MOTIVATING SALES TEAMS Copy

For a sales team to be successful, it must be motivated and energised. If the bank takes the wrong approach, it will destroy individuals, teams, and the bank. Managing by fear does not create Eagles. If any sales employees are afraid to make mistakes, they will never dare to ‘go the extra mile’, to try new techniques or to suggest new ideas. A fearful environment and negative behaviour will reflect in the bank’s capacity to innovate and grow.

Importance of Constant Positive Messages and Motivation

Motivation, self-assurance, and security is very important for a sales team, and differs from a back-office job. A sales professional needs to produce sales every day, and to do that, they depend on knowing what they are doing, knowing their products and services, and understanding how the bank delivers the process. They need to believe in their capability to communicate, interact with customers and prospects, and their ability to close sales. Otherwise, they are not fulfilling their job goals: it is not just a matter of going to the office, turning on the computer or a machine and performing an activity or task. The sales professional must be ‘smiling’ every day, being confident, sincere, and approachable to customers. If not, they will not deliver what is required for the customer or for the bank.

A sales professional does not have the luxury of being in a bad mood, feeling uninspired, or just having a bad day when meeting a customer or prospect. Once they get to the meeting, it is time to smile, and be nice and positive. A bad day is not an option.

One last point on motivation is that very good sales professional needs a break from the day-to-day job from time-to-time. This can be done by holding external meetings or training sessions, or even better, an internship of six to twelve months in other areas of the bank so that they understand the organisation better and gain a fresh point of view on the dynamics of unrelated areas. This can also include providing them with other career choices.

Let us now discuss targets and rewards, because if the bank does not know how to set targets and grant proper awards, it will miss the opportunity that any great sales team can achieve.