I recently read an article on rewarding staff in a recession when budgets are tight, and it got me thinking about the specific needs of sales professionals.

We need to retain our best talent, and whilst financial reward is often important for sales professionals, it is not the only thing that is going to motivate them. If their reward is down because of commercial realities then we need to be more creative – or perhaps simply do the right thing. Here are my ‘top tips’ for this:

1. When times are good it is easy to focus on the numbers. But when times are tough its an opportunity to pay close attention to individual performance: the skills, behaviours and beliefs sales professionals use to get their results. This is something they can control, and if we can work with them to help them make improvements (perhaps better questioning skills, more effective presentations, etc) and develop a set of appropriate performance goals, then we can increase their motivation.
2. Obvious, but often overlooked when sales are coming in easily. If we can build more trust with our sales people it will help develop loyalty and an openness that will lead to improved performance. One easy way to start this process (as long as you really do have the genuine intent) is to share your own thoughts and feelings about the changes in the market and what you feel is important. Disclosure and sharing encourages the same in others. If you build trust you can surface concerns that you might be able to address together.
3. Ask them what motivates them: money will not be the only thing. Do they enjoy the football, a good meal out, have a particular hobby? Knowing this enables you to create smaller rewards that may not have a high financial value but do show that you understand them and appreciate them. Giving these rewards based on some well considered performance-based goals is likely to increase motivation.
4. Understand their beliefs: beliefs really are at the heart of our performance. In tough times we should find out what our sales people believe about the potential to sell, the competition, the need to reduce prices, etc. If they have limiting beliefs (eg. ‘we must give a discount to get the business’) then these WILL hinder performance. With limiting beliefs we need to encourage them to question the belief and make them aware of the consequences of holding it. We can then help them explore evidence to the contrary.

In tough times, as with sales success generally, it all comes down to focusing on the right things!  Do you have any of your own top tips to add to this?