Seven lucky readers from Rochdale-based internet services company, Zen Internet won ModernSelling.com’s team-building competition and picked up a £2,500 prize courtesy of Active Consultancy.

But faced with a choice of seven great prizes, including a surfing weekend in Cornwall or going to lunch in France by private plane, what did our winners choose to do? They opted for a trip to London including a night at a top hotel, dinner and tickets to see American comedian Chris Rock. Pack leader and sales exec, COLIN CLARKE takes up the story….

Driving to London in a funky looking Chrysler Voyager, as made famous by The Apprentice, was somewhat of a white-knuckle ride – three fools jammed into the back row with Captain Picard and Number 1 in the directors’ seats, whilst a dodgy Italian was in the front acting as navigator to Sterling Moss behind the wheel.

Professional Sales Development Ltd founder, Stephen Lewis-Brammer explains how to keep selling in the current tough economic climate.

Doom and gloom! At least that is what they are saying in the newspapers and on the television and, if you are not careful, it may be what you will be thinking too.

Before you go into your own version of a depression, though, here is a positive thought for you to contemplate: cometh the tough times, cometh the hour of the professional salesperson.

Rather than being something which we should all be worrying and panicking about, tough times really present a golden opportunity for you as a professional salesperson to prove your worth – while it may be more difficult to win business it is possible. In fact, tough times are actually professional salespeople’s opportunity to remain consistently successful (even to increase their levels of success) whilst lesser mortals around them fall by the wayside.

Fired one too many paint-balls? Bored with lame problem-solving exercises? Don’t worry! We sent Tina Lofthouse in seach of ten events that will really get the team fired up.

Team-building – the very thought strikes fear into the heart of normally co-operative and positive employees. Hours spent in muddy fields scrambling over obstacle courses, making robots with sticky-backed plastic, and that old chestnut – working out how to get your team across a ‘minefield’ (more muddy grass!) with just the aid of two short planks.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. Events companies are becoming extremely innovative when it comes to team-building, ensuring that the day not only ticks all the boxes in terms of improving communication, bonding, and so on, but is – shock, horror! – actually good fun.

Road warrior – the very name conjures up the essence of life in field sales: isolated, wandering, battling against the odds, but with the added spice of romance, a hint of riches and glory at journey’s end. Nick de Cent gets inside the head of a salesperson.

When we refer to salespeople as ‘road warriors’, is it a term of endearment or a put-down? Are salespeople today’s equivalent of the knights of the round table or are they selfish, needy, isolated attention-seekers, as quick to sell their grandmother for a couple of quid as to help out a client? What it is that attracts people to the sales profession and drives them on in the face of continual rejection?

Misunderstood

One thing’s for sure: salespeople and the sales process are much misunderstood, and the traditional view of what makes salespeople tick is neither accurate nor up to date. And of course there are many different types of salespeople, working in varied roles, across different industries: business development, account management, field sales, telesales, ‘hunters’, ‘farmers’ – the list goes on.

What really keeps a salesperson motivated, asks editor Nick de Cent?

There must have been more words expended on the topic of motivation in business – and especially in sales – than almost any other, along with enough hot air to fuel the Greenhouse Effect well into the next millennium.

Type in the word ‘motivation’ and Google returns over 87 million references, a large proportion of which turn out to be from the usual suspects – self-styled motivational gurus, peddlers of the latest quick fix and similar snake-oil salesmen – all intent on earning their over-inflated consultancy fees.

Director of Sales Team Focus Ltd, Jeffrey Bean discusses whether sales team motivation is measurable and predictable.

I recently read an excellent article written by Nick de Cent (originally in Salestarget.co.uk’s newsletter ‘The Deal’ and onsite here – Ed) that accurately summarised the collective thinking on the motivation of employees in general and salespeople in particular, into which serious research began in the early 1950s.

Reality of the situation

Whilst the conclusion and recommendations may have seemed like catch-alls, they reflect the reality of the situation in that no two people are motivated by the same things and in the same way. And what motivates an individual can vary over time depending on personal circumstances.

What use are such generalisations to sales managers seeking to recruit the ‘right’ people and get the best from every member of the team? Well, whilst it is true that we are all unique in terms of precisely what motivates us, there is a surprising amount of commonality in what motivates high-performing salespeople. The best news of all is that it’s measurable and predictable – of great benefit when recruiting new staff.

1 Identify your objectives.

Without a clear idea of what we really want from our career (and life in general) it can be extremely difficult to stay focused and motivated. Work out the difference between dreams and fantasies. The pay rise we have been promised or the promotion that has been hinted at are both dreams. It is easy to lose touch with our dreams under the pressures of daily life.

2 Make those goals realistic.

We often sabotage the things we really want to achieve by taking on too much. Above all, set realistic goals.

Managing work-load and expectations in today’s frenetic business world is a challenging but vital skill. Where possible, it is almost always more productive to take things at a steady pace.

We talk a lot about motivation in the world of sales, so much so that a multi-million-pound industry has grown up around the concept of keeping employees – and especially sales staff – motivated. But what about the opposite – demotivation?

What demotivates?

Systems, organisational policies and management actions can all actively contribute towards a demotivated workforce.

Of the three, it’s probably the individual manager’s actions and behaviour that has the greatest immediate effect on staff motivation… or lack of it.

Here are seven ways you can guarantee to demotivate staff…

When it comes to pumping up performance, many businesses are looking to provide the thrill of a lifetime. Just don’t tell Health & Safety, says journalist Tina Lofthouse.

There is plenty of evidence that travel incentives are far more appealing than cash in the sales world but, with people travelling more than ever before and holidaying in increasingly far-flung destinations, a way of offering something that bit more special is becoming crucial.

'Good news chaps, we're all going paintballing!' I don't think so, says Peter Buhlmann, not when there are so many more imaginative ways to lead your team towards motivational Nirvana.

1. Strip cold-calling

Not the idle fantasy of a fourteen year-old comic aficionado, but a technique used by Pareto Law, voted the best small company to work for in the 2005 Sunday Times national survey.

'We only take on inexperienced young graduates,' says sales manager Matthew Hague, 'so we have to think how we're going to provide a business that they're going to want to work for. We've tended to sail a little close to the wind sometimes and do something different.