How To Motivate Sales Reps by Nick Moreno

Dec16

How To Motivate Sales Reps by Nick Moreno

Posted by Nick in Corporate Sales Training | 0 Comments

File under how to motivate sales reps to sell more, motivate sales reps, motivating sales reps, tips on motivating sales reps

How To Motivate Sales Reps To Sell More

by, Nick Moreno

I’m often asked how to motivate sales reps to sell more. I have a very different take on that subject. I’ve managed very large sales organizations and I never had to be concerned about motivating sales reps. The sales teams I managed were always highly motivated and I’ll explain how and why that happened. Here is some advice on how to motivate sales reps to sell more.

I know the above may sound strange to someone struggling to understand how to motivate sales reps and I’ll tell you why I never had a problem motivating sales reps. But first, I’d like you to view a crazy short video we made just for “giggles and kicks”. However, the video speaks volumes on how to motivate sales reps to sell more. So much of it has to do with a person’s point of view.

How To Motivate Sales Reps To Sell More – The Video

So, Half Empty Or Half Full?

New Ways On How To Motivate Sales Reps

I know you are anxious for me to get to the point of this subject on how to motivate sales reps to sell more. I also know it may appear that I’m rambling but I assure you it will all come together and you’ll know more about motivating sales reps, so please stay with me.

As I write, it is eight days before Christmas and San Diego, my home, was hit by a “winter storm” yesterday. I know we are spoiled as far as storms go but it was cold, windy and it rained buckets all day and night. For some reason I had one thing on my mind, how do the homeless survive on a day like this. I asked a few people that question and they all said the homeless go to shelters. Well, I didn’t buy the “shelter” answer and felt it was just a way to dismiss an uncomfortable question. Stay with me because I’ll be making a point about how to motivate sales reps.

I woke up this morning, watched the news and learned that a homeless man was rescued when the canyon he called home got flooded. I knew there were people out in that cold rainy night and not all the homeless were in shelters. “There but for the grace of God go I”, and we are asking how to motivate sales reps to sell more. How about to celebrate a precious opportunity to make more money and keep a roof over our heads?

How To Motivate Sales Reps The Right Way

There is a marvelous tool to motivate sales reps at our disposal called the Compensation Plan. You may be asking how to motivate sales reps to sell more but do you truly have to motivate sales reps to make more money? The more you sell the more money you make and I’m sure that homeless person would change places with any sales rep in a heartbeat just to have that opportunity!

Any person that has to be motivated to make more money should not be in sales. There, I said it! You can’t motivate a sales rep that is not interested in doing a good job and making more money. You can’t create that motivation with some speech and if you could, it would only last a few days. That motivation is either there or it’s not, and if it’s not there, find another sales rep. My intent is not to be harsh but “sales” and “motivation” go hand in hand.

Tips On How To Motivate Sales Reps

As I said, I never had a problem motivating sales reps to make more money because I only had motivated sales reps on my teams. My job was to lead in a way that inspired sales reps, not motivate them. So, let’s forget about motivating sales reps and discuss how to inspire sales reps.

1) Insure they understand the Compensation Plan and how to use it to achieve their financial goals. Stop trying to motivate sales people to achieve your goals. Instead, show salespeople how to use the Comp Plan to achieve their own goals.
2) Remove anything and anyone that is not motivating. Send negative sales reps to your competition. Maintain a positive environment and remove any obstacles to success.
3) Concentrate On Employee Development. I strongly believe my employee development efforts kept me from ever asking how to motivate sales reps. Give your salespeople new skills and they’ll be excited and anxious to put them to good use. Sales activity always picks up after some solid sales training programs.

So, that’s my take on the question of how to motivate sales reps to sell more. The “winter storm” has passed and the Sun is back out. I’m going to contribute to the Holiday Food Drive today and be thankful for all I have. I’m also going to listen to a solid sales training CD to keep my sales skills up during the Holidays.

I wish you outstanding sales success!

Nick Moreno, Sales Consultant
National Sales Center, Sales Training Company