How to Motivate Your Sales Team: 9 Tried-and-True Strategies

动机不仅仅是文斯·伦巴第（Vince Lombardi）的报价和古怪的海报。这是随着时间的推移持续销售成功的最重要组成部分之一。

As a sales manager or director, you can only influence your team’s sales performance in two dimensions: Their skill set (what they can do) and their motivation (how repeatedly or passionately they do it).

Improving your team’s skill set is a largely objective process. By evaluating current performance metrics and comparing them to a successful end state, you can diagnose what areas need improvement and act accordingly.

但是动机要困难得多。不仅有许多外部因素影响动机，每个人都需要不同的激励措施和动机策略。在作为销售负责人的数十年中，我使用以下策略成功激励了我的团队并推动动力穿越屋顶。

1. Build trust with the people on your team.

动机的基础是信任。如果您的团队不信任您，并且不相信您将自己的最大利益开始，那么他们很难受到他们的工作的启发和驱动。当销售人员没有动力时，除非您对他们的挑战和目标进行公开和诚实的对话，否则您将无法重新启发它们 - 如果没有信任，这种情况根本不会发生。这是一个恶性的或美德的循环。

Managers have to create trust and then maintain it by engaging with their team in a consistent, nurturing fashion. The best way to build trust is to be completely transparent. Simply discussing trust can be a great way of starting off on the right foot.

In my 30-year career, I’ve used one simple soundbite to kick off this conversation. It might seem like a squishy question, but it’s never failed to work. I simply say,“茱莉亚,我想确保我们信任relationship. How can we build trust between us?”

这是非常直接的，这是向团队解释我有兴趣进行业务关系而不是成为老板的好方法。

2.询问您的直接报告，他们喜欢如何管理。

I always tell new team members three important things:

1. Everybody’s personality is different.
2. I want to be an effective manager for your work style and personality.
3. I can modify my behavior to fit your needs. How do you want to be managed?

Just as different prospects will require different selling styles and effective salespeople understand how to adapt to those styles, effective managers understand that the best way to get results out of their team is to fit into their reports’ worlds, instead of forcing one method of communication or strategy on everyone else.

Here are some questions I ask my direct reports to help them figure out what their work style is like:

1. What is the pace of interaction that you prefer? Do you want to meet with me once a week, every other week, or multiple times a week?
2. How do you want me to give you feedback?
3. Do you prefer public or private praise and feedback?
4. 您喜欢哪种反馈？
5. If I hear something amiss, do you want me to tell you, email you, wait until our one-on-one, or something else?
6. If something I do gets on your nerves, will you let me know?

3. Understand your direct reports’ personal and professional goals.

You can’t motivate someone unless you know what drives them. Understand what your direct reports each want to accomplish in their personal and professional lives. This will not only show you the type of person they are, but also give you insight into what things will motivate them the most.

Once you understand their goals, ask them the following questions:

1. Are you motivated right now?
2. 是什么激励您长期？
3. What can you do to motivate yourself?
4. How will I know if you are not motivated?
5. What do you want me to do if you don’t appear motivated?

Even if it seems obvious, you always need to ask. If they can’t tell you the answers to these questions, give them 48 hours to figure it out. Forcing your reps to be self-reflective makes it more likely they’ll give you thoughtful answers, which will be better for you both in the long run.

4.确保它们涵盖基础知识。

销售人员的动力总是会遭受痛苦，而他们不照顾自己。您团队的结果受到 - 甚至可能取决于 - 持续的睡眠，运动和健康的饮食。

Robert Yao, the founder and CEO of EpiFinder, so strongly believes in this idea he’s created a “Robert Yao Hierarchy of Needs.” Whenever someone on his team seems disengaged or demotivated, he shows them the pyramid and asks,“你需要什么更多的呢?”

If they point to “food,” he’ll buy them lunch. If they point to “sleep,” he’ll tell them to take a nap. If they point to “exercise,” he’ll say,“出去走走。”

While you don’t have to take things this far, stressing the importance of a balanced lifestyle will make a sustained difference on your salespeople’s motivation levels.

在HubSpot，我们为员工提供了健身房，大量健康食品和小吃以及午睡室。

5.设定每日，每周和每月目标。

Different salespeople are motivated in different ways. Some people are motivated by team-wide sales contests. Some are driven by quota achievement. Some are motivated by qualitative improvements. Some people are motivated by their impact on the organization. Some people are motivated by money.

您应该考虑每种类型的目标和SPIF（销售绩效激励基金）：

• Daily:This is a very short-term goal designed to break a rep out of their funk. The SPIF should be something fun but lightweight, since the rep isn’t doing that much to earn it.
• Weekly:这是一个更tangible goal with defined business impact. Set metrics for improvement, then work with your reps on a plan to applying the necessary skills on a daily basis to achieve this goal. This should be a slightly more involved reward such as a round of golf that will influence meaningful results.
• Monthly:The largest of the three goals, monthly goals are accompanied by higher-value rewards based on extraordinary performance. I prefer not to give cash, because once you spend it, it’s gone. Instead, I’ve given physical SPIFs like speakers and TV sets. Every time your rep looks at that item, they’ll remember the process they went through to earn it.

6. Figure out where the issue lies.

There are two main aspects of motivation every sales manager must handle: Individual motivation, and group-wide motivation.

Before you do anything to boost motivation, ask yourself,“How many people seem like their spirits are flagging?”

If the answer is“只有一两个，”您正在与异常值打交道。如果这个数字是三个或更多，则整个团队都有问题。

7. Let people pick their own rewards.

销售人员总是做得很好，选择奖品 - 毕竟，他们对自己想要的东西有最深刻的见解！另外，这使您的工作更加容易。

I use a three-step process to getting people to design their own sales contest.

First, I ask them if they need motivation. I’ll say,“How do you feel? Do you need a kick in the pants?”

They’ll either say yes -- in which case I’ll move to the next step -- or“No, we’re fine.”If it’s the latter, I’ll say, “听起来您今天没有动力，但是如果您可以在没有额外提升的情况下达到[活动或货币目标]，那对我有用。”The team will always respond,“不，不，轮胎，我们需要动力。”

Then I’ll ask, “Okay, what do you think the objective should be?”

在他们决定目标之后，我会请他们选择一个时间表。

Lastly, I’ll ask, “What reward do you want [within X budget]?”

This strategy is straightforward yet highly effective. My reps love it.

8. Give great rewards.

Sometimes, you may need to give your salespeople some inspiration. Here are my favorite personal SPIFs to suggest:

• 他们的前景
• 购买（也许还有几个朋友）午餐或晚餐
• Cook them lunch or dinner
• Clean their house (or hire a company to clean it for them)
• Babysit their kids
• Walk their dog
• 洗车
• Give them the full day off

Unlike a traditional cash prize, these rewards are motivating to the entire team. Everyone will be rooting for the individual rep -- because who doesn’t want to see their manager cooking their coworker dinner?

When you’re offering a team-wide SPIF, use these ideas:

• Take everyone out to the movies in the middle of the day
• Go bowling
• 参加运动游戏
• Throw a pool party or BBQ
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen or local philanthropic organization (great for bonding)
• Play paintball or dodgeball
• Visit a go-cart facility

当您想真正集会销售人员并展示自己的承诺时，请有点古怪。

• Dress like a taco
• Shave your beard or head
• Grow your mustache
• Go in a dunk tank
• Sing at karaoke
• Perform a dance
• 保证放弃咖啡一周
• Eat your least favorite food for lunch
• 穿一个有趣的衬衫去上班

The goal: Do something playful and memorable.

Interestingly, sometimes the best SPIFs aren’t ones that seem to have any value at all to an outsider. I used to work with唐·布伦斯at Lotus, and we had a plastic doll we called the Tiny Little Baby Award. It got passed around to the best rep on a monthly basis and was displayed at the winner’s desk. People loved it -- the doll had no inherent value, but it was a way of recognizing people’s achievements, and reps cared more about the accomplishment of getting the baby than the baby itself.

9.交流，交流，交流。

As we previously established, trust is paramount to establishing a relationship with your team and getting their participation, buy-in, and motivation. In order to establish that trust, take a look at how you communicate with your team, both on an individual level and team-wide.

您可以轻松地在早上举行一次单口交会议，以利用您的精力和热情来吸收销售代表的血液，以提高房间中的温度并开始新的一天。您还可以进行一对一的会议，以真正了解每个团队成员的个人层面，并帮助他们实现目标。

It also helps to have mini check-ins during the day, whether that's with a short motivational email or an encouraging word when they're not busy.

这样的触摸点是外部验证，这可能是一个很大的激励因素。

Examples of a Motivational Email to Sales Team

If you the next step to improve the level of your sales leadership is more touch points with your team, consider sending them a motivational email from time to time. This is an especially good tactic for remote sales environments where you might not get that face-to-face interaction between calls or at the water cooler. The goal is to acknowledge the hard work they're doing and encourage them to keep their energy up.

有时候，您的团队最需要鼓励的时代是当他们的数字降低时。您的代表将寻求您提供领导力，其中包括行动计划和集会能量。这是您可以在电子邮件中执行此操作的方法：

Motivational Email When Numbers Are Down

Good morning, team!

As you know, we've been trending X% below goal since [Date]. This is due in large part because of [challenge or problem]. Given these challenges, I'm proud of how we've performed so far. For example, [Provide an example of a win].

As our leadership team looks into solutions for the factors outside of our control, we can do [action plan] in the meantime.

潮起潮落，这取决于我们通过蘸酱看到自己。本周，我们将通过[行动计划]重新审视一些基本面，以振作起来并获得一些结果。

期待用新鲜的眼睛接近这个难题。

Keep up the good work,

[姓名]

同时，即使销售额上涨，您可能仍希望激励您的团队达到新高点。当实现目标并超越目标时，代表很容易将他们的脚从气体上拉下。但是，实际上可以帮助他们倾斜这些逆风。例如：

Motivational Email When Numbers Are Up

恭喜，团队！

I've just received word that we just hit [milestone], exceeding our targets by X%. Each one of you should feel proud for getting us to this stage. That's why I'm excited to announce [how the team is being rewarded for their performance].

In the meantime, let's continue to ride this wave. I encourage you all to stay focused and continue the great work you've been doing. We have momentum on our side, and we can take advantage of it to have a record-breaking quarter!

Keep up the good work,

[姓名]

最终，鼓舞人心的动力是找到使您的代表愿意付出更多英里的东西。如果您提供1,000美元的现金，那些没有动力的人不会突然成为表现最好的人。找到使您的代表打勾的东西，以及那些具有自律和内在才能以获得奖励的人。

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.