Here it is Christmas Eve and I am thinking about all the wonderful gifts that I’m giving… and some that I hope to unwrap myself.
My experience as an inside salesperson is that for the holidays my direct supervisor would always give us a gift. Bottle of wine, a nice beer if they knew me, gift certificate to a local joint, some silly office toy that was fun to play with. You know the drill!

I was always appreciative of the thought, many times I even liked the gift itself!

What if we were to turn this holiday gift giving upside-down? In addition to the nice token of your appreciation – why don’t you give the BEST gift an inside salesperson could EVER get?

Spending 2013 helping them be the BEST salesperson they can be!

Now this is much harder than giving someone a one time present to unwrap. I also need to refer you back to an October post Who’s putting in the MOST effort – you or the salesperson? to make sure it is wisely spent effort.

Here are some simple ideas to help you on your way (remember just because its simple doesn’t make it EASY to do!):

  1. Create an environment where they can motivate themselves.
  2. Believe that their success will be what makes you successful too.
  3. Inspire them by sharing your own career aspirations and goals.
  4. Take them (individually) out to lunch and ask them about their career aspirations and goals.
  5. Have conversations so they clearly see where they are now AND work with them to create a path to where they want to be.
  6. Make sure they can tie successful behaviors for their current role to having success getting where they want to end up.
  7. Follow up, follow through, encourage, cheer, push, celebrate… you get the idea. This isn’t an event for them or you, it is a journey.

Now give yourself a reward for even considering giving the salespeople on your team the BEST gift they could ever receive.

Personally I like cookies!