Despidos y equipos de ventas: Estrategias para mantener la productividad y el rendimiento

Layoffs are a difficult time for any organization. While the decision and the need to downsize can be a tough call, the ones most affected by such decisions are the rest of the workforce. However, one segment of employees often bears the brunt and the most significant share of the stress resulting from the fallout - the salespeople.

Salespeople are the lifeblood of a company, and they are the ones who burn the midnight lamp to bring in adequate revenue. But when layoffs hit, they can find themselves struggling to maintain their productivity and motivation.

However, despite the challenges presented by layoffs, there are some easy ways to help you keep your team's morale high at all times. This is why we are here to explore how you can leverage incentivization and automation to keep your sales team performing at their best all the time.

Layoffs or no layoffs: these methods can help you ensure that your sales team never lags and your company keeps growing steadily.

The challenges sales teams face during layoffs

Layoffs don’t just impact the employees who leave—they significantly affect the morale, workload, and overall performance of those who remain. A downsized sales team must adapt quickly to new responsibilities, maintain productivity under pressure, and continue hitting revenue targets despite having fewer resources.

Layoffs can negatively impact motivation, disrupt workflows, and lead to lower conversion rates without proper support. Below are the key challenges sales teams face when navigating a leaner structure.

1. Increased workload and burnout

When a sales team is reduced, the remaining reps are expected to take on additional responsibilities. They often inherit new accounts, territories, and quotas without sufficient adjustment time.

• Sales reps may struggle to manage a larger volume of leads and customers.
• Increased pressure to meet or exceed revenue goals can lead to stress and disengagement.
• Lack of proper delegation can cause key deals to slip through the cracks.

The risk: Overworked sales reps become less effective, leading to lower performance, higher error rates, and potential burnout.

2. Lower morale and motivation

Layoffs create an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear, which can directly impact employee motivation. Remaining sales reps may feel:

• Anxiety about job security, wondering if they will be next.
• Distrust toward leadership, questioning whether the company is stable.
• Guilt or survivor’s syndrome, feeling bad for laid-off colleagues.
• Disengagement from the company’s mission, reducing their drive to succeed.

The risk: When morale drops, sales productivity and engagement suffer, leading to missed targets and lower revenue.

3. Loss of institutional knowledge

Experienced sales professionals often build deep relationships with customers and understand the nuances of the sales process. When these key players leave, valuable knowledge about client history, sales strategies, and deal negotiation tactics disappears.

• New or remaining reps may struggle to pick up where former employees left off.
• There may be delays in closing deals due to missing context on past interactions.
• Companies may lose hard-earned customer trust if clients feel abandoned or underserved.

The risk: Sales teams may take longer to close deals and face higher customer churn due to gaps in continuity.

4. Reduced internal support and resources

Sales teams don’t operate in isolation—they rely on marketing, sales enablement, SDRs, customer success teams, and operations for smooth execution. Layoffs in other departments often mean:

• Fewer marketing leads, forcing sales reps to do more prospecting.
• Less customer success support, making it harder to retain clients.
• Reduced admin assistance, leaving reps to manually handle CRM updates, proposal creation, and other tasks.

The risk: Sales reps spend more time on non-selling activities without proper support, reducing their overall efficiency.

5. Pressure to maintain performance despite downsizing

Despite fewer team members, revenue targets often remain the same—or even increase. Leadership expects the remaining sales reps to pick up the slack, close more deals, and maintain a high level of productivity.

• Reps must work harder and smarter to hit their quotas.
• Sales leaders must rethink their strategy, ensuring their team remains focused on high-impact deals.
• Automation and process optimization become essential, as teams cannot afford inefficiencies.

The risk: If companies don’t provide the right tools and incentives, sales reps may become demotivated, overwhelmed, and less effective.

6. Increased competition for fewer deals

With fewer reps, there is less internal collaboration and knowledge sharing, leading to increased competition for the most promising leads. In some cases, reps may:

• Prioritize easy wins over long-term opportunities.
• Compete against teammates instead of working together.
• Hesitate to share strategies and best practices, leading to inefficiencies.

The risk: An overly competitive culture can harm team dynamics, lower morale, and reduce overall sales performance.

How companies can address these challenges

To counteract the negative effects of layoffs, companies must rethink their sales strategy, invest in automation, and introduce strong incentives. Here’s how:

• Implement automation tools to handle repetitive tasks and free up reps for high-value activities.
• Introduce performance-based incentives to keep reps motivated and engaged.
• Provide training and coaching to help remaining reps take on new responsibilities effectively.
• Streamline sales processes to ensure deals move through the pipeline efficiently.
• Improve internal communication to maintain transparency and trust during uncertain times.

By proactively addressing these challenges, businesses can help their sales teams remain productive, motivated, and successful—even during tough times. 

Leveraging automation to boost sales efficiency

In a leaner sales environment, every minute counts. With fewer team members handling the same (or even increased) sales targets, automation becomes an essential tool for maintaining productivity. By reducing manual tasks, streamlining workflows, and improving lead management, automation allows sales reps to focus on what they do best—closing deals.

Below are key areas where automation can significantly boost sales efficiency, helping teams maximize their output even with limited resources.

1. Automating lead management and prospecting

Sales reps often spend too much time manually researching leads, reaching out, and qualifying prospects. Automated lead management systems can dramatically improve efficiency by:

• Using AI-driven lead scoring to prioritize high-value prospects, ensuring reps focus on the most promising leads.
• Automating initial outreach sequences via email, LinkedIn, and SMS to engage potential customers without manual effort.
• Leveraging AI-powered chatbots to capture lead information, answer basic queries, and schedule calls with sales reps.

Best Tools: HubSpot, ZoomInfo, Apollo.io, Drift

2. Streamlining CRM data entry and sales tracking

Sales reps often lose hours each week entering data into CRMs—logging calls, updating contact details, and tracking deals. Automating these tasks ensures:

• Call and email tracking happen in real-time without manual input.
• Smart CRM integrations capture lead interactions and automatically update records.
• AI-generated insights recommend next best actions, reducing the time reps spend analyzing data.

Best Tools: Salesforce, Pipedrive, Gong, HubSpot CRM

3. Automating follow-ups and nurturing campaigns

Without consistent follow-ups, leads can go cold quickly. However, with a smaller team, manually checking in on every lead is unrealistic. Automated follow-ups ensure that:

• Personalized emails and messages are sent at optimal times, increasing response rates.
• Dynamic sequences adjust messaging based on lead interactions, ensuring prospects receive relevant content.
• Automated reminders notify reps when high-value leads need a manual touchpoint.

Best Tools: Outreach, Salesloft, HubSpot Sequences

4. Automating proposal and contract generation

When a deal moves to the final stage, delays in paperwork can kill momentum and slow down the closing process. Automating proposal and contract generation helps sales teams:

• Auto-generate proposals and quotes based on pre-set templates and deal parameters.
• Use e-signature tools to speed up approvals, eliminating the need for manual signatures.
• Track document engagement so sales reps know when prospects open proposals and can follow up accordingly.

Best Tools: DocuSign, PandaDoc, Qwilr

5. AI-powered sales coaching and performance tracking

With fewer sales managers available, coaching and feedback often take a backseat during layoffs. AI-driven sales coaching tools can:

• Analyze sales calls and provide real-time feedback on objection handling, tone, and script adherence.
• Track performance trends and suggest personalized improvement strategies.
• Identify at-risk deals and offer insights on the following best action.

Best Tools: Gong, Chorus.ai, Clari

6. Automating performance tracking and incentive management

Sales teams need visibility into their progress and earnings to stay motivated. Automating performance tracking allows reps to:

• See real-time commission earnings based on deals closed.
• Track progress toward quotas and incentives, keeping motivation high.
• Receive AI-powered nudges to stay on track with goals.

Best Tools: Compass

Using incentives to keep sales teams motivated

Layoffs can lead to low morale, uncertainty, and disengagement among sales teams. With fewer colleagues and increased workloads, sales reps need strong incentives to stay motivated and productive. A well-structured incentive program rewards performance and fosters resilience, engagement, and commitment during challenging times.

Businesses can maintain high sales productivity and morale by integrating monetary and non-monetary incentives with a smart commission management platform like Compass. 

Here’s how to design and implement effective incentive strategies.

1. Performance-based commission boosts

One of the most effective ways to motivate a downsized sales team is by increasing commission rates, ensuring that reps are rewarded for their efforts despite taking on a heavier workload.

✔ How it works:

• Offer higher commission percentages on deals closed beyond quota.
• Implement accelerated commission structures (e.g., increase rates from 8% to 12% once 100% of the target is achieved).
• Provide additional payouts for high-value deals to encourage larger transactions.

✔ Why it works:

• Encourages sales reps to push harder even in uncertain conditions.
• Offsets the impact of a smaller team by maximizing earnings per deal.
• Aligns sales efforts with revenue growth goals.

How Compass Helps:

• Automates commission calculations, ensuring accuracy and transparency.
• Provides real-time commission tracking, so sales reps can see their earnings instantly.
• Adjusts commission structures dynamically, making it easy for leadership to modify incentives.

2. Short-term incentives and bonuses

While commissions drive long-term motivation, short-term incentives create urgency and excitement. These incentives can help fill pipeline gaps, encourage teamwork, and reward consistency.

✔ How it works:

• Run weekly or monthly sales contests, rewarding top performers with cash bonuses, gift cards, or experiences.
• Offer milestone-based bonuses (e.g., $500 for the first rep to book 20 demos).
• Recognize and reward specific achievements, such as the fastest deal closure or highest upsell value.

✔ Why it works:

• Keeps sales reps engaged and motivated in the short term.
• Encourages healthy competition without creating internal conflict.
• Provides immediate rewards, which boost confidence and energy levels.

How Compass Helps:

• Tracks real-time leaderboards to fuel competition.
• Automates bonus payouts, eliminating delays and errors.
• Provides performance insights, helping managers identify and recognize top contributors.

3. Non-monetary incentives to boost morale

Not all motivation comes from money. Non-monetary incentives build loyalty, increase job satisfaction, and reinforce a positive work environment.

✔ How it works:

• Flexible work options: Give top performers remote work privileges or customized schedules.
• Professional development opportunities: Offer training programs, mentorship, and career growth opportunities.
• Public recognition and awards: Highlight top performers in team meetings, company newsletters, or on social media.
• Wellness perks: Provide incentives like gym memberships, wellness stipends, or extra mental health days.

✔ Why it works:

• Strengthens emotional commitment to the company, reducing turnover risk.
• Builds a culture of appreciation where employees feel valued beyond sales numbers.
• Helps reps maintain a work-life balance, which improves long-term performance.

How Compass Helps:

• Integrates non-monetary rewards into performance-tracking dashboards.
• Recognizes sales achievements automatically, reinforcing a culture of appreciation.
• Provides data-driven insights to align incentives with employee preferences.

4. Team-based incentives for collaboration

When sales teams shrink, collaboration becomes essential. Individual incentives are great, but team-based incentives encourage knowledge-sharing account handovers, and collective problem-solving.

✔ How it works:

• Create team-based bonus pools where everyone shares a reward if the collective target is exceeded.
• Offer cross-selling incentives, rewarding reps who collaborate across departments to close deals.
• Provide group experiences (dinners, trips, or virtual events) as shared rewards.

✔ Why it works:

• Strengthens team cohesion, reducing stress and burnout.
• Encourages a cooperative culture, where reps help each other close deals.
• It helps retain tribal knowledge and prevents disruption when employees leave.

How Compass Helps:

• Tracks team-based performance metrics, ensuring fair reward distribution.
• Automates payout splitting, so rewards are evenly distributed among eligible team members.
• Provides visibility into group targets, keeping everyone aligned and accountable.

Why incentives work best when paired with automation

Managing complex incentive programs, commission structures, and bonus payouts is time-consuming and error-prone. Without transparency and real-time tracking, sales teams may lose trust in the incentive system, leading to lower engagement and motivation.

Why Compass is the best solution for managing sales incentives

• Automates commission payouts, eliminating calculation errors and ensuring reps are paid accurately.
• Provides real-time performance dashboards so reps can see how close they are to hitting targets.
• Enables customized incentive programs, making adjusting rewards based on evolving business needs easy.
• Offers AI-powered nudges, reminding reps of upcoming milestones and opportunities to earn more.
• Creates a seamless link between sales productivity and compensation, ensuring that motivation stays high.

Reflexiones finales

Layoffs and workforce reductions create high-stress environments, but strong incentives ensure that remaining sales reps stay engaged, motivated, and productive. A combination of:

✔ Performance-based commission increases to reward top performers.✔ Short-term bonuses and contests to drive urgency.✔ Non-monetary incentives to boost morale.✔ Team-based rewards to encourage collaboration.

With automation tools like Compass, businesses can streamline incentive programs, eliminate manual errors, and maintain high-performance cultures—even in uncertain times.

Want to keep your sales team motivated and performing at their best? Try Compass today!