Page 75 - Lighting Magazine August 2018

Keeping a sales team motivated is every owner’s and manager’s responsibility. These tips will keep you on track.
BY MARK OKUN
The people you work with are your company’s most important asset. Hav- ing a motivational strategy is the way to build and maintain a high level of enthusiasm with sta . The result is not
only a be er experience for all employees, but that emotion transfers to their clients.
Huddle, don’t Cuddle
Each day brings a fresh start, and the morning meeting – or huddle – is the most crucial group meeting you can have. Yes, I mean daily! This is the opportunity to set the tone of the day, pass on useful or critical information, and remind each team member of the overall mission of the company.
The late Steven Covey (author of 7 Habits of Highly E ective People) stated as Habit #2: “Begin With the End in Mind.” For us, the goal is happy clients who buy products. In order for the daily huddle to make an impact, it must be the energiz- ing highlight of the day. It is not the time to share anything negative. When a sales day starts with a negative, it takes extra e ort to recapture the positive feelings we want our teams to share with clients. In some instances, the negative emotions cannot be overcome and are evident even when hidden by a smiling façade.
While the preceding paragraph may seem like I am suggesting you gather each morning and sing kumbaya, I am not. There is a strategy to having productive morning meetings that start the day right, and as the morning huddle becomes a habit, many team members will look forward to them.
Guidelines for GettinG off tHe sidelines
These daily meetings are so essential to the team, and the company, that a endance is mandatory. The way to demonstrate the organization’s com- mitment to the compulsory morning meeting is to start on time, every time. I know that social cour- tesy in close-knit showroom environments may be to wait for all to arrive before starting, but this is business, and it demands we follow a structure.
Most sales huddles happen 15 to 30 minutes be- fore the opening of the showroom. Approximately two minutes before the meeting is slated to begin, the team should be assembled, the phones are answered or put on hold, and the door is locked.
This practice has a two-fold bene t: rst and foremost, it assures that interruptions are kept to a minimum, and it lets the team know that these sessions are to be taken seriously. What happens when someone is tardy? Let them in, but limit par- ticipation. A er the meeting is complete, assign a “buddy” to review the information with them.
august 2018 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 71
on the Mark