“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” ~ Buddha
The inside sales modification of Buddha’s wisdom? “There are only two mistakes a salesperson can make along the road to success; not going all the way, and not starting.”
One key to unlock self-motivation on your team is to inspire them with their own intrinsic motivation to keep them moving toward the finish line when things are difficult, starting on their personal inside sales success path.
The Team
Because you are inspiring individual salespeople it may appear to be odd to discuss team inspiration.
To inspire self-motivation on your team every salesperson must feel they are part of the vision. You need to create a way that each person can insert their own intrinsic motivation into the success puzzle picture you’re putting together.
Here are a few ways inside sales managers have found effective for team inspiration:
- Generalities: choose a generic description for a goal or reward multiple salespeople have shared is important. Perhaps there is a group on your team who each have big events coming up (wedding, birth of a child, graduations, etc). It doesn’t have to be the same big event to use that to inspire self-motivation.
- Questions: instead of telling the team something, some managers find that questions inspire their team. Two examples are:
- How will ______ help you achieve your goals?
- What is this doing for insert their intrinsic motivator?
- Reminders: in the conversations you have with your team, sprinkle in ideas the individuals on your team have for their own motivation. Again you can be general and not share whose internal motivation you are talking about. Yet getting people to share the public face of their motivation can work as well.
- Quotes: this section started off with a quote from Buddha. Standing on its own, it may or may not have been tied to your conceptualization of inspiration and self-motivation. Always remember to make the quote relevant to your team by sharing what the quote means in the context of the conversation you are having.
Individual Salespeople
With individual salespeople you can be much more direct.
- Continue to catch them doing the right things and tie the behavior back to their Why List.
- When they aren’t doing the behaviors you know will move them forward, have a coaching conversation to understand what they believe they get out of their choices.
- If asking them to make a change to how they sell, be sure to explain the tie to their intrinsic motivation.
Remember the salesperson may NOT agree with your view. They may not see the connection back to their Why List, keep your coaching hat on and learn more about how they are thinking.
Perhaps there is another way to reach the result you, their inside sales manager, need to see AND hit on their Why List. Be prepared to let go of your process or belief on the right way. Allow the salespeople on your team to work in a way that they believe will both satisfy their intrinsic motivation and achieve the results you need.