While the holidays are a time of joy and celebration for many, they can also be a source of stress for sales teams. Team members may find it difficult to stay motivated with all the additional demands on their time and energy (not to mention all of the holiday parties and events). We all tend to slack off sometimes when there are festivities, but this isn’t the time to slow down. Here’s how to motivate a team through the holidays:

Set achievable goals.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed during the holidays, especially if your team has a lot of work to do. To avoid feeling stressed out and unmotivated, set realistic goals that you can achieve within a reasonable timeframe.

Plan a post-holiday celebration.

What’s better than looking forward to celebrating all of your hard work than hosting a party for your team? Make it fun and let them enjoy a night to congratulate them. 

Address problems ahead of time.

If you’re aware of issues with a project (such as a tight deadline or an unrealistic workload), address them ahead of time by asking for help from other team members.

Give back.

This is a no-brainer! Your team will feel more motivated and stay engaged if they have the opportunity to give their time and skills to a worthy cause.

Reward good performance.

Recognition for a job well done is one of the best ways to keep people motivated. Suppose you have an incentive program in place. In that case, everyone must get credit when they do something worthy of recognition so that no one feels left out.

Recognize your team’s efforts.

Please make a special effort to recognize the contributions of your team members during the holidays. Let them know how much you appreciate their dedication and hard work throughout the year. It’s not too late to add something special in their holiday paychecks for working through December!

Celebrate success.

When your team meets its goals or completes a project ahead of schedule, take the time to celebrate its success. This will help keep them motivated to work even harder in the future.

Work on personal development.

Just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean it’s time to slack off – it’s a great time to read sales books, complete extra sales training, surround yourself with positive reminders and make continued investments in yourself – because that’s the greatest gift of all.

I get it – there’s lots of fun around the office these days, but let’s keep in mind that our goals are our first priority. Don’t forget to give your sales team something to look forward to and keep them motivated so they continue to boost sales. If you want to learn about more motivation methods, check out my course at cardoneuniversity.com.