How to Keep Sales Staff Motivated During Holiday Season

It's that time of year again - time for celebrating, staying up late, exchanging gifts and pleasantries, and pretty much focusing on anything and everything except work. Sounds like fun unless you're a business owner with a sales staff to motivate. Fortunately, we've compiled some tips and tricks for keeping your sales staff motivated and focused all through the holiday season.

Make Things Interesting

Haven't you ever noticed that things really start to get interesting when there's a potential prize (or risk of loss) at stake? The sales industry is no different - it's a well-known fact that sales staff tend to perform best during a sales contest, or when some other incentive is up for grabs.

The trick is to choose the right motivator for your sales staff - choosing the wrong incentive won't make much difference in terms of performance. If you're not sure, consider what's worked in the past, or poll your sales staff for ideas. Sometimes it can be as simple as bragging rights, or a special privilege...other times, money or tangible prizes (and end-of-year performance bonus, a trip, or other valuable prize such as an iPad) speak the loudest.

But a contest or sales incentive isn't the only way to make things interesting. You can liven up office life with harmless practical jokes, lively music, fun or silly activities, sales rallies, pep talks, clean jokes and much more. When you elevate the mood of the work environment, your employees perform better (as long as they are still provided ample time and environmental conditions to actually get their work done). Keep things interesting at work, and notice how attendance and morale both improve dramatically (and sales will naturally follow suit).

Keep Your Finger on the Pulse

It's easy to get distracted with your own holiday planning, as well as wrapping end of year numbers and strategic planning for the coming year. But this is the time of year when it's most essential to keep a close eye on numbers and performance, staying in close contact with your front line sales force, to ensure they stay on track and completely focused on closing year-end sales.

It definitely pays to stay in frequent communication with your sales staff during this final two-month push. If you've got front-line managers or team leaders, you'll want to be close communication with those key personnel, ensuring that they are staying in frequent touch with their team as well. You will find great benefit in getting these team leaders on board, and you may even consider a special incentive for the team leaders with the highest performing team during this end-of-year sprint.

Of course, you'll want to exercise restraint here - employees and sales staff who feel micro-managed typically do not perform as well as those who feel a sense of autonomy and independence. You'll want to stay informed and be supportive, but without being pushy or intrusive.

Get Their Buy-In

Sure, we're talking about sales here, but it's also important to focus on a different kind of buy-in: specifically, we mean getting full support from your staff. You'll produce the greatest results when you have commitments and buy-in from your sales staff - especially your team leaders and key personnel.

Whenever possible, poll your top producers and thought leaders for creative ideas, suggestions, etc., to get front-line input on what needs to happen in order to hit those final month goals. Your sales people who are "in the trenches" every day will have a much different perspective than you and other business leaders, and can make significant contributions to problem-solving initiatives.

Go Cherry-Picking

Don't be afraid to approach your best customers with a proposal for additional goods or services, or to increase their 2011 contracts. These are clients who are already sold on you, your company and your product, and it's a proven fact that people who buy from you once are highly likely to buy from you again. This form of "cherry picking" can definitely boost your end-of-year numbers.