Sales motivation and sales enablement tips to drive growth - Part 1

Owners of companies often ask me, ‘We have the best equipment and workflow, why can’t my sales team sell more?’

There are no easy answers to this question. Investing in an effective approach to motivate your sales team and create a company culture to support sales enablement can drive revenue growth.

B2B selling has changed forever. What will it take to motivate your sales team? Selling labels and labeling technologies is not about the quality of the labels you print or even how fast you deliver them – it is about how your customer feels about your company and if they want your products and services again. It’s about overall customer experience.

B2B selling today

In the last four years buyers of labels, print and other B2B services have adopted many new habits. Buyers are doing more research on their own before engaging a salesperson. On average, they are 60 percent through the buying process before salespeople even find out about a job or project. Buyers are more comfortable searching on their own for information. And they trust online information and reviews. Many buyers believe they don’t need B2B salespeople to get information they can find through an internet search or AI chat.

“Top sales performers understand that they must provide options that create a safety net for new customers making buying decisions”

Consensus buying is here to stay. Gartner research has tracked B2B buying trends for years. In 2019, the average number of decision makers involved in a B2B purchase was 5.4 stakeholders, in 2021 it increased to 6.8 stakeholders. And the average number of decision-making stakeholders swelled to 15 to 17 people in 2022.

With work from home and more online meetings, it’s easy to invite more people to meetings. But that also means that it is incredibly difficult for a salesperson to identify all the decision makers and then map out a strategy for each individual preferences and their motivators driving the decision process. It’s more difficult for salespeople to determine the primary decision criteria when there are many influences in the buying process. Consensus decision making means a team – not one person – is responsible for the outcome if things go wrong. Top sales performers understand that they must provide options that create a safety net for new customers making buying decisions.

Sales motivation is individual

Many believe that money is the universal sales motivator. Research shows that the motivation to sell is individual. In the ‘Ultimate Sales Manager Playbook’, Bill Zip explains four primary motivators for salespeople. Sales leaders must comprehend individual motivations listed below to successfully coach salespeople.

• Fortune – the ability to buy or own what they want whenever they want
• Fame – status, respect, recognition and acclaim
• Freedom – independence and flexibility to pursue hobbies, travel and pursue dreams
• Family – to provide for others, enjoy the lifestyle they desire

A culture of trust drives revenue

The task of sales leaders is to connect each salesperson’s passion to the company’s vision. Each salesperson must have clarity on the impact of their sales efforts to be fully motivated. Effective sales leaders are coaches. True coaching only occurs when there is mutual trust and respect. Sales leaders need to earn the right to coach and lead individuals. Building a relationship, and demonstrating interest and compassion are building blocks. Having a personal connection based on trust must proceed with coaching.

These are not difficult concepts. As a consultant, I have seen much distrust between salespeople and their leadership teams. Trust lives and dies in conversations and actions. The good news, even when there are problems, is that trust can be repaired. The hard question is what will it take to build a relationship of mutual trust between sales leaders and the individual members of the sales team? Building trust is the foundational step to creating a plan for sales team motivation to maximize revenue.

Sales motivation is about your sales leadership and your sales team. Effective sales enablement is about how the entire company supports the sales process to produce more prospects, more sales and higher revenue. Look for my next article on sales enablement in the next issue of Labels & Labeling.

Lois Ritarossi is a certified management consultant, and president of High Rock Strategies, an independent management consulting firm focused on sales and marketing strategies, and business growth for firms in the print, mail, communications and B2B sectors.

You can read more about sales strategies at www.highrockstrategies.com. Email Lois at Lritarossi@highrockstrategies.com.