You can provide your team with the world’s best training, the most profitable territories and the best quality products, but if they’re not motivated, they’ll never reach their potential. As the sales manager and team leader, it’s up to you to help rebuild the will to win and positive attitude that frequent rejection tears down.

What’s more, motivated salespeople are more likely to be independent self-starters, which gives you more time to spend with the salespeople who need you most. By using these tips to keep your team’s spirits up, you can help make your job – and your team’s – more fun and more profitable.

1) Make the work meaningful. Salespeople who know the value of what they do are more likely to give their best effort. Rewards and recognition are important, but they’re no substitute for reminding salespeople that what they do helps people. For your next sales meeting, make a list of ways that describe how what you do improves other people’s lives. Remind them that selling helps their company stay in business, which ensures that everyone who works for that company can bring home a paycheck to feed themselves and their families. Post your company’s mission statement prominently and tell them what an important role they play in the fulfillment of that mission.

2) Be predictably unpredictable. When you keep people guessing, you keep them interested. When you’re always trying something new or changing your routines, it’s harder to get stuck in a rut. Forget about doing things the way they’ve always been done and opt for a more original alternative. One company in Singapore, for example, closes its shop every Friday afternoon to let employees read and discuss the latest business books. Another opens sales meetings by “celebrating the heroes” – acknowledging top performers and asking them to share their success secrets. Improvements in performance start with changes – by making some unorthodox adjustments to your routines, you encourage your salespeople to make some motivating and profitable changes to theirs.

3) Create symbols of victory. If out of sight is out of mind, you need to keep visual reminders of the rewards of hard work in front of your team to keep them motivated. Encourage your salespeople to think about the rewards that motivate them most and to put pictures of those rewards up where they’ll see them often. A top Xerox manager carried a ski cap with the name of a five-star ski resort embroidered on it to every meeting to remind his people of where they were going to go if they met their targets. One company I worked with designated one office wall as the “victory wall” and decorated it with testimonial letters and written goals.

4) Know your salespeople. When it comes to motivation, not all salespeople are created equal. Whereas some might crave recognition for their achievements, others might be more inspired by the thought of a weekend getaway at the beach. Spend some time getting to know what makes your salespeople tick, what fires their imaginations and fires them up. Motivate them by building their egos – make them feel important (they are) by listening to them carefully, praising them often and allowing them to sell without close supervision if they don’t need it or want it. Get in tune with your team’s wants and needs by looking at things from their perspective.

5) Give your team their RDA of praise. Try recognizing your salespeople as often as you want them to do their best. Positive reinforcement is one of the most effective ways to make sure your team keeps up the good work. It only takes a few seconds to say, “You did a terrific job closing the Jones account,” but the motivating effect on the salesperson lasts a lot longer. Keep the basics of effective praise in mind: Make it timely, specific and personal. Get in the habit of praising your people’s actions – not just their results. Remember that motivating rewards don’t have to cost a lot of money. You might get more out of your salespeople by simply promising them a lunchtime pizza party or ice cream social on Friday if they meet the quota you set for the week.

6) Set a good example. What you say won’t mean much if you don’t follow your own rules. What’s good for the salespeople is also good for their manager, so make sure you always practice what you preach. Earn your team’s trust by always doing what you say you will and make sure they know you’re there to help them. Always practice ethical sales and let your team know you expect them to do the same. Showing them you hold yourself to the same standards you set for them will help you earn their respect and encourage them to follow your example.

7) Strive for continuous renewal. Confucius said, “Good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly.” Good salespeople never stop learning, growing and improving. To keep yourself and your team fresh and ward off burnout, take time out for fun. One manager at Microsoft hits the company basketball court with his team to blow off steam and stimulate new ideas. Keep an eye out for interesting articles, videos or tapes that can teach your team a new lesson or give them a fresh perspective on an old issue or problem. Encourage them to set aside time for personal reflection and self-renewal. Use leisure time to recharge your batteries so that you’re ready and able to your best when you return to work.

A sales team that’s well-educated but poorly motivated is only half-equipped to succeed. All salespeople should strive to be positive self-starters, but managers who see motivation as entirely the salesperson’s problem are shortchanging both themselves and their team. When your team wins, you win, so help them stay positive and sell more by taking an active role in keeping them motivated.