I came across an article on Comfort Zones from a couple of years ago that discusses motivating salespeople and well worth the read. The author has this to say why sales managers don€™t push their salespeople out of their comfort zone.
Many managers who are in their own “comfort zone” will not challenge this situation even though they know that the person concerned could achieve a lot more. The manager’s “comfort zone” tells them that it is perhaps too time consuming or counter productive to upset the “apple cart” and that letting the status quo remain is the best option.
He goes on to say that this happens for 2 reasons, the first being a lack of personal motivation along with focus and the second being simply a lack of good management. The end result is a company that accepts average performance and average results.
Insightful, but I would like to take this one step further. At times, the organization causes this disconnect. This disconnect often results from misalignment between corporate direction (revenue growth) and the commission/bonus structure rewards for the sales team.
If you are having a problem getting your salespeople to grow their territories, the first place to look is in your compensation structure. Is it truly rewarding the behavior you need to grow revenue? Is it realistic or attainable? If yes, then look at your salespeople. Are you providing the right rewards that will motivate each team member to increase their sales.