Less than 10% of companies set their targets in December for January. The bigger the company is, the more the report refers to objectives communicated late. Therefore, how to motivate your sales team when it does not have a objective? The point on simple actions and quick to put in place to start the year well.
January can be considered a slack period. Objectives are often long to be put in place for each of your sales representatives. This observation is the result of the commercial departments'willingness to set objectives "at the fairest", in declination of a national goal posted and often decided in January. In addition, managers, even salespeople themselves, being involved in the process of setting objectives, this declination becomes all the more time-consuming.
The calculation of objectives must be accurate to maintain its motivating lever. However, do not take too much time in setting your goals. For short performance cycles (3 or 4 months), such extended time on the objectives would limit their ability to guide the action of the teams.
In order to be on time, several points of improvement possible:
• Ensure that the national goal is available as soon as possible. For this, it is necessary to set up a process supported by tools. This helps to reduce the time spent revising the budget trends leading the setting of commercial ambitions.
• Make it simple for the national goal: a simple, robust model will be more effective than a complex model that takes time to implement.
If unable to communicate directly on the objectives set for the new year, anticipate in December and try to assess the results of the past year. Do not hesitate to identify successes and failures or goals not achieved. Then communicate about your company's growth strategy for the new year. The role of the manager? Convey the message and insist on the obligation to avoid past mistakes and focus on new expectations.
The soft bellies are the bulk of your commercial teams, halfway between the best and the least efficient in the performance of their duties. They would represent up to 60% of your sales teams. Variable compensation helps you to motivate them, especially at the beginning of the year. Be careful not to establish a bonus scheme based on an overly elitist compensation plan, primarily favoring your star salespeople or, on the contrary, an undersized compensation plan that does not motivate anyone.
What are the different possible calculation? Examples include commissioning or ranking bonuses. For more information on this topic, check out our article How to entice your unmotivated salespeople to sell better with variable pay.
This beginning of the year is also favorable to find the time to spend moments in one to one, analyze performance at the individual level. Optionally, redefine the KPIs assigned to the salespeople. Also pay special attention to salespeople who have had difficulty meeting their goals in the previous year. Why? To identify the real reasons for their failure.
To really get your team together in this challenge, make sure you set it up in a short format. Also, it should not be systematic. Make this occasional internal event to excite your employees, take them by surprise and motivate them. Be careful, if they know how to find this challenge every beginning of the year, it is likely that they will not give the best. How? By keeping aside their good deals at the end of the year to bring them out at the time of the challenge.
If you have small budget for this challenge, a good solution: post gifts, dream your employees with some prestigious prizes. Note that offering money rather than prizes is often more appreciated.
For more details on the possible challenges, read this interview with Incenteev on gamification.
You can also consult our article on motivation of teams by variable compensation.