TURBO-CHARGED SALES MOTIVATION

Sales motivation, like the fountain of youth, is sought by every sales manager charged with the demand of increasing sales.  There are lots of interesting questions surrounding the subject of sales motivation.  Is sales motivation a constant, or is sales motivation more like adrenaline: something that ebbs and flows depending on the moment?  Can sales motivation be controlled and manipulated by crafty management?  And what role do sales incentives play in sales motivation?

Not many doubt, I would guess, that turbo-charged sales motivation is clearly one of the most desirable dimensions of any sales team.  And management, from the CEO down to the first-line sales manger has been known to invest serious dollars and effort in the quest for the ultimate in sales motivation.  How many achievement clubs get booked to places like Hawaii, the Caribbean Islands and Resorts of Mexico… all in the name of sales motivation.

Most companies have annual recognition programs that have proved to propel sales motivation to new heights, especially as the company’s fiscal year draws to a close.  Coupled with accelerator sales incentives, the combination can be a powerful drug!

Sales managers know these things already though.  They are well-versed on sales motivation and  “issue A” sales motivation programs.  Most of them are graduates of those sales motivation programs.

The burning desire of most sales managers is this: How can I motivate my sales force for peak performance day in and day out?  If you are a sales manager reading this and have thought about this subject of consistent sales motivation, I’ll pass on the best advice I’ve ever been given about sales motivation.  The secret to sales motivation is to hire the right salesperson, a salesperson that comes to the party already highly motivated.  Your job, as a sales manager, is to bust your fanny to make sure you or your organization avoids de-motivating that salesperson!

One last word on sales motivation.  Another apparent truism of managing people, generally, is that the behavior you will get is the behavior your people perceive you expect.  As a sales manager, that means that instead of constantly harping on a salesperson’s flaws in your efforts to make that salesperson perfect, focus your attention on that salesperson’s strengths, perhaps his best strength.  Convince your salesperson of the heights he can scale, constantly.  As he perceives that you really expect him to do that, to scale to new heights, watch how he tries so hard to deliver that behavior.

Interested in boosting sales motivation? Get your copy of Closing the Whales today!