5 winning ways to motivate your VAR sales Reps

The relationships built by your sales team with your customers and clients form the foundation of your business. It proves beneficial in terms of individual sales, overall growth and reputation. Surely as a value added business reseller, you must be looking forward to a sales team that is successful and productive and helps achieve sales targets not because you told them to.
Keeping sales team motivated is one of the key habits of profitable VARs. There are numerous ways to motivate a sales team. Some companies prefer financial rewards, bonuses, etc. whereas some go the “fun” route for innovative rewards like dinners, fun sales contests, tickets, etc. However, sales reps need more than tickets or gift cards; they actually need to climb up the ladder, work devotedly in their chosen profession and this will drive their growth. Another point here is not all reps are motivated by the same thing. So, developing motivational plans that will work for all is a tricky task. Here are some effective ways to get the most out of your sales reps:

Focus on means

Rather than focusing on results, it is essential to focus on key sales activities. Can you control the results? Surely, not. However, it is possible to monitor the activities. What if you encourage your sales reps to build their schedule around key sales activities? This will surely make them happy and this increased involvement will help them focus on the means, which will lead to success.

Arm your team with the Tools and ammunition to maximize their efforts

Embrace the technology and equip your team with the necessary tools to make sales. This essential tools like cloud based sales applications, sales management software, sales automation tools, etc. will encourage them for streamlined sales. Investing in the newest sales technology can be a smart move in the long run, as you are equipping your team with the tools that will allow them to compete at a higher level. When such tools are used, it saves lots of time and efforts, so that VAR sales reps can focus on core selling activities. This will surely have a positive impact on their personal growth as well as business success.

Provide enough yet high quality leads:

Is collecting leads a number game? Surely, no. It sounds really great when we say more leads, the better. However, will it land more sales? Focusing on higher quality leads is also an essential aspect here. Your sales reps will need to spend less time with high quality leads rather than pursuing more numbers that won’t pan out.  It is better to focus on prospects who are genuinely interested in purchasing. So provide your team with enough and high quality leads. This will certainly boost their productivity.

Train sales people properly to handle any type of worst situation:

Time and money invested in training your sales reps means taking steps towards long term rewards. Sales training is very valuable as the technology and market evolve over time. So training is essential for senior team members as well. Training your VAR  sales team to handle any type of situation means inspiring them towards long-term career development and master the problem solving at work. Training can arm them with latest sales strategies, master new tools and thus, enhance sales methods. If you dedicate enough resources and enough time in your team’s professional development, surely it will build trust towards the company. Investing in your team’s continued training and encouraging them to learn about VAR business and new sales techniques and strategies will boost your business growth ultimately. Podcasts, webinars, books, onsite trainings, mentorship programs, etc will help motivate your team.

Implement proper incentive structure:

Getting the right incentive structure is another great way to motivate employees to work towards goals. The incentive does not only mean cash rewards. Think about different ideas. You can discuss it with your team as well or take a vote on what kind of incentives they would prefer. Giving your team a greater sense of involvement will help inculcate healthy work environment while developing a refreshed sense of excitement. The 80/20 rule definitely proves beneficial here. At least, 80 percent of revenue originates from the top 20 percent. You need to structure incentives to encourage every team member to be a part of the elite group of overachievers.

You should figure motivation techniques that are most effective for each member of their sales team.

• Create a winning environment
• Identify personal strengths of team
• Reinforce and reiterate goals
• Set daily, weekly, monthly goals
• Track and celebrate small wins
• Have a weekly team meeting to review Reps activity
• Inculcate positive and healthy work environment
• Build a bond between team members and company and within the team
• Build appropriate spirit of competition

You will need to invest some time here, as each person is unique in terms of personality, experience, skills, and career goals and hence it will need a unique combination to keep passion constant and alive in every team member for high performance in the long run.

All in all, there’s no shortage of ways to inspire, motivate and get your team to achieve goals and increase sales activity. You just need to think about the ways that will work for your VAR business and implement strategies to best motivate your team. Correct combination with the focus on personalities involved, products/services offered and markets served will help in sustainable and measurable revenue growth. So, get ready to transform the productivity levels of your company by motivating your VAR sales team to climb the ladder now.