I had lunch yesterday with a friend of mine who is a sales manager for a technology company. As is often the case, we started talking about some of the issues he is seeing with his team. We also discussed another one of our friends who is a sales VP and the problems he is having with his large sales team.
Two managers, same problem – the salespeople are not motivated. That is it in a nutshell. The salespeople are capable and know their product, but they do not appear to be highly motivated nor successful. Their sales are average at best, but not remarkable.
Mediocrity is a sales neutralizer. Think of it like yeast in cooking. A small amount of yeast will work its way completely through the dough. Unchecked mediocrity will do the same thing in a sales department.
The first step to fixing this problem is understanding an important aspect of a salesperson – their motivation-reward structure.
Their motivations are the factors that drive them in their day-to-day activities. These deep-seated motivators affect their decision making, communication, direction and goals. Click here for more information about motivations.
Rewards are just that, the very thing the salesperson values. This information is more complex than it seems. Is your salesperson rewarded by material possessions or status & recognition. These two common sales rewards look similar in observation but are quite different in application. Click here for more information about rewards.
The final step is to bring these 2 factors together since they feed each other. Aligning the reward structure to the motivation structure is the first step towards getting the most out of your existing salespeople.
The follow-up question becomes, is their most enough for the position? That is a post for another day.