How To Motivate Your Team In Direct Sales

Author: Susan Squier

Motivation is about using positive reinforcement to influence your consultants to take action and embrace change. It's about mentoring; not supervision. It's about reaching a mutually beneficial goal.

Motivating your team takes a lot of patience; thick skin and time is necessary so make sure you keep yourself motivated as well... because when you're motivated, your team will follow.

Practice

Practice what you preach and then some.

If you’re asking your consultants to make thirty minutes of calls a night, then you should be giving an hour.

If you’re rewarding the consultant who does ten shows in a month, then you should be submitting at least that many shows per month.

Consultants want, and need, a reason to follow you. They want to know that they are following greatness and not a sinking ship.

You can show evidence of your success by passing out copies of your commission checks; money motivates. Or you can also show them your stacked calendar.

If, however, you’re a new leader... fake it until you make it. It’s all in your attitude. Act like a great leader and people will portray you as a great leader.

Patience

As a leader you will need to have a great deal of patience and self-control. Some of your consultants will be easy while others will give you a ton of excuses and sad stories.

Always resist the urge to prove your consultants wrong; even when you know that they are feeding you a line of bull. Proving them wrong will only push them away; causing them to quit.

You’re not paying your consultants an hourly wage, so you can’t act like their boss. But you can act like their support system.

You don’t have to agree with their excuses, but you do have to listen with a sympathetic ear. Let them talk. When they’re done talking, help them come up with a solution.

Always be positive around your consultants, regardless of your mood. And what ever you do, don’t join in on their pity parties; offer advice instead.

Praise And Recognition

Most people are best motivated by praise and recognition. They just want, or need, to feel appreciated on a regular basis. Take the time to praise and recognize hard working consultants while encouraging those who are struggling.

Create a list of goals and rewards, then post that list for everyone to see.

Start your monthly meeting by rewarding those who have reached any of their goals during the previous month.

The rewards don’t have to be elaborate; just worth it. Fill a treasure chest, or basket, with office supplies and catalogs for smaller accomplishments like submitting five shows a month or sponsoring someone.

For bigger accomplishments, like sponsoring three people in a month or submitting $1,000 in sales, give larger rewards. Give a product or an hour of one-on-one coaching with you.

Just remember that the smallest amount of praise and recognition goes a long way; it also does wonders for self-esteem.

Challenges

Friendly competition motivates people to put forth their best efforts; especially if there is praise and recognition at the end.

Towards the end of each meeting give your team a fun challenge to complete before the next meeting. Then, let them know that each person who completes the challenge will have their name placed into a raffle for prize: a gift card, a free product, one-on-one coaching, or supplies.

Competitions could be having consultants do ten shows before the next meeting, or hosting two different office parties before the end of the month. Also consider having multiple winners so that the less motivated don’t give up too quickly.

Fellowship

Consider your meetings a fellowship filled with fun, food, laughter, and "ah ha" moments.

Encourage consultants to come early, bring a small snack to share and socialize with other members. This gives your consultants a chance to build relationships, compare notes, and bounce ideas off of each other.