Rewarding salespeople is a tricky endeavor. Yes, most salespeople are motivated by money, but what rewards do they seek? This seems like a fine point, but motivations are different than rewards. This Selling Power article provides some examples of misaligned rewards, or incentives, that companies have thrust upon their sales force. An example:
One high achieving rep at an insurance company, who had won every award the company had to offer, including salesperson of the year, eventually stopped bothering to attend the annual award ceremony. Noting the rep’s absence, one manager decided to find out what was truly important to this particular salesperson. The manager discovered that the rep centered his life around his wife and three daughters, so the next year gave him a framed portrait of his family. The salesman was elated, and the company earned a great deal of goodwill with a key performer.
As this last example shows, a little legwork and diligence can do wonders for a company’s motivational efforts.
A quick point – motivations, rewards and selling style all work together to define the salesperson. I suspect the high achieving rep in the example above has a Traditional motivation, Personal Relationship reward and High S selling style. That combination typically will be rewarded and motivated by their family. The manager could have known this important combination had they assessed the salesperson.
The lesson here is that many companies attempt to use only a monetary-based reward to motivate their entire sales team. First, rewards, or incentives, need to be separated from motivations. They are different aspects of a person’s overall make-up. Second, an all-inclusive reward package will not reward every salesperson on the team. Some value recognition, others value team success and still others value personal time with the team.
Understanding an salesperson’s rewards, motivations and selling style allows the sales manager to craft a plan that connects with that particular salesperson on a deeper level than a broad-based, stereotypical incentive plan. This fine-tuned reward structure will reinforce the salesperson’s motivations and lead to an engaged employee.