Real Motivators For Sales Success

Daniel is a very successful sales professional. Last year his income was higher than he ever imagined that he would earn. However, Daniel hired me as a coach and joined my elite sales mastermind group because he dreaded going to work each day. It was not the process of selling that he dreaded... it was the fact that he was struggling to motivate himself. You might wonder how someone making a great income could be unmotivated regarding his job.

Research on motivation began with the pioneering work of Dr. Abraham Maslow, who determined that people are motivated according to a hierarchy of needs, and money happens to lie near the bottom of that hierarchy. Consequently, once someone makes a good income, the higher order needs become paramount in driving that person’s passion. Earning more money does not satisfy a deficit in higher order needs, such as a feeling of belonging and a sense of accomplishment.

In Daniel’s situation, he didn’t trust his sales manager, believed he didn’t genuinely care about him, played favorites, and rarely gave him verbal recognition of his success. As a result, Daniel didn’t see a future with the company, regardless of his sales success.

Another pioneer in the research regarding job-related motivation was Frederick Herzberg, with his two-factor model. Herzberg’s research showed that salary or commission rarely motivates people. Not having enough money will make them dissatisfied with their jobs, but earning more than they need is nice, but that alone will not motivate them or enrich their jobs.

So, what motivates a sales professional? It’s an age-old question, of course. Money has always been considered the big carrot for sales people. However, as both Maslow’s and Herzberg’s research showed, financial compensation is an important determinant of job satisfaction only when a person doesn’t have enough for her/his needs.

An executive vice president of sales of a major insurance carrier describes it this way: Salespersons in general have more needs than simply getting a paycheck. That is part of the reward, certainly, but once you have a fair compensation plan in place, then the real work of employee motivation begins.

To create satisfaction, a sales manager needs to provide job enrich­ment by addressing what motivates his team to do their jobs, then finding out how to make it better and more satisfying for each of them.

My own research into job stress showed there are marked individual differences in the way working people are motivated. However, we can generalize from the vast number of motivational studies conducted with thousands of sales professionals in hundreds of working situations. Survey data shows that beyond a good income, most sales professionals need to feel a sense of trust, for both their colleagues and managers, a real sense of achievement, and recognition of their hard work.

Creating a Culture of Trust. Sales professionals need to trust that their supervisors want them to succeed, not just to hit quotas and the monetary rewards that come with that. They need to believe that their supervisors genuinely care about them. As a sales manager, it is critical to take the time to show a genuine interest in the families and lives of your sales people.

Creating a Culture of Achievement. Setting individual and team sales benchmarks is fine, however, it is even more motivating to show your sales force how their performance has enhanced the image and success of the company. They need to feel as if they are important ingredients their company’s success. They need to buy into the their products or services play in the lives of the end user. All of this ties into Maslow’s need for a sense of belonging and feeling like an important a part of a successful group or team.

Creating a Culture of Recognition. Sales professionals often feed off of recognition. This means that managers need to be personally recognizing them frequently. A common misconception by some sales managers is the belief their paycheck shows them how well they are doing, so I don’t need to pat them on the back. This notion is absolutely wrong. Everyone loves a pat on the back.

There are other forms of recognition that are just as important. The annual sales conference, where companies bring their sales force together, not only to interact with each other in a forum setting, but also to do peer recognition. Some companies backed off on this event when the economy went south. It’s important to continue these meetings and recognition events.

The other way to feel recognized is to belong to an exclusive group... such as the high producer’s group that is invited to attend seminars with powerful speakers at lavish locations, at company expense. This feeling of being a member of this elite club is the ultimate in personal recognition.

Sales Performance = Sales Skill + Knowledge + Motivation Minus Distractions

This simple formula tells it all.

The more the distractions, the less the sales performance, regardless of skill, knowledge and motivation.

And, the number one distraction is negative thoughts and beliefs about feeling unfulfilled in terms of trust, belonging, a sense of achievement or recognition.

Sales managers can certainly eliminate these distrac­tions from their sales professionals by consistently providing these powerful motivators to them.

Frequently ask them for feedback to get a pulse on how they are feeling and what you could be providing that is currently missing for them.

You will be rewarded greatly with a highly motivated team!

After working with me and the other members of my mas­termind group, Daniel learned how to ask for the recogni­tion he was missing and his manager became more sensi­tive to Daniel’s needs being under-served. Soon Daniel’s mo­tivation skyrocketed, resulting in record sales performance!

Dr. Jack Singer is a professional I/O and Sport Psychologist, speaker, coach and trainer for sales professionals. He has been speaking for and training Fortune 1000 companies, HR associations, sales staffs and elite athletes for more than 34 years. Dr. Jack is the author of Dynamic Health, The Teacher’s Ultimate Stress Mastery Guide, The Financial Advisor’s Ultimate Stress Mastery Guide, and several series of self-help audio programs, directed at raising self-confidence for sales success.

Visit www.developthemindsetofachampion.com

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