7 Creative Sales Ideas to Boost Sales Team Motivation

Creative sales ideas don't have to be far-fetched or make your sales reps uncomfortable.

As a sales leader, one of the biggest challenges is motivating your sales reps to be their best. It's not that they don't want to be, it's just that sales can be tough!

Whether your reps are getting hung up on, not getting responses, or just hearing no after no, it's pretty demotivating.

Here are a few creative sales ideas that will motivate your sales team:

1. Discovery Based Selling

I often ask “is it better to tell prospects how great your solution is or is it better for them to discover how great it is?  Most people answer that it’s better for others to discover it.  But why?  “They take ownership” or “they’re more engaged” or “they buy in to your solution” are the most common answers.  Therefore, I suggest that you to develop mechanisms in your sales process that enables your team to practice discovery-based selling.

2. Ask Your Prospect for Proposal Ideas

The next creative sales idea is to ask your prospect to help you develop a sales proposal.  Ask them to tell you what they expect to see in your proposal.  What are their top priorities? what would they want to see in a solution? and what budget might they be willing to invest to resolve these problems?

3. Know Common Problems

Number 3 on our list of creative sales idea is to have a list of common problems that you solve.  Present these to the prospect in a suitable form, such as a hardcopy sheet or email.  Ask your prospect to tell you which of the problems on the list they identify with the most.  Which ones relate most to them? This gets you to address about what prospects care about without wasting time fishing around in a meaningless way.

4. Create a Sales PlayBook

The fourth creative sales idea is to maintain an online, easily changed Sales PlayBook.  Salespeople and anyone else in your organization contribute ideas and updates to improve your sales process.  Discuss these changes frequently, especially in sales team meetings.

Don't have one? Create your own Collavia Sales PlayBook, today!

5. Disqualifying is Easier than Qualifying

Number five is to “disqualify” deals early and often.  Focus on getting all the disqualifiers like price, terms, and conditions out of the way as soon as possible.  This will help you to avoid getting too emotionally connected to deals you’re unlikely to win.

6. Success Stories

The sixth creative sales idea is to develop an inventory of third-party client success stories that anyone on the team can share.  This applies regardless of whether the story comes from one salesperson’s client or another.  Stories don’t belong to salespeople, they belong to the company.  A story is simple.  Relay what the problem was.  Describe what your solution was to fix that problem and then relay the tangible benefit.  The emphasis is on the word “tangible.”  It’s a good idea to place a number in the benefit.  Examples include, “we reduced their costs by 30%” or “we grew their revenue by 55%.”  People love numbers.  They remember numbers.  It makes your stories more credible.

7. Award Bonuses

Another creative sales idea is to award team bonuses.  For example, on a quarter or annual basis.  Let team members motivate each other so everyone is pulling their weight to achieve the goal.  Each person gets a piece of the bonus.  You can divide this evenly or determine portions that everyone agrees to in advance.  Furthermore, you can link bonuses across departments, for example with Sales and Marketing.  You can also assign a company goal.  It’s a great way to create teamwork and accomplish a result that everyone has had a hand in accomplishing.

At the end of the day, motivation is different for each one of your team members. Use these creative ideas to make sure everyone has a reason to work hard at work every day.

Need help figuring out what motivates individual reps? Use DISC assessments to make sure you understand the needs of those on your team.