The earlier you invest in your sales team’s performance, the more motivated they’ll feel to put that time back into your company. SDRs reach burnout within 15 months and will spend 40, 50, or 60 hours per week on a job.
Colleen Stanley says “treat your salesperson like your most important customer”. If all of that hard work only brings in a paycheck, they won’t feel valued. Sales leaders must learn sales motivation tactics and help employees become investors in themselves.
Let’s review some sales motivation tips from experts to sharpen your leadership.
Reward SDRs for going above and beyond
Sales motivation quote: “Don’t expect motivation every day. Count on Discipline.” – Jocko Willink
There are two types of sales development reps: the ones that come in and get the job done, and the ones who go above and beyond.
When an SDR is working on the weekends or coming in late at night, you as a sales leader should acknowledge this and make a big point to thank them. Time and effort are the only factors a salesperson can control, so pay attention to the ones who give it their all.
And when it’s time for promotion and you have two SDRs that are neck and neck performance-wise, the one who put in extra hours will be at the top of your list.
Promote teamwork over ego
SDRs find themselves in a dilemma. On one hand, they’re supposed to be competitive and surpass their coworkers. On the other hand, they’re taught to play fair and work as a team.
In the usual sales environment, lone wolf SDRs could end up slowing down their progress and not growing with the team. They may also harbor jealousy when they see newbies inch towards a position they want.
Here’s a sales motivation tip, pair them up to learn from each other – even teammates they may be competing with.
If a new salesperson is brought in externally and you think they have the chops to educate someone more senior, encourage and promote this in your culture.
Build a stronger relationship between SDRs and Account Executives
Sales development reps and account executives have a symbiotic relationship. SDRs bring in the prospects, and AE’s close the deal. There’s nothing more impressive than an SDR knowing their metrics, it’s even better when they know what deals AE’s are working on.
When leaders encourage their SDRs to learn more about the deals AEs are working on, SDRs can plan their schedule to meet AE quotas and become a greater asset. In the future, when you’re looking to bring an SDR into a closer role, the one who worked closely with account executives, helped them build accounts, and understands their job will be the default choice.
Push for 1-on-1 coaching after office hours
Sometimes an SDR’s perception is off.
They’re putting in long hours, they think they are crushing it, but they’re not performing well.
During reviews, you sit them down and realize they:
- Fumble when handling objections
- Lack confidence during calls
- Still don’t “get” your product
Some of the best sales motivation stories suggest SDRs link up with an AE they admire and offer to pay for a lunch where they pick their brain. When your team proactively receives coaching outside of work, they take ownership of their performance. A mindset shift takes place, and they can model themselves after more successful players.
Check if your sales prospecting tools are up to par
Sales motivation quote: “Expect to make some mistakes when trying different approaches.” – Harvey Mackay
Prospecting can feel cumbersome when sales reps see how much further down the funnel they need to go to actually make a sale. It can leave them thinking they’re doing grunt work.
Select the right prospecting tool to increase sales motivation, in this case, a B2B lead enrichment software. When hunting for prospects on Linkedin, Lusha’s Chrome extension locates their updated contact information and saves it directly to your CRM. Cutting down on time your SDRs prospect or manually search for contact data through random Google searches will help them eliminate guesswork and add more prospects (plus updated contact data) to your database. And that’s a win-win for everyone.
Leading your sales team to success isn’t about the numbers
Focus on the right metrics
Just like any sales manager, I am typically laser focused on closed bookings and quarterly quota.
I still think those are two of the most important metrics for a sales team.
But focusing purely on the target can create temporary tunnel vision (at best), and does not paint a full picture of how the target was achieved (at worst).
Since repeating the target is the ultimate goal, knowing how it was completed is almost as important as reaching it in the first place.
If quarterly quota is the lagging measure, focusing on sales activities that closed a particular deal should tell the story of how the quota was met. From there, I can focus on equipping my team to accomplish a similar goal.
The right metrics, then, should correlate sales activities and closed revenue in order to build out a repeatable model. They should also provide feedback for how I spend my time and effort directly supporting deals that close. On the flip side, relying on trailing indicators for sales performance denies the opportunity to recognize divergence and take corrective action early on.
The earlier action is taken, the sooner recovery can take place.
Start by identifying the business processes that the lag measure correlates to. Some explanatory variables include:
- Productivity: Look at stats like calls, emails, meetings and proposals sent. These shouldn’t be performance indicators on their own; instead, look at the numbers in relation to deals closed.
- Sales Funnel: Where is your sales funnel optimal? Where does it need work? Look at the number of leads to opportunities, number of opportunities to closed, etc. For example: if the breakdown is between leads and opportunities, what can you do to enrich your lead engagement?
- Sales Performance: Win rate and quotas are important, but don’t forget about stats like sales velocity. For your salesperson with the highest sales velocity, take a closer look at how they spend their time and how they manage to stay so productive.
Be as granular as possible in this research. Then, once you know your critical metrics, put the tools in place to not only track them but also communicate them to your team (more on that below).
Don’t forget the human
Once you’ve determined your clear set of leading sales indicators, the next natural step is share this insight with your sales team. Metrics aren’t just for managers; to get the most out of your numbers, it is vital to effectively communicate the how and the why of these numbers to all team members.
For starters, create a dashboard where the team can track progress against leading indicator targets and engage each other along the way. A crystalized picture of sales progress sets the stage for both communication within the team and sales coaching between you and your salespeople.
But what about going beyond the numbers?
To compliment the leading indicator strategy, you should also develop a sales coaching approach that enables your sales team to hit the predetermined targets. The key to this approach? A well defined and robust sales playbook that goes beyond cold calling scripts.
A playbook for redoubled sales coaching should include:
- Products knowledge: It should go without saying that your sales team should have an intimate knowledge of how your product works. In the playbook, include everything from surprising features to potential limitations.
- Articulated value propositions: A great sales team should be well versed in the value prop for every ideal customer profile. Instead of parroting sales speak, work on enabling your sales team to tailor each value prop for specific customers.
- Competitive knowledge: How does your competition do it better? How is their offering worse? Avoid tunnel vision; the broader your team’s field of understanding, the better their sales pitches.
- Objection handling and FAQs: Get ahead of the curb by equipping your team with the questions and doubts their prospects likely already have. Make it as specific as possible.
Beyond the playbook, sales coaching is not all talking points and Tweetable aphorisms.
To coach your sales team on success, your approach needs to go much deeper and be much more collaborative than that.
Bookend your approaches: ask your sales reps effective questions first (“How are you using this tool?”) but don’t be afraid to hold them accountable down the line. Use your best sales reps to come up with examples of best practices and train others. And never, never resist self-evaluation; constantly ask what is going well and what you could be doing better.
Questions
There’s no shortage of SaaS and nifty tools for the modern salesforce. How can you know which are the right options for your sales team?
Start by asking good questions right off the bat. How questions.
Whether you’re perusing user reviews or watching a product demo, keep these questions at the forefront of your mind:
- How will this improve our team’s current process?
- How will my sales team use this on a daily basis?
- How long will it take to go from training mode to beast mode?
- How will the tool translate into performance?
- How far will the tool go toward meeting our ideal sales metrics?
The last thing you want is to make your team feel like you’re just throwing more at them. If you’re not convinced the tool is the best for the job, your sales team won’t be either.
Bonus: Build healthy habits into your incentives
Bill Hettler, the co-founder of the National Wellness Institute, names the 7 dimensions of happiness in the workplace: social, emotional, spiritual, environmental, occupational, intellectual, and physical wellbeing.
Instead of passing out time-wasting iPads, how about:
- Memberships to a gym or sports club
- Spiritual or mindset coaching retreats
- A 2-day vacation to spend time with family
- Group activities, like jet skiing or hiking
It’ll shape them into a well-rounded, balanced sales team member and promote a healthier mindset and employee morale.
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