why weren’t they doing it before? Once you decide which activities – cold calling, needs analysis, follow-up, etc. – are critical to your team’s suc- cess, you can reward salespeople who engage in them consistently.
OFFER FREQUENT REWARDS Sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated by a reward or incentive that comes only once a year. Your salespeople may be ultra-motivated during the quarter before an annual contest ends, but what about during the rest of the year? To help maintain high motivation
year-round, base each quarter’s com- pensation on the previous quarter’s performance. With a quarterly or monthly reward, there’s always a light at the end of your salespeople’s tun- nel. Motivation is like a battery – to keep it going strong, you have to recharge it regularly.
STAY FLEXIBLE You might not design a flawless com- pensation plan on your first attempt, so make changes or improvements as necessary. Meet with your team several times a year to make sure your plan is do- ing its job and keeping your sales- people motivated. At each meeting, ask your salespeople how they could modify the plan to make it more ef- fective or cost-efficient. Observe your team carefully for changes in attitude or performance that may be caused by low motivation. Their behavior should tell you when to revise or update your plan. A great compensation plan should do a lot more than pay your sales- people’s bills. Your company’s plan represents a big investment in its salespeople and its future, so it pays to have a plan that will yield a big return on that investment. Your salespeople need compensation, but to sell well and boost profits they also need motivation. With a little ingenu- ity and input from your team, you can design a plan that provides both.
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SELLING TIP
A Few Of Your Favorite Things, A Reader’s Tip To restore my motivation when everything is going wrong, I make a “Neat Stuff” list of everything that is going right. Start on Monday and add to your list each day. Include items like these
or anything that gives you a lift: • It was a partly sunny day. • I wore new socks. • I got an appointment with a hard-to-see customer. • Someone cleaned the empty coffeepot I’d forgotten about. Review your list each morning and evening, and, during the day, look for new items to add. Research suggests that, after one to two weeks of reviewing your list, you will start feeling more positively focused and energized.
– TIM BREITHAUPT
SELLING POWER JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 33 © 2025 SELLING POWER
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