Sales team motivation - features, effective methods and recommendations

Labor motivation is those internal and external forces that force a person to carry out labor activities to achieve certain goals. Properly developed motivation of the sales department can significantly increase performance, which will positively affect the performance of the entire enterprise.

Types of Motivation

Motivation can be divided into two types: tangible and intangible. The first involves the payment of cash in the form of bonuses to employees of the company for achieving certain goals. The intangible motivation of employees of the sales department or other departments of the company is letters, providing a personal vehicle or an office to an employee.

There is also another type of motivation - non-traditional. This, for example, is a game of football between employees of departments. Unconventional methods of labor motivation are more commonly used in foreign countries.

Motivation goal

Labor motivation can be regarded as one of the main means of increasing the efficiency of the use of enterprise resources. The goal of motivation is to get the most out of the enterprise’s labor resources, which, in turn, makes it possible to increase labor productivity and increase the company's profitability.

Every year the role of the employee in the enterprise is growing, and therefore the ratio of needs and incentives for motivating employees is changing. Individual incentive methods should be applied to each individual employee, since each employee has his own needs and interests.

Salary as a tool for motivation

Many enterprises have a rather weak system of motivation for the sales department. It is intangible and ineffective in our time. Material factors do not always play a major role for employees, however, in this period, it is cash reward that can be considered the most effective way of motivation.

One of the reserves for increasing the effectiveness of the system of motivation for employees of the sales department is the improvement of wage systems, since wages play an important role in the system of motivational mechanisms. However, remuneration is a motivation factor only if it is directly related to the results of labor. Workers must be sure that there is a connection between their work and their remuneration.

A component must be present in wages, which depends on the results achieved. Remuneration plays a large role in the motivational mechanism. However, even a constant increase in the level of salary is not able to ensure working activity at the proper level. Over time, overlays can occur, and the employee can get used to this type of simulation.

Improving the organization of labor as a form of intangible motivation

Another reserve for increasing the effectiveness of the motivational system is the improvement of labor organization. It includes setting goals, enriching labor, applying flexible schedules and improving working conditions.

A correctly set goal is a motivating tool for the employee and the main guarantee of the rational work of the enterprise. If you set clear goals and objectives for the employee, then he will be in a state of psychological comfort.

It is important to remember that goals must be not only ambitious, but also real, so that they can be achieved.Also goals should be limited in time. To ensure a clear goal-setting, the person responsible for developing the motivation system for sales managers must also comply with a number of conditions:

1. Ensuring the unity of the professional language.
2. Accounting for the level of intelligence of the performer.
3. Ensuring the completeness of information.
4. Compliance with clear and understandable wording for the employee.

Benefits and social guarantees

The next reserve to increase the effectiveness of the motivation of the sales department is to improve the system of social benefits and guarantees, which are of particular importance and complement the fulfillment of those obligations traditionally allocated to wages. Funds aimed at ensuring the social and everyday needs of workers are of great importance to them, since they are intended to satisfy the most essential needs, which would otherwise have to be paid on their own.

In this case, it is important to take into account the fact that, together with the pleasure of these needs, the psychological impact on the employee creates additional motives, the strength of which depends on how confident he is in receiving the benefits mentioned above the average norms established.

Status motivation

The formation of a proper attitude to work is influenced by intangible factors, for example, the content of labor, sanitary and hygienic working conditions, and the like. A significant role belongs to status motivation.

To create employee loyalty and strengthen the corporate spirit at the enterprise, it is recommended to improve the intangible motivation of the sales department as follows:

1. Awarding the title of "Best ...".
2. Public gratitude, a memorable gift to employees on behalf of the leadership.
3. Recording the employee's achievements to his personal file.
4. Certificates of honor and diplomas.
5. Happy birthday greetings.

Another example of motivation for the sales department is the formation of employee interest in delegating authority to them. It is necessary to establish the dependence of the remuneration of employees on the strategic goals of the enterprise, since in this case the employees will work to achieve the goals set by the enterprise and will be personally interested in achieving them.

The role of the sales team motivation system

Well-established relationships in the team - this is the main condition for achieving success of the company. A properly constructed system of labor motivation for employees can lead to a number of positive results:

1. Increased responsibility for decision making.
2. Improving the quality of work in a group.
3. Perfection of labor productivity.
4. Improving the psychological readiness of workers to work in stressful conditions.

During the motivation of workers it is worth paying attention to working conditions, although they, according to the theory of F. Herzberg, are not a motivating factor. Nevertheless, good working conditions can create a positive psychological attitude of workers, encouraging them to work. In addition, poor working conditions cause a sharp decline in labor motivation.

Material motivation

Each company should choose its own motivation system based on goals, resources and financial condition. To motivate the sales department, it is recommended to choose a system that would be based on material incentives, since we live in a world of monetary motivation, which means that no human attitude can compensate the employee for material rewards.

Company managers are not sufficiently focusing on the fact that now among employees the need for incentives has increased. In order for a reward to be perceived as a fair reward, it is necessary that it corresponds to the market level. Otherwise, the employee will have a feeling that they are being exploited.If an employee believes that he is not getting his own, then he begins to feel dissatisfaction with the performance of his work and he may have a desire to free himself to search for a better job. In sales departments, bonuses may be awarded for achieving the following goals:

1. Signing a serious contract.
2. Increase in sales compared to the previous month.
3. Overfulfillment of the annual sales plan.
4. One hundred percent sales of products.

Motivation of the head of sales

The head of the department must also be motivated. The unmotivated boss of the department will not be able to very effectively manage their wards. All of the above methods can be used to motivate the head of the sales department.

In addition, in many enterprises, the head of the department is the limit of career growth for ordinary employees, therefore, company managers need to pay attention to this. Many department heads are demotivated by the fact that their current position is the last step in their career growth. Therefore, an effective motivation system should include incentives for the head of the department, which require further career advancement.

So, staff motivation is an urgent and complex process that requires a set of decisions, requires a systematic approach and the application of a number of material and non-material methods. Ensuring the economic stability of the enterprise is based on the use of material and moral motives and incentives to enhance the labor activity of personnel. Such events will help to increase labor productivity and profit growth, as a result of which the material situation of the company's employees will be improved.