Your sales team’s morale is an excellent indicator of where your sales department is headed. A bit depressing? You’d better do something - Quick!
But first, let’s take a closer look at the problem. Staff morale is defined as the combination of their confidence and discipline. While poor confidence will only produce a token effort, poor discipline will see them stop even this.
As a rule, what we expect comes from our view of the past and present events. If your business is a little slow, or your dealership is having some internal problems, you’ll need to establish in the minds of your salespeople that whatever went wrong is over, and better times are coming. However serious it was, your staff must put it behind them so you can all move on.
But to where? To start, we need to find something your team can feel good about. Who performed a miracle in the midst of your problems? How can we show that this accomplishment will lead to more in the future?
If you can identify even one person who produced a good result you have established the
situation wasn’t impossible, just challenging. And they will become an inspiration. Politicians
use this technique all the time. They will even claim a victory when things are still getting worse, but at a slower rate. They know how important it is to find something to feel good about.
However modest your recovery plans, share them. Each positive step to recovery will give
everyone a sense of achievement and added confidence in their ability to make it. You don t need a massive success to change their outlook. Every improvement can provide each member with a share of pride in the accomplishment and a little greater expectation for the outcome. A series of small accomplishments will provide more reassurance than a single event.
It really is a simple process to improve the morale:
• Change their view of what happened
• Adjust their perspective
• Point out the good news
• Focus their attention on the future
• Share exactly what you are going to do and how they will know it is working
• Ensure everyone feels a part of the result
• Highlight Every Accomplishment!
Then watch how your customers respond to the change in your team!
If you'd like to learn more about sales management, visit www.rvsalesmanager.net.