I was delivering my “Motivating with Metrics” session last week to a group of eager managers who were hungry for new ideas. They complained of their tireless efforts to motivate their teams and felt like broken records, continually requesting higher call activity. These managers were frustrated, and asked, “Why should we have to motivate salespeople when sales is what they were hired to do?”
The truth is, inside salespeople need to be motivated — all the time. The Sales Incentive industry is a $40billion industry, which proves that human beings need regular kudos and acknowledgement. Inside sales is no exception. When they hear “It’s a numbers game” on a daily basis, it gets old and demotivating fast.
Think about it. Most of these men and women spend the majority of their waking work life in tiny cubicles with a white board, phone, double monitors, an overhead bookcase, a fluorescent light, and maybe a few family photos, stress toys, and a coffee mug.
When managers are looking to motivate behavior, they usually think of sales contests, spiffs, and blitzs. But visuals matter too — bigtime. Here are two powerful (and easy to find!) visual motivators to consider:
1. The Sales Board. Everyone walks by this board. They study the numbers, they point to it, glance at it, bring their calculator to it. Managers hold team huddles next to it. There are lots of motivational opportunities here with something extra you can write, new thoughts, goals, reminders, winners to announce.
2. TV Sales Monitor. Most inbound and outbound call centers invest in monitors, but how much motivational content lands on these monitors? This area is underutilized and ignored — there is so much room to make a huge impact here. Consider including daily motivational quotes and tips, a fun ”rep of the week” bio with photo, post contest results, include announcements, new hire welcomes, Top 5 sales calls, highest talk time, etc.
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