Take your sales team out of their comfort zone

We all get used to a certain sales process and work environment. A comfort zone is stable, but 2010 is not about stability, it’s about getting your sales people to push their boundaries and help get the organization get on track by aggressively pursuing their annual sales goals.

Breathe new life into your team by incenting them to perform the activities that get them to close more deals and hit stretch goals. How? Offer more than just commission. Commission rewards the close, but does not motivate your team to prospect, update their CRM system or build a healthy funnel – all the things that help them close more deals. For more information on incenting your team to perform these activities read Increase Prospecting.

Over-communicate!

Sales people are entrepreneurial by nature – highly driven and self-reliant, which causes some to alienate themselves from one another and the rest of the company. Make the commitment in 2010 to enhance your current communication tools and increase the frequency in which you communicate with your team. A good communication strategy will build trust, and make the team more organized and accountable to their goals.

How you can over-communicate:

* Create a real-time leaderboard that tracks your sales people’s performance. One option is putting it online so your sales people can view their progress from anywhere at any time.
* Meet with your sales people on a one-on-one basis at least once a week to discuss their sales funnel and address any challenges they face in meeting their quotas.

Reward A Players

As we begin to see signs of an economic recovery, it’s more important than ever to hold on to your top performing sales people. The last thing you want is your A Players leaving for greener pastures because they don’t feel valued or compensated for their accomplishments.

What can you do? Ensure you are recognizing and rewarding those who go above and beyond and produce results. Recognition tied to rewards breeds loyalty that no paycheck ever could.

Know that cash rewards are not your only option. In 2010, try enhancing your sales incentive program by offering noncash rewards in addition to commission, or awarding your sales people points that they can use to redeem for brand-name products and gift cards as well as entertainment and travel experiences of their choice. For great insight on the value and ROI of noncash incentives, read It’s not all about the money.

Kick start your sales team’s performance with SalesCentive, an online, on-demand sales incentive application available exclusively on Salesforce.com. To learn more how SalesCentive can get your sales team to perform, visit www.salescentive.com.

Additional Resources:

To learn more on retaining your A Players after the recession, read Rewards Program Helps to Build Employee Loyalty and A wake up call.