When it comes to employee engagement, sales is often a department that can be overlooked. However, ensuring people in this area of your business are happy and satisfied is incredibly important for your company. So how can you keep your salespeople happy?
Show appreciation
There's a lot of pressure on salespeople to hit their targets and bring in more revenue for the business, so it's essential that you reward those who perform. You shouldn't just wait for big events to appreciate them but celebrate the smaller victories too. This can be difficult to quantify for business owners as you may not be very in touch with the day-to-day running of your sales department.
Lean on your line managers to tell you who is doing really well in sales and personally show your appreciation. This can be in the form of a small financial reward, extra holiday time or even just a handshake and a 'well done, we're lucky to have you'. It's surprising how these little gestures can have a big impact on morale.
Prioritize activity over results
Sales is notoriously stressful and that's because many companies focus solely on results instead of behavior. Prioritize the actions your salespeople take that are proving effective with customers instead of how much money they’ve made. This gives your sales team something they can control and improve on, rather than conversions that depend on a number of factors.
Look at key sales actions and empower your workforce to carry them out to a high standard. This will give you a more autonomous department that feels as though they have control over their performance.
Champion teamwork
People are often happier when they feel connected to the team they work with. This means that investing in activities to bring your department together not only creates a better atmosphere but will make them more productive.
This also gives employees a sense of belonging, which is important in the competitive sales environment, and encourages them to work to meet the business goals rather than individual targets.
It's also important to think about the culture in your sales department. Although many areas of work have become more casual over time, sales is one area where it's stayed stubbornly traditional. Allowing employees to dress in outfits that make them feel comfortable and having down time in the office to joke around can be beneficial for everyone.
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