Fire up your sales team for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

We expect you’ve got all your plans in place for your 2020 Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions.

The web wizards in SEO are ready for “Insert your product Black Friday” searches and the gazillion variations of that your customers will put into Google.

Your email team have set you up with a peach of an outbound campaign, and you’re expecting the phones to ring right off their hooks all day as the emails pour in.

There’s just one question left. How are you going to fire up your sales team to turn this Black Friday into your biggest one yet? We’ve got some ideas that won’t cost a fortune, take a look:

Day-of rewards

As we’ve said before, long-term incentive schemes can end up rewarding the same small group over and over.

Putting some exciting digital gift cards up for grabs on the day, when your whole team is focused on the same tasks at the same time, lets everyone into the game.

Of course, its best to reward people for hitting targets, but we’ve also found it really motivating to have rewards for ‘softer’ things such as Hero of the Day, Best team Player and even Gaff of the Week to really boost morale when things are extremely busy.

Reward the wins, big and small, through the day

Don’t wait until the Monday after to tell the story of your big Black Friday. Stay on top of your sales through the day and give your team regular updates and encouragement about their successes.

A big milestone might even be worth breaking out some digital rewards for the team. Having small rewards for things like the Lunchtime Legend and Afternoon Achiever gives people a little moment to look forward to.

Feed them

Literally! Some Uber Eats or Just Eat e-gift cards could make all the difference to their mindset on Black Friday, even when your staff are working from home. At the very least it’s one less thing to worry about.

Or, if you prefer to keep rewards in reserve, they’d make a great prize for a team passing an important sales milestone on the day, and it enables them to get together over Zoom (other platforms are available!) and celebrate their achievements together.

Recognise more than revenue

No matter how good your team is, there’s always an element of luck to inbound sales. One teammate picks up the phone to a £200 order, another picks up the phone to £2,000. Rewarding and recognising what your staff can’t control doesn’t motivate them.

In fact, things that look unfair, or just feel unfair, are demotivating. Celebrate your staff for what they can control – their application and effort to their tasks.

Make their efforts part of a bigger picture

Working without a bigger picture isn’t particularly satisfying. People feel much more empowered if they know ‘why’ they are working so hard. Knowing how their work affects other teams, and your company as a whole, motivates staff to excel.

Be sure to outline how a successful Black Friday would make a huge positive impact on not just your department, but the whole organisation.

Relax your procedures

If it’s at all possible, relax your rules and procedures for the day. Black Friday/Cyber Monday aren’t normal days, after all. If you’re looking for high-volume over a short time, you don’t want staff getting demoralised while caught in a queue to approve a quote or sale with the boss.

Trust and autonomy can motivate just as well as rewards in the circumstances (especially if those sales affect their commission….).

Celebrate team milestones

Focus on the whole team, not just individual performances. As we’ve mentioned before in this article, some of your staff will always perform better than others.

Sometimes that’s luck and sometimes that’s skill, but your department succeeds as a team regardless. Keeping a whole team motivated means recognising their achievements as a unit.

Highlight past achievements

Go back over what the team did well last year, or the year before, and pull out the big stories.

Phrase this as a narrative, as a story of how your teams come together to create success. Then present the upcoming Black Friday as an opportunity to define what the next chapter in that story looks like.

Reward the moment, but plan for the future

Remember, these aren’t long-term strategies. This is a sugar-rush, a dizzying surge to deal with one of the biggest days of the year. They’re no replacement for well-organised long-term incentive programmes, a great company culture, and investing in the development of your staff.

If you want to talk about any of that, or organise some rewards for the team this Black Friday, please do get in touch.