How To Motivate Your Sales Team (Without Commission)

Commission has long been the most logical way to motivate sales teams to sell. Not only will the promise of higher earnings incite them to shift more product, but it takes financial pressure off a business as they only need to pay out if sales are made. In an increasingly competitive economy, you’d think that sales teams would be more motivated than ever by commission. Not so. We live in a world where attitudes towards work are changing – job satisfaction and fulfilment are becoming just as important as the size of a salary. So how do you make sure your sales teams are motivated and hit their targets, without motivating simply with commission? Here are the ways I’ve found to be extremely effective when it comes to motivating our sales teams to become more efficient:

Get to know your sales team and what motivates each person

The first thing to understand is that not all salespeople are created equal. What will motivate Sam to blast through his sales targets and then some (recognition) might be very different to what makes Julia (more time off) want to beat the team’s monthly sales record. It might sound irrelevant to whether your team convert leads to sales, but spending time getting to know your team will give you valuable information about how you can get them to make more sales. Ask your team to complete the Myers-Briggs personality indicator test (16 Personalities offer a brilliant – and free – version with in-depth analyses of each personality type), after which you can determine what each member of your team needs to feel motivated.

There’s no ‘I’ in team – except in sales teams

While a sales team is just that (a team!), the process of converting leads to customers is done by individuals, and individuals require independence. If you’re someone who struggles with relinquishing power, learn to step back to give the members of your team autonomy. Chances are, your team is made up of highly-motivated people (the reason you hired them in the first place) – who thrive on autonomy and respond poorly to micromanagement, so make sure they’re given enough room to be innovative and act on their initiative. That said, as the sales manager you need to provide them with clear goals and be on hand to give them any support should they need it.

Recognition and reward can be more powerful than pay cheques

While your team might be made of well-oiled sales machines, they’re still human – they want to feel important and be recognised. Recognising and rewarding their achievements can be far more motivating than promising higher commission. This could take the form of a verbal commendation in a meeting or a mention in an email, to small personalised gifts or more formalised recognition programs involving awards or prizes.

Hand in hand with recognition comes feedback. Give every person in your sales team constructive feedback on a regular basis, be it positive or negative. The most important aspect of this is how you deliver this feedback. Transparency and getting buy-in from your team – so that they know their opinion is valued – are two further aspects of creating an environment that motivates your team to chase after and surpass their targets.

The chance to fly in their careers is sometimes the biggest motivator of all

Highly-motivated people will also expect opportunities for growth and development within their job. The very attribute that makes them great salespeople also pushes them to strive for more. If they realise that their current role will take them further within the business or their careers, they’ll work harder because there’s something in it for them besides money: career progression. If there isn’t one already, develop a career pathway you can share with your team so that they understand how and where they can grow from their current position. Besides a promotion, your team might also be motivated by the chance to complete professional qualifications or further training.

Competitiveness and cohesion need to be balanced in any sales team

The catch-22 of managing a sales team is that while your salespeople need to be competitive, too much competitiveness can break down the cohesion of a team, which can result in poor morale and the team taking their foot off the sales accelerator. Lead by example by fostering great working relationships with everyone in your team, and your other colleagues. If there’s harmony in your sales team – with a healthy dose of competition too – they’ll want to come to work and meet those targets.