5 Ways to Show Your Sales Team Some Love this Week

Valentine’s Day is here again. Now I know some of you may associate this holiday with sending over-priced flowers, booking reservations a month in advanced for a lackluster prix-fixed meal or being not-so-gently reminded that you’re single (Hey, I used to be a Valentine’s Day hater myself). But then I came to the realization that any opportunity to show appreciation for those people you care about is worthwhile.

If you’re managing a sales team, Valentine’s Day seems as good a time as any to reflect on some ways to show your sales team some love. Not long ago, Facebook conducted a company-wide analysis of around 10,000 employees to  discover what managerial qualities resulted in the highest levels of satisfaction and engagement. From that study, here are five ways that you can help your sales reps enjoy their job more.

Arm Reps with Killer Case Studies

Powerful case studies may be the most powerful tools you can give your sales reps. A great case study not only demonstrates your solution’s value, but also can build instant credibility. After all, if a company similar to your prospect’s has achieved great results with your offering, chances are your prospect will see those results too. So work closely with your marketing team to generate as many case studies as possible. Most importantly, make sure that those case studies are easily accessible so that reps know the correct context to use each case study. As an example, I put case studies in Salesforce libraries that are clearly segmented by industry, product features and buyer persona.

Set Clear Goals

Always make sure that reps always know what’s expected of them. And be sure that, when setting a quota, that it’s an attainable quota. If your reps are consistently falling short of their quota, you need to revisit their quota to ensure that it’s genuinely possible to achieve that goal (without utter burnout). The last thing you want is to lose a solid revenue producer by setting an unachievable quota.

Provide Helpful Tools

One of the best ways to make your reps more productive (and happier overall) is by automating mundane tasks. Look for tools that can automate mundane tasks like logging data or dialing prospects. The more time reps can spend actually selling, the happier their going to be (and the more revenue they’ll produce).

Give Frequent Feedback

Reps—well good ones, anyway—want feedback so long as it’s constructive. After all, if you’re a decent manager, you likely have some insight that can help them create more opportunities and close more revenue. It’s good to provide reps with feedback early and often. A lot of successful sales managers have told me that they regularly schedule meetings with reps where they listen to some select recordings of calls and then offer feedback. The trick is to focus on improving only one or two skills at a time. As an example, by listening to recordings, you might notice that a rep is pitching without asking a prospect enough questions about their business. You could then help that rep by identifying some key discovery/qualification questions to ask prospects.

Recognize Great Work

When reps are kicking butt, make sure they know that their efforts are appreciated. SDRs often have to spend 6 hours prospecting in order to generate a single meeting. It’s all too easy burn out unless wins feel like wins. Spiffs and friendly competitions can help motivate your team members. But so can simply congratulating them on a job well done.

Looking for some more ways to motivate your team? Check out our eBook The 90-Day Inside Sales Success Plan.