Develop Strong Sales Compensation Plans
- Pay Reps as Soon as Possible
- Reconsider Your Incentive Strategy
- Set Clear Goals and Incentives
- Implement Commission Accelerators
- Run Internal Contests
- Share Reps’ Performance
- Use Stacked Rankings
- Personalize Recognition
- Use Gamification
- Provide Leadership Development Opportunities
- Create Mentorship Program
- Give Sales Reps Increased Visibility
- Use the Right Tools
- Invest in Company Culture
- Create a Supportive Culture
Traditional Ideas for Motivating Sales Teams
Here are some of the most common and traditional ways of motivating sales teams.
1. Implement a SPIF
A SPIF is a short-term incentive program many organizations use when they want to motivate sales reps to sell a certain product or do a certain action.
When used the right way, a SPIF blends seamlessly with the rest of a rep’s incentive compensation without heavily distracting them from their main metrics.
For example:
If you wanted prospects to attend a company event, but the registration was sluggish, you could offer reps a gift card for each person they sign up.
2. Publicize President’s Club
A “President's Club” is an exclusive annual incentive trip awarded only to your highest-performing sales reps. Because it publicizes the reward, you create a culture of high achievement among your reps, which significantly improves motivation.
Note: If reps can visualize the reward and see their peers getting closer, it fuels their drive to do the same.
3. Develop Strong Sales Compensation Plans
Sales compensation plans are one of the most direct ways to motivate your team and encourage the behaviors that drive revenue.
If you want your reps to consistently perform at their highest level, they need a compensation plan that is accurate, transparent, and fair. The reason is that if your reps see a chance at success through their compensation plan, they're more motivated to sell.
Note: Reward programs only make the reps happy the day that they get the payout. Sales comp plans keep the motivation going.
4. Pay Reps as Soon as Possible
When your sales reps make a sale, they want to be compensated.
Simple enough, right?
The quicker you pay out commissions, the more you motivate your reps.
Paying a sales rep in March for a February deal motivates them and encourages future performance. But if you’re paying them in May for a sale in February, reps might be discouraged.
To motivate your sales team, pay them as quickly as possible once they close the deal.
5. Reconsider Your Incentive Strategy
Your sales reps' success should be aligned with the company’s bottom line.
Doing this sends a clear message: what’s good for them is good for the business, even if you’re paying more in commission.
If your strategy is sound, the revenue generated from that deal will far outweigh the payout.
6. Set Clear Goals and Incentives
Reverse-engineering quotas to determine the necessary pipeline for revenue is a strategy that you can also use to motivate reps.
Once you have those targets set, you can establish clear goals and tailor incentives to motivate sales reps and teams.
7. Implement Commission Accelerators
Accelerators are just what the name implies: they accelerate progress by motivating reps.
If you use a tiered commission structure where the payout percentage increases once a rep hits 100% of their quota, you can encourage top performers to keep pushing rather than coasting at the end of the month.
How to Motivate Sales Reps Without Money
Another thing to consider is that not all reps are solely motivated by money. And that’s a good thing, because there are a lot of non-cash rewards you can use.
Here are a few ideas on how to motivate sales reps without spending more.
8. Run Internal Contests
Sometimes, the prize doesn’t matter nearly as much as the glory. Motivating sales teams with contests can also be an effective motivator.
Just follow these two rules:
- The entire company should know about it.
- The prize can’t be cash.
Then, run the contests to see who can get the most people registered for an event, who can make the most calls in one day, or who can uncover the most sales-qualified leads.
At the end of the contest, the top sales reps get a non-cash incentive and the satisfaction of being the best.
9. Share Reps’ Performance
Sales reps are competitive by nature, so publicizing their performance can go far in motivating them.
You can hang up a picture of the top sales rep that week or month, or you could host a quarterly call or meeting that gives special recognition to the top reps in the quarter.
Getting accolades in front of peers is often an important motivating factor for sales reps.
Note: Sharing motivational sales stories can also help reps think differently and ignite positive behavior.
10. Use Stacked Rankings
Sales reps compete by nature, but if they see a stacked weekly leaderboard or report without their name at the top of the list, it’s like they’re going to be extra motivated to improve their positioning the following week. You can also combine this with other ways of motivating reps for a compounded effect.
11. Personalize Recognition
While standard recognition and praise positively impact sales team motivation, personalizing that praise takes it to the next level. Take the time to learn how each rep prefers to be acknowledged.
Some reps thrive on a public shoutout in a team channel or meeting, as we discussed above, but others prefer a quiet, sincere note from their manager or a tailored message that makes it feel genuine.
12. Use Gamification
Gamification is another way you can motivate your sales reps, and it’s one that has become increasingly popular. This includes using a point system to calculate sales activities, such as calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages.
By gamifying sales pipelines, sales reps become more motivated to increase their activities and strive for higher conversion rates –and compete against their peers.
13. Provide Leadership Development Opportunities
You can also motivate your sales reps without money through leadership development opportunities. Providing sales reps with professional growth opportunities is beneficial for individual career growth, the organization’s success, and company culture.
Note: Some individuals may naturally gravitate towards leadership roles and development, but encouraging all members to have a growth mindset and play a part in getting better through coaching and collaboration is a recipe for success for both the individual and the team.
14. Create Mentorship Programs
Mentorship programs offer two ways of motivating your sales teams without spending money.
The veteran gains valuable leadership experience and praise from the rep, and the newer rep receives support and a clear path for growth. As a result, both the veteran and new rep feel more motivated to succeed.
Extra Tip: Combine this with another idea to increase motivation even more.
How to Motivate Sales Reps When Sales Are Down
Even when sales are low, it’s possible to figure out how to motivate your sales reps. Here are a few ways you can motivate your sales teams and reps when sales are down.
15. Give Sales Reps Increased Visibility
Many reps are visual learners and understand things better when they see them, rather than reading them in a report. Why not give them access to their numbers and total future potential earnings?
This increased visibility motivates reps by giving them a clear understanding of how much they can earn from specific deals in sales territories.
Extra Tip: Use an Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) software that can adjust sales quotas, territories, and compensation plans in real-time. It makes motivating sales reps even easier.
16. Use the Right Tools
In order to motivate your sales reps, you have to provide them with the right tools. CRMs keep them on track, but you need a platform that can also help them see beyond daily activities to see how their sales impact themselves and the business. That’s how you’re truly going to motivate reps.
Using a Sales Performance Management (SPM) platform allows reps to see exactly how their daily activities translate into earnings. And if you pair this with sales coaching software, you can help leaders deliver personalized feedback that inspires your reps to keep going, even when sales are down.
17. Invest in Company Culture
Culture starts from the top down and is an important piece of motivating sales teams.
It’s not always about the amount reps can earn. Sometimes, you can motivate sales reps more when they feel happy, supported, and inspired by the company they work for.
Remember: Sales reps who are paid well won’t t give their full effort to an organization they feel doesn’t support them.
18. Create a Supportive Culture
Never underestimate the impact of a supportive sales culture. When leaders actively advocate for their sellers, they create trust that lets reps focus on what they do best: selling to customers.
That foundation element is a sales team that motivates teams to not only hit quotas but also blow past them.
How Xactly Helps You Motivate Sales Reps
Xactly’s Intelligent Revenue Platform can give your reps more visibility and help reps stay motivated to increase sales performance.
Here’s how our specific software helps motivate sales teams:
- Incentive Compensation Management Software: Automates compensation management to give reps real-time visibility into their payouts.
- Sales Forecasting Software: Uses AI to manage pipelines and guide sellers on the best next steps for their active deals.
- Sales Territory Mapping Software: Uses data and interactive mapping to build and divide equitable, balanced sales territories.
Motivate Your Sales Reps with Xactly
Ready to get your sales reps motivated and improve sales performance?
