Fostering Team Competition

There is always a bit of natural competition that exists among a sales team. Good salespeople push themselves and thrive on surpassing their goals. However, it’s important to foster healthy competition that generates productivity and camaraderie, as opposed to unhealthy competition that ultimately damages team relationships. Keep these tips in mind to foster the right kind of competition on your sales team.

Don’t Create Unnecessary Pressure

Selling is high-pressure enough. If you create an undue sense of urgency and make your team feel pressed for time, even the best salespeople can crack. They may become less productive and they may start to put themselves ahead of team goals.

If you’re setting up a contest, announce the contest rules and rewards well ahead of the time. This way, salespeople can work their strategy into their regular routines and have the full course of the contest to participate fully.

Don’t Make Rewards Zero-Sum

Contests that are all-or-nothing, rewarding only the top performer won’t be successful. Salespeople starting their month a little bit behind won’t be motivated to participate fully if they think there is no way they can win.

Create a variety of rewards across several key performance areas. Reward total sales, the largest single deal, largest upsell, etc. It is also beneficial to reward behaviors that lead to more sales. Consider rewarding things like number of new prospects entered into the pipeline, number of proposals sent, number of presentations delivered, etc. After all, it’s behaviors that ultimately generate revenue.

Create Teams

If you want to encourage people to work together, team competitions can foster collaboration. Make sure to select teams strategically. Group people together with complementary strengths and weaknesses, and don’t lump all your top performers or low performers together. Level the playing field and encourage them to bounce ideas off each other or even team sell to close a challenging deal.

Track Data Daily

Leaderboards and progress reports help salespeople see where they stand and give them a clear roadmap for what they need to do in order to progress. Make data available every day, to tap into everyone’s natural competitive nature.

Be sure your leaderboards also include team progress, so everyone is reminded they are working towards a total goal, and that goal is only achievable when everyone is pulling in the same direction, rather than focusing solely on individual standings.

Are You Looking for Sales Talent?

If you are looking for top sales talent for your ag business, contact the agricultural industry staffing experts at Morris Bixby Group. Our proven strategies for success can help you achieve your recruiting and retention goals quickly and efficiently.

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