I was reading my daily email from the JustSell.com guys and they referenced an interesting study: With help from Gallup, the authors surveyed more than 4 million employees and found that those who give and receive praise: increase their individual productivity increase interaction among colleagues are more likely to stay in their current jobs Gallup research also revealed that the #1 reason most Americans leave their jobs is because they don’t feel appreciated — and 65% of the people surveyed said they did not receive recognition for good work in the past year. In the past year! Granted, some communication styles need more reinforcement than others, but all styles need… Read More
Continue ReadingWhether to Use the Stick or Carrot
Sales&Marketing Management posts this online article – Iron-Fisted Management – regarding negative motivation. Being a psychology major, I am always drawn to these discussions. From the article: Matt McCann, district sales manager at ACSIA, a Darien, Illinois-based long-term insurance agency, agrees. “I think [negative incentives] are counterproductive. You may see short-term success, but I think it builds resentment,” McCann says. When he’s seen or heard about negative motivation, it’s yielded the same result: short-term profits, but an office inferno. Those who are the objects of punishments “start saying they don’t want to bend over backwards. They wash their hands of the situation, look for other jobs, and try to get… Read More
Continue ReadingRecruiting the Younger Generation
I just caught up to some reading on Workforce Management’s website. Ready for the Big Time captivated my attention. The author references a company where candidates are hired similar to an NFL-style draft. You have to register at the site but it is free. The article is quite long but I’ll give you the high points. The article is written about what National Oilwell Varco’s (NOV) chief executive did in response to seeing that most of his executives and upper managment positions were being held by baby boomers. He put his Senior VP of Sales and Director of Employee Development on the task to develop a system to recruit their… Read More
Continue ReadingDealing with Counteroffers
I’ve never seen counteroffers get rectified. Countering Counteroffers sheds light on this difficult topic. Once a salesperson, or any employee, receives an offer from another company, a level of trust (or commitment) has been compromised. This salesperson obviously had an in-depth discussion about another opportunity and pursued it to the offer level. Now the manager is left to question the salesperson’s commitment to success at the current company. Here is the takeaway quote from the article (emphasis mine): Its poll found that 75 percent of employees who accepted a counteroffer voluntarily left their employer within six months because of promises not kept. Further, the majority of the ones who didn’t… Read More
Continue ReadingSelling the Complex
Jeff Thull is a successful sales trainer in the Twin Cities who works extensively with companies that have a complex sale. I just read this article – How to Prevent “Unpaid Consulting” – and found it full of tactical advice for salespeople. A few gems from the piece (emphasis mine): Unpaid consulting starts when sales professionals cross the line between diagnosing the problem and explaining the solution. When they start designing solutions, they start acting as unpaid consultants. In past decades, this was not a monumental issue. Generally, there was limited competition in complex sales. If the salesperson figured out the problem and designed a unique and valuable solution for… Read More
Continue ReadingYearn vs. Earn
CareerJournal.com has this attention-grabbing article – Getting a Raise From the Boss. I opened that one immediately. Then, I read this: Complicating matters for working stiffs: Employers increasingly are doling out money based on performance, instead of giving out across-the-board raises that were more common back in the 1990s. This year, for instance, bonuses will account for 11% of payroll, Hewitt estimates, up from only 4% in 1990. I emphasized that one part since this is a pet peeve of mine. Performance-based incentive should be the norm for all positions within a company. Almost all sales plans contain a form of variable compensation based on success. In “working stiff” terms,… Read More
Continue ReadingRight Rewards for a Money Motivation
Money motivation amongst salespeople is one of the most misconstrued points in successful sales management and hiring. At the risk of splitting hairs, motivation needs to be separated from reward. This distinction is the key to differentiating between what motivates strong salespeople – money – and what rewards them. This Selling Power article – Cash In on Cash-Based Motivation – fails to make this distinction. However, the quick read does offer 3 solid points for commission plans. The highlights: 1. Don’t Penalize Performance Gonzalez refers to the practice of capping salespeople’s commissions as one of the gravest mistakes I’ve seen in the commission-based environment. 2. Be Careful with Team Incentives… Read More
Continue ReadingHow to Manage a Staff of Young Employees – Part 2
As I was reading through SHRM’s recent survey on Job Satisfaction (subscription required), a couple of stats really jumped out at me that further indicate the gap in what satisfies and motivates the different generations of workers. Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction on 21 different aspects of their work environment. They used a standard 1 to 5 scale (1=very unimportant up to 5=very important). Here are some of the topical results broken out by employee age followed by avg. score: Career advancement: under 35 – 4.41 36 to 55-3.85 over 56-3.53 Career development opportunities: under 35 – 4.49 36 to 55 – 4.09 over 56 – 3.85 Job-specific… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Compensation Plans
Sales&Marketing Management has a topical email newsletter that hits on some common issues. There is no link to their email so I’ll post the entire message here (emphasis mine): Sales force productivity remains a big problem for many executives. According to a one survey of executives at 67 companies across a wide range of industries, 60 percent are dissatisfied with sales force efficiency and effectiveness, with almost half saying that goals were not met. So what should managers do to boost productivity? Perhaps they should take another look at their compensation plans. Here are some tips to make sure your comp plan is up to speed: 1. Make It Simple… Read More
Continue ReadingTurnover Trouble You Didn’t Know You Had
Let me piggyback on the previous post and boldly state this – your salespeople (and other positions) are looking at other career opportunities. From the weddle.com website: Recently we tallied job seeker responses to this question: “How many times per month do you visit an online employment site?” The results provide some interesting insight into the best strategy for online recruitment advertising. WEDDLE’s Findings Almost three-quarters of the respondents (72%) visited 2-8 sites per month; Just 4% visited only 1 site per month; and One-in-ten visited 16 or more sites per month. 82% of employees visit an online employment site more than twice per month. From our article Hiring Adjustments… Read More
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