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Inside sales is an indoor activity. When summertime comes, there’s a big temptation to get up from that desk and out of that office. Tons of seasonal distractions are just begging salespeople to come out and play: swimming, boating, tennis, volleyball, concerts, baseball games, vacations — you name it.
And Millennials, with their short attention spans and attractions to the latest shiny object, are probably the most susceptible to summertime distractions.
It’s definitely a season for managers to get more creative, become more aware of their sales team’s unique needs, and establish rules and guidelines that not only motivate, but are also sustainable. Remember that happy employees = productive employees.
Here are 16 summertime fun ideas to create more sales productivity oomph with your teams:
Concepts to learn include slack, flex, 20% free time, virtual talks, teleworking, telecommuting, and others.
Committee decision-makers are likely to be taking some vacation time soon. Now’s the time to focus on a short sales cycle and push your prospects to get a deal done before they take off.
According to a Salary.com survey, 35% of employees say the number one reason for slacking at work is the lack of challenging work. Remember that Millennials would “rather have no job than a job they hate.”
If your salespeople are having a harder time keeping focused, why not dial them in by offering a half-day Friday? If you’re measuring results, there’s no reason the clock has to be king. If your team knows they can earn an early start to their summer weekend, they’re likely to be that much more motivated to hit those metrics.
Work tends to expand to fit the amount of time allotted. Encourage your team to experiment with ways to improve their efficiency.
When different generations were surveyed on what would get them to do their best work, there was a lot of variety. Boomers wanted clear objectives and for management to get out of their way. Millennials, on the other hand, wanted flexibility, respect and… snacks. Everyone has unique motivational triggers.
Capitalize on the popularity of outdoor activities (concerts in the park) when creating your prizes. Design contests around popular summer events (like blockbuster movies).
It’s time to play musical cubicles and move some people around. In sales, your cubicle neighbor can have a huge influence on your selling game – changing things up is a great way to keep things from feeling too stale around the office.
This isn’t the season to let projects stretch on and on. Keep things moving with deadlines.
Meetings are a fantastic and underutilized sales motivator — just make sure to keep things short. You don’t want your team to get bogged down by needless communication. Make sure you make at least one day per week a “meeting-free” day.
Use this season to chase new business and establish or maintain relationships. Make nontraditional contacts and connections. Get aggressive with your KPIs and commissions structures to encourage new summer business. Focus on markets or products areas that may be overlooked when reps are busy with easier sales during peak periods.
Help your team hit their stride and make progress with scheduled blitzing and outreach campaigns.
Set the bar higher for yourself during this season and the energy will spread to your team. Show off that extra effort.
Polish up those email templates, work on some fresh introductions and product pitches. Those tired old phrases are probably starting to sound a little robotic.
Allow for some comfortable clothes to come into the office. Millennials, especially, will appreciate the opportunity to dress down.
Foosball, Ping-Pong tables, mini-basketball hoops. Keep things fun and don’t let a summer slump bring down your team’s energy.
About the author:
Josiane Feigon is the CEO of TeleSmart, a provider of inside sales training and coaching. She has trained 20-thousand-plus salespeople and still counting. Consistently recognized among The Top 25 Most Influential Inside Sales Professionals, Feigon is one of the world’s leading experts on inside sales team and management talent. She is also a #1 Rated Inside Sales Training Bestselling author, speaker, and sales futurist.
Salesforce.com surveyed 25 of the sales industry's top thought leaders on their productivity tips and compiled their answers into one comprehensive free e-book. Download now.
