The role of a Human Resources manager in motivating your sales team is essential. Ideal interlocutor between the employees and the brand of the employer, it acts in several ways to encourage your salespeople to excel themselves. Focus.
HR: STRONG ACTORS IN THE UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM OF THE MOTIVATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS OF EMPLOYEES
A good human resources manager acts in several ways to re-energize a sales team. One of its flagship actions: the recruitment of the right employee. HR makes sure that the candidate is motivated and has the necessary skills to hold the position to which he has applied.
The Human Resources Department also monitors and coaches the employee, particularly with regard to compensation and career development. He works with the sales manager to propose a relevant compensation model.
This must take into account several elements:
- the capabilities of the company,
- the scales set by the competition
- the market practices
HR must also be aware of the fixed and variable compensation systems implemented in the company.
THE LEVERS ON WHICH HR WORKS TO MOTIVATE SALES TEAMS
To motivate employees of a company, human resources managers rely specifically on 3 key elements:
Incentive compensation
The variable incentive compensation system for employees consists of several compensation rules which will then have to be calculated for each type of job position. It can represent a more or less significant part of the remuneration. As HR director, you will have in your scope, the responsibility of the reliability of the adequacy between the performances generated by the collaborator and the final bonus paid by the company. The amount of the variable pay of the employee may be determined from quantitative objectives (turnover, number of orders, margin), qualitative (compliance with standards, degree of satisfaction, etc.), but also according to the redistribution of a percentage of the result (commission) or according to a ranking between the collaborators on a given performance. Several companies surround themselves with experts in incentive compensation to evaluate their scheme or design a tailor-made solution.
Training of sales teams
HR organizes the training of sales teams. Objective: update their sales methods to make them more efficient. Several seminars and work sessions give employees the opportunity to test and retain the best practices. The training also includes the constitution of senior and junior teams. Older people can help younger people easily reach their goals and build their own network of clients. Above all, these professional moments reinforce the links and install cohesion within the sales team.
The employer brand
Upstream of recruitment, HR motivates sales people, notably by facilitating recruitment via a career site. This facility contributes to a good employer brand. You can consult our article on the interest of variable compensation to improve the image of the employer brand.
HR puts in place working conditions that make the sales person want to surpass himself. As a leader in the company's reputation, the HR ensures good working conditions, provides the necessary equipment and accessories for each mission, recommends telecommuting for certain salespeople, ensures that the atmosphere between the employees is not deleterious. . He plays the role of mediator in case of conflicts between different sales teams.
HOW DOES HR FOLLOW INCENTIVE COMPENSATION OF THE COMMERCIAL TEAM?
A responsive and motivated HR easily manages the variable pay of its staff. This management includes:
Detailed and transparent management rules
Employees know how absences, promotions, job changes and departures affect their own compensation. The more understandable and rewarding this compensation policy, the more employees will give their best.
The right calculation of the rules of incentive
On a day-to-day basis, the HR department will have, at the center of its responsibility, the reliability of the bonus system and the adequacy between the rules for calculating bonuses announced at the beginning of the cycle and the respect of these rules in the final calculation of employee bonuses. The difficulty arises when the rules are unclear, when the performance figures are inaccurate or when there are too many rules.
For a company with several employees, an variable pay management tool is often necessary and saves time.
The edition of pay slip
HR offers comprehensive job descriptions, as well as a detailed job description. These sheets detail all the compensation conditions (fixed or variable). HR managers who work with hundreds of employees need absolutely of software that automates the management of employee compensation.
A real trend is emerging: the HR manager function is changing. These professionals of the human being plunges more into the business by considering the employees as "resources". By becoming involved in the business, HRDs become makers and finally achieve their strategic role in the company. This means that they will notably be the initiators of the compensation plans and will be particularly concerned by their effectiveness.
