re-charge your tired Sales Team

Tiredness & Complacency is a widespread & difficult problem to manage in sales. So often, when a really good salesperson has been in a company & same territory for too long, complacency sets in. The challenge facing the Sales Manager is – a) do I move the salesperson to another area & risk upsetting long developed relationships or b) do I keep the salesperson in the area & try & re-charge their mojo?

The core of the issue is that when a salesperson reaches a comfort point & are getting along just fine with a Customer base, they tend to get comfortable. Sure they’ll try to sell a little more to their current Customers, but as long as they’re hitting their sales numbers they’re comfortable.

?So how does a Sales Manager re-motivate this old dog? How do you get your salespeople to go out & call on new accounts & develop new business? It’s a constant battle.

Incentives

Traditionally, companies encourage salespeople with rewards for exceeding targets. Some resort to extra special incentives such as cash bonuses, create competitions & even offer luxurious holidays.??In fact 70% of companies use incentives or bonuses to get the most out of their sales staff.

The problem with sales incentives is that the best salespeople always seem to win the competitions! They are the staff already driving for more. These incentives often don’t appear to motivate the mediocre salespeople or even more concerning, those salespeople who have reached that plateau of their comfort zone.

An alternative “motivation”

If money-based incentives programmes still do not drive salespeople to perform, it’s best for to change their sales staff’s behaviour by instilling some discontent. You could also change their territory/Customer base. Most effective is to change their commission structure, making it more strenuous to earn an income that they have to produce more to be content. A very unpopular call!

A Different Generation

Enter the millennials!

Today’s salespeople, the 20 to 30-year olds coming into the business are not nearly as motivated by money as the older generation was. The mistake many managers make is failing to understand this. This new generation of salespeople connects far better with a company willing to invest in their careers. ?

They expect their employers to invest in training & educating them.

Education

Often, developing sales skills can also help boost sales from a complacent salesperson. ?Fact is, many experienced salespeople have never been taught the basics of sales. Over the years, they were just expected to pick it up on their own. ?

Commission or salary

Many companies are still unsure of the right sales compensation plan that can truly motivate sales staff & maximise sales performance, on an ongoing basis.

Commission is the most common & traditional way companies try to motivate salespeople - especially veteran team members. The biggest advantage with commission is that it gives sales employees an incentive to work harder for their pay cheque. But commission also presents its own problems. Only the top 5% of any sales force are driven to succeed – & would anyway, regardless of the type of package. The rest will plateau at an income level they are comfortable with.

A salary based package is usually offered to new or inexperienced sales members while they find their feet. Paying salespeople a salary can often make the salesperson more effective, thereby providing a better purchasing experience for the Customer. It also provides stability. These salespeople enjoy not having to worry about a variable monthly income & can just do their job. Salaried salespeople are converted into consulting experts rather than pressured salespeople. A Customer will realize that they will not be pressured into a purchase they do not need as the salesperson won’t earn more from the sale. On the flip side, salaries can make for a pay ceiling & limit the amount a salesperson could potentially earn & make them complacent.

Summary

There is no simple answer to overcome complacent commissioned or salaried salespeople, but what probably is best is a combination of salary & commission. Once you have an incentive in place for anyone exceeding their budget, you are also quite in your right to introduce a penalty system for those too complacent to push for more sales growth.

The biggest sales motivator is a carrot & stick reward. That is, setting a clear expectation in the form of an achievable target. Exceeding it produces a reward; failure to achieve it, a penalty.

Remember, like anyone else in the business, a salesperson is employed to do a job. And in their case it is to deliver an expected sales number. Set the budget, based on a realistic expectation & hold the salesperson responsible & accountable for achieving their number.

Best wishes with your sales!