By Lisa Rose, Senior Group Vice President – The Brooks Group
The summer season is here. Warmer weather, long weekends, and kids out of school likely means vacation mode for your sales team and, unfortunately, your prospects. It’s no surprise that many sales professionals find it challenging to stay motivated in the summer. But lower productivity has a big downside—slowed sales growth for your company.
Summer can bring sales slumps in many industries, but the sluggish pace of business doesn’t mean your sales team can’t be productive. Amping up sales team motivation now is as important (or more) than any other time of year.
Use these 4 sales team motivation tips to keep your team engaged and energized during vacation season.
1. Plan a Sales Contest
Just like your prospects, your sales professionals are probably wishing for a day at a sunny beach or relaxing mountain getaway. Why not turn that daydream into motivation by offering a contest to win an end-of-summer vacation?
You can tie the contest to quota attainment, pipeline, scheduled meetings, or any other metric. Make sure the goal is achievable in the amount of time left in this summer.
The timing will benefit you in two ways:
- Your team will be motivated to perform during the listless summer months with their eye on the end-of-summer prize.
- You can find great rates on lodging and airfare towards the latter part of the season (think, end of August to early September).
If a vacation is out of your budget, consider offering smaller prizes—extra vacation days or tickets to an exciting Labor Day event in your area, for example.
2. Give Small Rewards
Your sales professionals simply can’t sell to customers who are on vacation. They probably can’t even get replies to emails or set up meetings. So if the summer slump has made reaching their numbers unrealistic, focus on celebrating and rewarding the small wins.