Inside sales is a tough position. It requires focus and persistence and often doesn’t offer the same perks of an outside role. If you have a team like this in your organization, you know how crucial it is for them to be performing at their best. Here are 5 easy to implement ideas for keeping your team fired up when they hit the sales floor.
Remind them on a daily basis that their efforts MATTER
- Increase employee buy-in by keeping them informed with how their work positively affects the company and your customers.
- One way is to promote these stories during the weekly sales meeting.
- Create meeting agenda topics like new customer “wins” or how your company helped a client solve a problem.
Build a culture that is fun to be in but also hold employees accountable for success – and rewards them for it
- Set the tone and maintain positivity and energy on the floor.
- Meet regularly team individuals and establish clear expectations.
- Uncover their personal goals during one-on-one meetings and address their progress as appropriate. If your team knows you care about them and their success, they will invest that much more back into their work.
Highly visible recognition
- RepTivity is a Salesforce.com application that creates a real-time leader board. It uses “badges” and other visual ways to promote the right sales activities. Place a flat screen in a high-traffic area and have this info piped to it.
Tangible rewards – Daily, weekly
- Daily incentives like $25 – $50 gift cards work great
- Look at Engadget.com and CNET.com for other ideas. I try and keep the budget for weekly prizes around $100.
- Bigger spiffs like a flat screen can create positive competition – physically bring it in the office for added effect.
Long term rewards – quarterly, annual spiffs + clear career progression path
- Establish a “President’s Club” as a reward for the top producers.
- Identify those that want to be promoted and outline performance benchmarks that will get them there.