There have been many books written on motivation, but not all of them would pass the psychological test. These are some common myths regarding motivation for salespeople.
Myth #1: All salespeople are motivated by money
Money, including earning bonuses, does motivate some salespeople. Financial incentives can, at best, be used to achieve a short-term objective. One-size-fits-all approaches don’t work. This approach is not for everyone. While it is essential for salespeople to receive a fair salary, and the chance to earn bonuses, there is also the law of diminishing returns. They don’t always make more sales with the money they earn.
What should you do?
Understand the motivations of each salesperson. Spend time getting to know your salespeople. You will learn more about them if you get to know them well enough to be able to motivate them.
Salespeople are motivated by recognition, accomplishment, and status. These are the real motivators to increase sales results over time. Talk with your salespeople about what they want to accomplish and establish mutual goals. Give clear instructions and expectations. Let them know that you will work closely with them to encourage and guide them on their journey to achieving their goals.
Myth #2: Salespeople are lazy and must be encouraged
This common misconception is caused by poor sales management and hiring the wrong salespeople. She was not pushed.
What should you do?
Assuming that the right person was hired
What was the point of a behavior change? Is it a personal problem? Do you have a trust issue?
Discover what motivates your salesperson. Get to know them.
Establish goals that are linked to personal and business outcomes, and improve the performance and reward relationship
Your salesperson should understand that you are trustworthy and can keep your word.
Myth #3: Salespeople don’t need product knowledge
Quality and pricing are equally important. All of these factors do not have the same impact on a prospect’s or client’s decision-making process. According to The Chally Group Worldwide research, 39% of customers’ purchasing decisions are made by their sales representatives after 35 years of data collection.
What should you do?
Create a competency profile for each salesperson and work closely with them in order to motivate and raise sales competence.
Myth #4: Telling salespeople that they do great work makes them complacent
It is false. Recognizing a salesperson for doing an excellent job boosts morale and motivates them to make more sales. It sets the bar for the other salespeople on the team. Salespeople need to be recognized publicly, whether that is at an awards ceremony or by their sales manager. Low morale and poor performance can result from poor sales performance that is not recognized.
What should you do?
When you observe positive behavior changes or sales performance, recognize it immediately. Give them a reason why you remember them. This will help them to learn. Example: Mary, I liked the way that you asked open questions. This helped to relax the client and got valuable information.
Myth #5: Morale will improve with sales improvement
Low morale and low sales are two of the problems. It is nearly impossible to increase sales if there is low morale. Although salespeople might increase their activity to please their sales manager, there will not be an increase in sales. Without a change in confidence, sales won’t automatically increase.
What should you do?
You can address the morale problem by first identifying the root cause. Next, focus on the vision for the future and the actions that will improve the current situation. To get buy-in from the sales team, involve them all.
Myth #6 – The customer comes first
Customers are essential, but it is the salesperson who has built and nurtured the customer relationship. The salesperson will be undermined if the sales manager passes on customer issues or sales opportunities to the salesperson. Customers will be forced to contact the sales manager directly. This will have a negative impact on the morale of the salesperson and could lead to increased turnover, customer dissatisfaction, and even worse sales.
What should you do?
Assist your salespeople in all customer interactions by working with them and through them. This will ensure that the customer has the best advocate possible.
Motivating salespeople is not an easy task. As a sales manager, business owner, or director, it takes dedication and hard work. Each person is unique, and you need to treat them as such. You can then create an incentive program and offer active support to encourage them to achieve higher performance.
