In his new book Fire Your Sales Team Today, Square 2 Marketing Founder Mike Liebermann describes the “Sales Trap” as a dynamic where a veteran sales force can’t seem to improve beyond a certain point.

A lot of this is due to the fact that the team has fallen into a routine and has little need or motivation to increase productivity.

Three ways to overcome the Sales Trap, according to Lieberman:

1. Constantly monitor what competitors are doing. If possible, try to get a gauge on how their best salespeople perform. You may be able to motivate some of your best reps by showing them the results of some of their industry peers.
2. Keep an eye on online forums and/or mentions of your company via social media. It’s a perfect way to find out what customers are saying about your approach, while generating high-probability leads, and engaging new prospects directly.
3. Shake up the snow globe. Change up the metrics you monitor on each leaderboard, announce a month-long contest, adjust weekly benchmarks. Change is a great way to stimulate productivity, motivation and morale.

Adapted from the book Fire Your Sales Team by Mike Lieberman and Eric Keiles.

Tags: increase productivity, morale, motivation, Sales Trap