How often have you heard? A sales job is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Dealing with regular rejections, and sales quotas can create stress and pressure. It’s a profession that requires the quality to handle turndowns and indecisions with an optimistic and resilient attitude.
And, sometimes even the top performers may hit slumps and may need to rediscover their spark.
In those moments, controlling the controllable becomes the key.
Here are 5 actionable steps to keep your sales spirit high.
Whether you are a sales manager/boss or sales rep, these insights will result in inner motivation.
After all, a motivated sales team finds greater passion and fulfillment in their work. They keep the ground running, resulting in increased profitability.
What is the importance of motivation in sales management?
In sales, the reality is that not every prospect will convert into a customer. Suboptimal conversion rates coupled with demanding sales targets create a significant challenge for sales reps. This constant pressure can be incredibly demotivating, leading to burnout and a drop in performance.
Here's where motivation becomes a game-changer. A motivated salesperson is equipped to navigate these challenges and achieve success.
Strategies to Boost Your Motivation in Sales
S.M.A.R.T. (Specific)
Celebrate Small Wins
Mastering Your Knowledge
Embracing Rejection
Keeping Work-Life Balance
Be S.M.A.R.T.
It’s very important to create a plan (and be committed to it) to stay motivated with your assigned tasks.
SMART is a model for setting clear goals. It is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
Specific - Be very particular about your sales goals. It reduces confusion and helps in keeping things organized. Instead of defining a vague objective like “increasing sales” you can aim for something like “making x number of sales by the end of this week”.
Measurable - The second step is tracking progress. Sales goals are usually measured in conversion rates, numbers, revenue, or number of new clients acquired. This data helps in analyzing what you’ve achieved.
Achievable - The sales goal you set must be attainable. It’s always ideal to manage your resources effectively, study the current market thoroughly, and understand your or your team’s capacity.
Relevant - It is aligning your goals with the company objectives and overall sales strategy, bridging the actions and bigger picture.
Time-Bound - Having a sense of urgency while completing a target results in putting optimized focus toward work and helps in getting the job done at the right time.
Celebrate Little Wins
Sales can be a marathon, not a sprint. Crushing those big goals and closing huge deals is all good but this doesn’t happen overnight. Hence, celebrating small wins is pivotal and can go a long way.
When goals are achieved, big or small - our brain releases dopamine, a feel-good chemical that keeps salespeople motivated by creating a sense of progress.
Acknowledging small wins can be in the form of ringing the bell after achieving a target or closing a deal. It could also be team lunches, social media shoutouts, personal rewards, displaying goal records on a big screen, etc.
Mastering Your Knowledge
“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service”
- Brian Tracy
Staying up-to-date with the latest trends about the product you are offering, customer preferences, and sales techniques can take you miles ahead.
A comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of the product you are offering your customers will take you far and help you with the prospect's objections. Customers can easily spot a salesperson who tries to figure it out on the fly. Therefore, having expertise in the product gives you confidence and enhances sales conversations.
Deploying the latest sales techniques like personalized customer experience, building relationships, and understanding their needs are imperative and will remain relevant in the foreseeable future.
Embracing Rejection
Sales is a job that’s mentally demanding as it involves a lot of rejections. And, you need to keep the mindset right to thrive in this field. This is more about the psychology of selling as rejection is inevitable in sales.
Instead of taking rejections personally, view it as a learning opportunity. Hearing a “no” from a prospect doesn’t really signify a setback. It could mean that you might need to revisit your “lead-qualification” strategy or there could be chances of a mismatch between the client and the product you are offering.
View rejections as a chance for learning. Having this self-reflection can help you take a better approach to future deals.
Instead of whining over rejections, the attitude should be to develop resilience and perseverance.
When you approach a prospect to solve their problem by providing a solution instead of making them purchase your product.
Keeping Work-Life Balance
Pushing anything doesn’t yield favorable outcomes. It’s about understanding the dynamics and using considerable strategies to make things work.
Neglecting your personal life by being all consumed can make you unproductive. And, it’s significant to be in high spirits as a sales rep to serve your customers better.
Achieving a balance between work and personal life allows you to recharge and rejuvenate outside work hours. This ensures that you have time for relaxation, hobbies, and spending quality with your loved ones.
When you return to work refreshed, you’re better equipped to handle rejection and setbacks with a clear mind and renewed energy.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, the world of sales is challenging but at the same time, it is rewarding too. Your dedication and efforts directly impact your results. The strategies discussed above will help you turn “no” into “next” and equip you to navigate the hurdles to emerge as a successful salesperson.
However, to make an efficient sales workflow, you need dedicated tools in place. A system that helps you with complete lead management, enhance personalized customer relationships, automate tasks, and much more.
Buopso offers a comprehensive sales management system to make your sales journey easy, optimized, and streamlined.