In today’s job market, a sales job is relatively easy to get as the turnover rates are extremely high. Ironically, while this plagues many sales managers, it is often their own management style that is the reason for the high turnover.

As opposed to making horrible hiring decisions, many sales managers are the masters of their own demise with their approach to motivating (or de-motivating) their subordinates. To combat this, it is important to think and grow rich with inspiration and motivation in your business and personal lives. With an endless number of books written on motivational sales techniques, it is important to remember the basics when it comes to inspiring salespeople. They include:

Product Knowledge Is Power

Educating your sales team on every important aspect of the product you offer inspires confidence and enables your team to create effective presentations. Additionally, many potential prospects will pose challenging questions and it is critical that each potential team member is prepared in advance of the presentation. Having extensive product knowledge and acting more as a sales mentor than a sales boss will help you gain the trust and confidence of your team and in turn, prospective customers.

Enthusiasm Is the Missing Piece to Your Ultimate Success

Finding success in the job market is like solving a puzzle and, in the experience of many sales mentors, the final piece is always enthusiasm. People feel more motivated when they are around highly enthusiastic people, and you can inspire people to work harder when you bring a positive attitude to the table. Having high levels of enthusiasm allows a sales professional to inspire the same feeling of excitement with a prospect they are trying to close on.

Rewarding Good Performance

Every salesperson wants to set their own personal goals and achieve them. When a goal is accomplished, they should be recognized and rewarded appropriately. Many sales organizations will have a wide variety of reward programs and contests. These could range from monetary incentives such as bonuses whenever certain sales deadlines are reached, to other incentives and perks including paid vacations. These types of rewards can motivate and inspire a sales team to work as hard as possible and achieve their sales goals.

Emphasizing Teamwork

Although individual and personal sales goals will always be important, creating a team-oriented environment is essential as well. Meeting regularly as a team to discuss how to move forward on a and sharing stories of how to be successful can be a unique way to set an organization apart from its competition. It is extremely important to have daily or weekly meetings and discuss your game plan together. Sharing ideas can be highly motivational for everyone involved.

Establishing Realistic Goals

A sales management team should always set realistic goals that they know their team can achieve. This allows the team member to have a strong sense of achievement along with striving to do even more. This approach is much better than showing your frustrations to your team and giving them impossible deadlines to reach to complete these goals.

Intimidation and anger should never be used as a method to motivate your team members. This can create a toxic work environment leading to a lack of trust and motivation.

Ultimately, it is necessary for you and your team to think and grow rich together to achieve motivation and inspiration. Without these two key factors, you and your company will falter. Completing your goals as an effective sales team is the only way to be successful!

If You Sell It, They Will Come

In the world of sales, advertising can be a game changer. It is a cold, hard fact of our business that If people don’t know about your product, they will never buy it.

Your job is to make people realize that you have a product or service that they need and that it is worth it to them to spend money on it. It really does not matter what the product or service is. If you know how to advertise it, they will buy it.

Have you ever seen infomercials on TV and thought to yourself how silly the product is? Well, just because you don’t need or want what they are selling doesn’t mean someone else won’t. Truth is, there is always someone willing to buy what you’re selling provided they know about it. If you sell it, they will come!

Advertise Wisely

If you want people to buy what you are selling, then you need to get the word out. Advertising may require an investment, but it will be well worth it if you do it correctly. In advertising you will need something that sticks in people’s heads. If people fondly remember your advertisement, then that is effective advertising.

The goal is to make what you are selling synonymous with the advertisement when someone thinks about it. You will also need to encompass how the buyer will benefit from purchasing it in a short snappy manner. If the main selling point is how cheap the product is, put the price on the advertisement; otherwise, leave it off. This will force interested buyers to inquire further.

If your customers are asking questions like: How much is the product? What is the warranty? How long do they have to return it? Then, the advertisement has done the job. If your customers are asking questions like: What is it? What does it do? Why do I need this? Then, you need a new advertisement.

Get it Sold!

Today, people are all about instant gratification. Everyone wants everything right now. They will not take no for an answer. You must make your product quickly available to the customer through any means necessary.

It still holds true that the best way to sell a product is in person because the customer gets the product they pay for instantly. Be creative and have fun with this idea. It does not mean that you need to open a store or go door to door. If you sell jewelry, a good way to get people to buy your product is to sell your items to a gas station on the condition that they will put it within 10 feet of the cash register.

You can also try renting a space at a farmers’ market, music festival, or other popular events. If you are selling online, you will need to invest in your website and avenues like Googles Ads to get people to buy what you are selling. Remember to make your website as user-friendly as possible because the more time they spend on it, the more likely they are to buy.

Most importantly you will need to have a reliable shipping method that does not take too long. It does not matter how great the product is, if the customer waits longer than two weeks to put their hands on it, it is not going to sell very well.

Top 10 Movies of all Time for Sales Professionals

If you live and breathe sales, you probably love watching movies about it, too. Hollywood’s fascination with sales has produced a lot of movies endorsed by sales coaches and sales trainers. Here are 10 of the best movies to inspire you in your career as a sales professional:

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of Jordan Belfort is every sales trainer’s dream and nightmare at the same time. His persuasiveness and tenacity are qualities that sales coaches everywhere look for, but rarely find. The ability to sell anything like Jordan is something every sales professional hopes to learn from their sales coaching and sales training.

Boiler Room (2000)

Like The Wolf of Wall Street, this movie creatively uses a fair amount of artistic license in its storytelling. However, its depiction of aggressive brokers on a sales floor is impressively accurate. While this film throws ethics out the window, many sales professionals will recognize the competitiveness among brokers portrayed in this film. It also provides a valuable lesson on the consequences of shady sales tactics.

Death of a Salesman (1985)

Based on the Emmy winning play, this movie, which follows the life of a travelling salesman who ultimately fails. While it can be a depressing watch, this movie offers a lot of valuable sales coaching and sales training lessons such as setting attainable objectives. This film and its protagonist prove that even our biggest failures as sales professionals can teach us something important.

Tommy Boy (1995)

If any movie ever highlighted the importance of sales trainers and sales coaches, Tommy Boy is it! Audiences get the privilege of watching the main character – played brilliantly by the late Chris Farley – transform into an impressive salesman as he tries to save his family’s business. One of the best lessons to be learned from this comedic masterpiece is the importance of fostering a strong relationship with customers.

The Big Short (2015)

This movie can be a tough watch for anyone who suffered personal financial losses in the 2008 financial crisis, but it actually offers a lot of sales coaching wisdom. Imagine how good of a salesman you need to be to convince anyone to purchase swaps in the same way that Jared Vennett does in the film.

Moneyball (2011)

For anyone who loves sports as much as they love sales, this is a great film to watch. Throughout the entire film, Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) is forced to sell his management strategy to everyone on his team. Sales coaches will appreciate the way he recognizes market opportunities and leverages undervalued assets. Watching Beane make trades with other general managers is sure to give any sales professional a rush.

The Pursuit of Happiness (2006)

Who doesn’t love a good underdog story? Will Smith’s performance as Chris Gardner in this film can make even the most stoic sales trainer shed a tear. A life in sales is far from easy, and Gardner’s struggles in the film accurately portray this harsh fact. Observing Gardner use creative and brilliant sales moves to secure his spot at a brokerage firm should be a mandatory part of any sales training.

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Jerry Maguire is a classic for a good reason and any sales professional worth their salt should appreciate Maguire’s desire to deliver top-notch services to his clients. Although it doesn’t initially work in his favor and he’s only able to persuade one client to stay with him, his solid sales strategy eventually pays off. There is plenty of sales wisdom hidden in this movie, but all of them boil down to one line. Make your clients feel valued, and they’ll “show you the money.”

The Big Kahuna (1999)

If you want to watch three salesmen try to land a CEO client, The Big Kahuna is a must-watch. Every sales professional is familiar with the thrill of landing a C-Suite client or closing a huge deal and this comedy can help you relive the lows and highs of chasing game-changing clients.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Perhaps above all others, this movie demonstrates the struggles of being a salesman. The pressure to find leads, the desperation to close a deal, the pain of rejection when deals fall through. This movie is praised by many leading sales trainers as the perfect depiction of the ups and downs of the profession.

Conclusion: Not all of these movies portray sales professionals in the most flattering way. Many provide unflinchingly honest depictions of a life in sales. However, they all can offer you valuable lessons and insights as a sales professional.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Emily Henry is a sales manager at Lia Help and Paper Fellows. She writes about content recommendations and tips for sales and sales managers. Also, she is a tutor at Assignment Writing Service.

Is Your Sales Force a Sales Farce?

When was the last time you purchased a product based on the charm, professionalism, sincerity, and effectiveness of the salesperson? These types of salespeople are rare, comprising less than two percent of the “best of the best” in the selling profession.

They are the real force behind their sales organizations while the rest are average salespeople – mostly “order takers” – who do not know how to articulate value and solve their clients’ business problems. And of course, there are those salespeople who are actually a disgrace to the profession, doing precious little.

It is somewhat ironic that organizations spend a considerable portion of their earnings in developing a sales force for their businesses, but many do not get proportionate returns. Accustomed to working on auto-pilot sales systems, non-performing salespeople find the going gets tough when the system doesn’t work in the normal way.

Despite having an apparently qualified and experienced sales team – as well as having good sales practices and processes in place – organizations can struggle if their so-called sales force actually paints a picture that is close to a farce. By avoiding this situation, you can set your sales team on a path of success. Here is how:

The importance of sales leadership

You need to have sales heroes in your organization. There should be at least one sales hero who can lead from the front setting an example for everyone else to follow. Sales leaders are master salesmen, experts in timing their sales calls, flawless in their presentations, careful in their choice of words, and sensitive to the needs of their customers. They do not buckle under pressure. They also have the capacity to inspire others with their hard and intelligent work. Such leadership talents are vital for a sales organization thrive and prosper.

Let go of those who should not be in sales

As any leading sales coach or sales trainer will tell you, some people are simply not cut out for the sales profession. They don’t believe in hard work, don’t like going out of their way to meet clients and discuss their requirements, and are constantly worrying about their monthly sales numbers. They participate in sales training workshops but learn little so how are they ever going to sell? Remember, sales is the highest paying hard work and the lowest paying easy work out there. Get rid of the people who settle for low paying easy work.

The sales profession demands that salespersons should be extroverts and outgoing people interested in meeting people, solving client’s problems with one-size-fits-one solutions. They should have healthy sense of self and self-esteem. Salespeople should exude warmth, friendliness, and an eagerness to offer solutions. They also should like their job and the products and services they are selling. If not, they should not be in sales and can utilize their talents in other professions.

Motivation as a key to sales direction and success

The profession of sales is not a normal “banker’s hours” job with a desk, a personal computer, a phone, and a cubicle. In fact, the most productive and highest paid professional sales reps do all their non-sales related activities such as reports, presentations, etc. between 6:00–8:00 AM and 6:00–8:00 PM. The prime selling time of 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM is devoted to getting face to face with decision makers. A decision maker is defined as a prospect that has need, desire, financial capacity and authority.

To keep doing this five days a week all through the year, a salesperson needs motivation. When the market conditions are tough, and the internal conditions are far from perfect, a salesperson will require more motivation than normal to keep going. Some have the knack of motivating themselves while others rely on their sales managers or professional motivational sales coaching and sales training.

Successful reps solve problems and add value

Each salesperson brings his or her unique personality traits into sales. Some are sincere, some are thorough with technical details, others are helpful with after sales service. There are salespeople that are good listeners. They listen to the client thoroughly and understand the client’s problems and offer solutions. By putting in a little extra effort, they add value to the service offered to the client as well as the organization.

Successful salespeople like to make money

At the one end of the sales profession spectrum lies the possibility of job loss for non-performance while at the other end lies the possibility of making a very good living, earning the respect of your clients and colleagues. Successful salespeople are driven by the desire to solve clients’ business problems and articulate value. A by-product of all that hard work is a healthy income stream and job security which is quite if ethical practices are followed.

Evaluate your sales team and see if it has the above-mentioned characteristics. If the answer is no, find out what is stopping you from incorporating them? It’s up to you to save your sales organization from becoming a sales farce and turn them in to a potent sales force.