Here we are again − almost through another year, and you’re sitting down to review your company’s sales performance so far. You look at the sales revenue numbers versus the goals you and your team set back at the end of last year, and you’re concerned.
- Some of your sales people are well ahead of their goal for the year.
- A large group are somewhere in the middle (some are months ahead of plan, some are months behind plan).
- The rest are nowhere close to plan.
You’ve heard all of the excuses from the ones who are underperforming... They don’t have time to prospect more because they’re spending too much time in meetings, doing reports or updating the CRM; the leads that they’re receiving from your marketing department aren’t quality leads; it’s getting tougher to reach the right people and get decisions, etc.
You think to yourself, “We just need to motivate them, and hold them more accountable each day/week/month to get them back on track.”
Or, you may be thinking, “Did we set realistic sales goals for this year? Are we asking them to do too much administrative work that’s taking them away from prospecting and selling?”
But, here’s the thing: You’re looking at this from the wrong angle and heading down the wrong path to fix the problem.
The real problems are:
- The underperformers don’t believe that they can achieve their goals.
- They don’t see how the company sales goals—and achieving them—will help them to achieve their own personal goals (you do know their personal goals, right?)
You can give your people the best tools and make it as easy as possible for them to sell more and hit their goals, but you won’t see much change. You can be tough on them, and hold them more accountable, but that won’t fix the problem either.
Imagine you set a goal to go to the gym every morning at 6 a.m., but you find it hard to get out of bed and go to the gym that early. So you decide that you’ll set your clothes and work items out the night before, so you don’t have to spend time getting them together in the morning. Also, you’ll buy some new workout clothes, running shoes, etc. and that will do the trick. Or you tell yourself that you just need to be more disciplined…But, 6 a.m. comes, your alarm goes off, and you hit the snooze button again and again, until you absolutely have to get up and go to work. Even with all the preparation and telling yourself to be more disciplined, you didn’t get up and go to the gym—most likely because you don’t truly believe doing this will help you hit your goal—or your goal isn’t important enough for you to get up that early and hit the gym.
A couple of key points to remember when it comes to helping your people reach their goals (and stay motivated along the way):
- Have a conversation with them to understand their personal goals and motivations, and help them see how hitting company sales goals will help them to achieve their personal goals.
- Focus on helping them change their belief, so they can achieve their goals and find evidence along the way to support this.
Do you need help figuring out what truly motivates your people, and how to keep them motivated so that they exceed their personal and sales goals? If so, set up a time to talk with Lushin.
