How Do You Keep The Excitement Going?

When you are dealing with a Sales force, it is important to keep everyone energized and excited about what they do. All successful salespersons already possess a strong measure of self-motivation, however, everyone needs some outside recognition every now and then to help keep them animated. This includes all the support personnel, who tirelessly do their jobs each day but don’t receive the personal satisfaction of ‘closing a sale’. How do you keep the fire burning in your sales force?

At New England Machinery we installed a ship’s bell. This is an original heavy brass bell that has a short pull string attached to a round brass clacker. Its ring can be easily heard throughout the entire building. When a Salesperson receives a Purchase Order above a pre-ordained amount (or, for our Parts sales department, their aggregate sales for an entire day reaches the specified amount), they are allowed to ring the bell. Everyone in the office stops what they are doing and applauds, whistles and cheers for the ‘bell ringer’. It is a simple idea that really lights up everyone’s day and puts smiles on everyone’s faces, not just the bell ringer. It is amazing how this simple idea has energized everyone in the office. It has solidified a sense of team-work, enhanced camaraderie, and made everyone feel like a winner. We all now share in the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that previously was only experienced by the individual Salespersons.

If your office has a practice for energizing its workforce, send us your ideas. We would love to hear about more ways to Keep The Excitement Going!

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at http://www.neminc.com/.