Motivating a sales team isn’t about cheesy slogans or endless dashboards. It’s about real feedback, timely nudges, and—yes—smart notifications that don’t make your reps want to throw their phones in a lake. If you’re using Smartwinnr and you want your notifications to actually help (not annoy), this guide’s for you.
Let’s get into the nuts and bolts of setting up notifications that cut through the noise and get your sales team moving.
Step 1: Decide What Actually Matters
Before you touch a settings page, figure out what’s worth notifying your team about. Most sales teams drown in alerts and reminders—less is more.
Ask yourself: - What behaviors do you want to encourage? (e.g., closing deals, following up, completing training) - What milestones matter? (e.g., hitting targets, leaderboard changes) - What’s just noise? (e.g., every new lead, every tiny update)
Pro tip: Talk to your team. Ask which notifications help and which ones they immediately swipe away. If it’s not useful, don’t send it.
Step 2: Map Out Notification Types in Smartwinnr
Smartwinnr offers a buffet of notification types, but you don’t need everything. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Useful Notifications
- Deal Wins: Celebrate closed deals. This can give a quick morale boost.
- Leaderboard Updates: Healthy competition can work, but only if it’s not overwhelming.
- Target Progress: Nudges when someone is close to hitting a goal.
- Gamification Rewards: Points, badges, or other recognition.
Noisy/Annoying Notifications
- Every Activity Update: Nobody cares if Kevin logged a call.
- Low-Impact Reminders: If everyone ignores them, skip them.
- Daily Summaries: If your team already has a morning huddle, these might double up.
Take 10 minutes to list which ones you want to keep, tweak, or kill.
Step 3: Set Up Notification Channels
Smartwinnr can send notifications a bunch of ways: push notifications, email, in-app, even SMS. Not all channels are created equal.
Think about: - Push Notifications: Great for urgent, positive updates, but easy to abuse. - Email: Good for summaries or things people might want to refer back to. - In-App: Passive, but less likely to interrupt. - SMS: Use sparingly. Save for urgent or high-impact messages only.
Pro tip: Let your team choose their preferred channels where possible. Some folks love push notifications. Others hate them.
Step 4: Tailor the Content—Don’t Just Use the Defaults
The wording of a notification makes a huge difference. Smartwinnr will give you defaults, but they’re usually bland. Personalize them:
Do: - Use the rep’s name: “Great job, Maya! You just closed a deal worth $10,000.” - Be specific: Mention what happened and why it matters. - Keep it short and clear.
Don’t: - Overhype: “AMAZING! YOU’RE THE BEST!” gets old fast. - Be vague: “You have a new update” means nothing.
How to edit in Smartwinnr:
1. Go to the admin dashboard.
2. Find the “Notifications” or “Communication” settings.
3. Select a notification type.
4. Edit the content fields—usually there’s a subject and body.
5. Use placeholders (like {user_name} or {target}) for personalization.
Test by sending yourself a few samples. If you wouldn’t want to get it, your team won’t either.
Step 5: Set Up Triggers and Timing
Blanket notifications are useless. Triggers let you control who gets what and when.
Examples: - Achievement-based: Only notify when someone hits 80% of their target. - Competition-based: Notify top 3 on the leaderboard, not everyone. - Time-based: Don’t send reminders at 11pm. (Seriously.)
How to configure in Smartwinnr: 1. In the notification settings, look for “Triggers,” “Rules,” or “Automation.” 2. Define the event (e.g., “when user reaches 90% of quota”). 3. Set recipient criteria (e.g., only notify the user, or CC their manager). 4. Set time windows (e.g., only during business hours).
What to skip: Avoid setting up notifications for every minor update. You want to reinforce wins and nudge toward goals—not harass people.
Step 6: Pilot and Gather Feedback
Don’t roll out your new system to everyone at once. Pilot with a small team first.
Steps: - Turn on notifications for a test group. - Ask for honest feedback. Are the notifications motivating, annoying, or ignored? - Track engagement: Are people opening push notifications? Is there more activity after a nudge?
Tweak based on what you hear. If everyone says, “I just swipe them away,” you’re missing the mark.
Step 7: Monitor, Measure, and Adjust
You’re not done after setup. Notifications are like seasoning—too much and you ruin the dish.
Monitor: - Open rates (if available) - Sales activity trends after notifications - Qualitative feedback from reps
Adjust: - Kill anything that isn’t working. - Double down on what actually boosts activity or morale. - Stay open to turning things off—even if they seemed like a good idea.
Pro tip: Set a monthly calendar reminder to review notification performance. Don’t “set and forget.”
What Actually Works (and What Doesn’t)
What works: - Timely, specific recognition for wins. - Progress reminders as deals or goals get close. - Occasional leaderboard updates for competitive teams.
What doesn’t: - Generic “motivational” spam. - Notifying everyone about everything. - Ignoring feedback—if your team hates it, it’s not motivating.
What to ignore: - Overly complex automation rules. If you can’t explain it in one sentence, rethink it. - Every new feature. Just because Smartwinnr adds a new notification type doesn’t mean you need it.
Keep It Simple—And Don’t Be Afraid to Change
You don’t need a hundred notifications to boost sales team motivation. A handful of well-timed, relevant nudges do more than a firehose of alerts. Start simple, review regularly, and listen to your team. If a notification isn’t helping, kill it. Motivation is about quality, not quantity.
And remember: If you’re not sure whether a notification will help, ask yourself—would you want to get it? If not, you’ve got your answer.