How to Motivate the Sales Team during Covid?

COVID-19 ushered in a period never witnessed before in modern history, total lockdown worldwide. We believe everyone can relate to what that was like. However, it also brought some much-needed realization. For example, remote working has always been underrated until COVID-19. While many companies couldn’t adapt and nearly go into insolvency and oblivion, others gradually adjusted. At the same time, some thrived because they were already digital-oriented, and remote working has already been a thing there. 

It’s granted that physical presence and real-time meetings are more reassuring, but when covid hit the world. A lot of companies realized that it doesn’t have to be the end of work. They transitioned fully into virtual work meetings through video conference calls. Zoom became one of the most used applications, and it served the needs of many organizations. 

How can the sales team be motivated during Covid? We’ll be sharing pointers on how that can be achieved using the vast array of digital tools at your disposal. 

Getting them to Adjust to Virtual Settings

Have you ever heard of the virtual sales model? A lot of organizations reckoned that COVID-19 shouldn’t be the end of the world. Things previously discussed in offices, conference rooms, and board meetings moved to videoconference via Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and other applications. This was good for sales teams. 

B2B (Business2Business) evolved and became more virtual-oriented than ever before. Companies such as Amazon that were already established in eCommerce made an incredible amount of money during Covid. What’s their secret? It’s a virtual sales model. 

McKinsey and Company reported that sales took a new direction during the pandemic when merchants on B2B platforms swiftly adjusted to the new global situation. An overwhelming majority made the transition from working physically to working remotely. Phones and video applications became the new offices, conference rooms, and board rooms. 

How potent a virtual sales model is to an organization depends not just on their transition to online channels for work but on how your sales team is mobilized across various virtual platforms and how the organization supports them to go through the motions of online selling. This will enable your sales team to recreate the efficiency that will result in customer satisfaction excellently. 

The ability of any organization to get their sales team equipped and adjusted to virtual settings via videoconferencing to meet and set objectives, discuss strategies, define periodic targets, and conduct team reviews are all needed to motivate them. 

Viable Leadership

Working during the pandemic put team leaders/supervisors to the test. Their abilities to motivate their team members to deliver according to and even exceed set expectations while working remotely were called into scrutiny.

Team leaders should accord more time to guide their team members on the job and help them race across the finish line. Factors such as application access, virtual security, instructions processing, and virtual appointments for specific tasks were instrumental to helping sales teams adapt to the new work settings. 

Policy review, company restructuring to fit the new virtual model, and certain standardization practices motivated the sales team to become comfortable working from home. 

Frequent and Well-Timed Communication

In the absence of physical interactions at work venues, regular virtual communication is essential. Instead of organizing long and boring video conference meetings at irregular periods, schedule engaging and purposeful conference meetings at well-timed periods. 

We recommend at most two meetings a day, except in the case of emergencies. We believe late mornings and early evenings are the best periods to schedule work meetings. Aside from that, there should be a specific channel for such meetings. Irrespective of the variety in platforms or tools used by the sales team, their meeting channel should be specific. They can decide to use Zoom, Slack, or other video conferencing apps. Also, ensure that every member of the team is on that platform. You should refrain from using platforms that disfavor the team members. 

Also, schedule such meetings at a time that every team member will be able to attend and participate in. This ensures that no team member feels alienated and, eventually, discouraged. It also keeps things simple. 

Don’t Ignore Minimal Victories.

We believe it is still a largely unknown fact that small wins are even more appreciated among people working remotely. A team typically consists of different individuals. While some are brilliant at what they do, others are just barely competent. Working from home makes this disparity even more pronounced, and it becomes very easy for such people to be overlooked. 

Sales is not a piece of cake, and while some are naturally good at it, others are trying to stay afloat. Team leaders should prioritize to lend recognition and laud completion of tasks, and insights are given at meetings. This encourages and boosts the morale of the team, and it spurs them to do better. 

Refrain from talking down to the team members when they don’t deliver as well. Every organization and team has bad days. Navigating the problem as a team and constructive reviews are crucial to keeping your team in one piece. 

Your Expectations, Target, or Quotas Should be Realistic and Achievable

Being hard to please won’t help anyone. Review and modify the sales expectations and quotas. Don’t use the same standards as pre-pandemic for the lockdown period. Business isn’t the same everywhere, as the pandemic brought global economic meltdown with it. Most importantly, it prevents the team members from questioning the security of their jobs when faced with unachievable deadlines or quotas. So you should define employee goals.

Conclusion

This article shares vital information on how to motivate the sales team during the pandemic. Effective pointers were given in detail: getting the sales team to adjust to virtual settings, viable leadership, frequent and well-timed communication, lauding minimal victories, and setting expectations, targets, and quotas that are realistic and achievable. 

Did you learn something useful? Let us know your thoughts, and feel free to drop your contributions in the comments below.