RFP season is just around the corner. You can build your RFP team's motivation and ride that momentum. Encourage your team to bond together this year and remain engaged in the RFP process, even when faced with individual setbacks or discouragement. It's not always comfortable, but resolving to focus on teamwork will pay off through improved revenues, and you'll likely find yourselves celebrating together once you begin hearing back from your new clients.

Here are a few ideas for getting your team motivated for the upcoming RFP season.

• Have a shared vision. Set team goals and base individual expectations off of that collaborative vision. You'll see more buy-in and support among team members, which will move you all to the finish line that much faster.
  
  
• Encourage communication. Check in with one another often. Meet together to discuss challenges and develop solutions and support each other in the client cultivation process.
  
  
• Show appreciation. Have a creative employee or team member? Let that person know you appreciate their approach. Say "thank you" for new ideas and thoughtful initiative; that positive feedback will encourage your team to build on its successes.
  
  
• Offer challenges. Instead of only focusing on tried-and-true clients, let your team have big dreams.  Where does your team want to go? What three potential new clients could your team approach this coming season? Make the impossible, possible. 
  
  
• Acknowledge achievements. As your team and its members meet goals this coming season, make a sincere effort to acknowledge achievements and met milestones. As goals are attained, offer additional responsibilities or even promotions to those members who show the greatest potential and drive. Offering a bit of the unexpected will motivate team members, and the team as a whole. 
  
  
• Develop or revamp a reward system. Promotions and new responsibilities won't be available to everyone, so create a transparent reward system for the team ahead of the season. Make inquiries among your team leaders to discover what incentives have proven most motivating in the past. Perhaps you already have a reward system in place; however, are there new incentives to consider this year? Are team members more responsive to a series of smaller incentives, or to a larger reward finale? How can you upgrade your system? 
  
  
• Stay focused. Encourage your team to maintain high standards of organization moving into the RFP season. Less distracting clutter, more efficient filing and follow-up, and a well-synced communication and tracking system will benefit everyone and better ensure your team has the resources each member needs to be as effective as possible.