How to Motivate Sales People Without Money?

It is common knowledge that many sales people can calculate how much commission they have earned faster and more accurate than any super computer. Indeed, money is a key driving force that motivates most, and certainly for the more successful ones.

However, is money then the ONLY motivator, or are there anything else?

Motivate

If you were to ask anyone why they want to be one, there will usually be 3 answers:

1. For the money (of course);
2. Being able to directly link their efforts to tangible results; and
3. Having the (relative) independence and flexibility in their jobs

As such, while money may be the key driver for most, it certainly is not the only one. They are also motivated by a sense of achievement, and the more successful ones usually have large egos as well.

If we were to look deep into what motivates people, here are 2 factors that we need to consider:

1. Are the rewards attractive (or punishment severe) enough?
2. Am I able to achieve it?

Avoiding Pain vs. Seeking Pleasure

While making money is a great pleasure for many people, including sales people, some are first motivated by avoiding the punishment of NOT achieving their monthly, quarterly or annual sales targets. Hence, it's a very common practice for sales people to "hide" potential contracts to "save them for the next financial period", rather than to risk NOT meeting the sales targets for that period.

Sales people are indeed masters of work flow optimization in this sense. However, this does not help you in getting results from your sales team, and sometimes deals may be lost due to the delays caused when sales people want to "save them for the next quarter".

When companies use money as the only motivator, it is also a riskier proposition. There's nothing to prevent competitors to use the same motivator to entice your best people (along with your best customers) to defect. While there may be some non-competitive clauses in employment contracts, these are seldom enforceable, especially in Asia.

As mentioned earlier, successful sales people usually have large (sometimes over-sized) egos. Nothing feeds the ego other than believing (correctly or otherwise) that you had singlehandedly contributed millions of dollars to your company's sales revenue. However, massaging the sales person's ego (either by making them superstars when they succeed, or "humiliating" them when they don't deliver the intended results) is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it will drive people to achieve super-human results. On the other hand, they may be so focused on their self-achievement that they become insensitive to issues such as:

Serving customer needs,
Maintaining healthy margins,
Ensuring cross department support and
other factors that will impact business results.

When the egos become over-sized, some people can have a false sense of "invincibility". Some live on past glories, even when current sales results are not as good or outstanding as before. To overcome this, Dell Computers have made sure that their egos are in check by just focusing on the present and future. Past performance mean nothing to Dell's sales managers, and a top performer is only as good as the next sale. They are as such motivated to maintain their "successful" status every single day.

Eventually, sales people get burnt out. Depending on the industry, they usually achieve their peak about 1 to 1.5 years after joining a company. How they perform beyond the peak period is a matter of how you motivate and nurture them.

Besides dishing out ever better incentives (usually money-related), many companies chose to promote their top sales to be sales managers. Unfortunately, both motivational strategies are not effective. When they feel burnt out, it's not an issue that can be resolved with money (or most incentives). In addition, only 15% of top sales people can be competent managers.

When they feel burnt out, it is usually they found that they are not further developing themselves or learning anything new anymore. Usually, they found they have reached some kind of plateau in getting better sales results, and the repetition of doing the same old thing is becoming boring to them as well.

This is also the phase when good people are the most vulnerable to defecting to your competitors. To overcome this, we will have to looking into other overlooked motivators.

Can I Do It?

As mentioned earlier, the other aspect of motivation is whether you feel you are able to do your job well.

In some industries where sales management practices tend to be Neanderthal (email me to find out which ones), the attrition of new sales hires are astonishingly high. These new hires are motivated by making more money, just like any successful sales person will be. However, due to the lack of proper training, coaching and guidance, as much as 90% of these new hires leave within 1 month. If they don't see brightness of the future, they'll just go.

While such companies do provide some level of sales training, as much as 87% of all sales training evaporates within 1 month of the training. And this statistic refer to companies with better sales management practices in place. For companies with weaker sales management, most of these training are outdated and don't really prepare the sales person to handle customers in the real world. Without a post-training supporting environment, the new hires feel overwhelmed and and helpless, and then they just leave.

When sales people find that they are not able to achieve better results, or net bigger deals, or improve margins, what they need now is support from management on how they can achieve breakthroughs. They know that if they can do better, the monetary incentives are all there waiting for them. What they really need is the right guidance and support them how they can do so.

Besides providing the usual training, here are other ways that managers can get their people proceed to the next level of performance:

Align sales strategies to market realities. Sometimes, due to rapid market changes, sales strategies mapped out 6 months ago may have already be outdated. A sales strategy re-alignment may help close more sales;

Provide recognition of improvements in sales process. While people are rewarded (or punished) based on results (sales targets), few sales managers actually recognize the improvements that sales people made in their sales process. If sales people made sales process improvements, it is very likely that this will lead to better results. Such improvements need to be recognized, reinforced and made as good examples for others to follow.

Motivating the Sales Force Without Using Money

In a nutshell, when people join the sales force, they may do so in the hopes of making more money. However, if you want to get them to perform to the next level of performance, you will need to improve their skills and abilities to achieve better results. In fact, management guru Ram Charan mentioned that if using incentives as the main means to get better performance from the sales team is an outdated approach

If you find isolated cases of poor performance from your team, then perhaps these few bad hats are just making excuses not to work hard. However, if you find that poor performance is widespread and pervasive in your sales force, then you, as manager, are making THE excuse for not providing the necessary support and guidance for your people.

Pls. see www.psycheselling.com/page4.html for explanation of some key concepts discussed here.

How to Motivate Sales People Without Money?

c.j. is an Affiliate with HR Chally Group in China. Founded in 1973 through a grant from the U.S. Justice Department, the HR Chally Group provides predictive and compliant assessment system for management, sales, technical, customer care, and administrative talents. Unlike other assessment tools that just conducts personality profiles, Chally profiles what is exactly required by specific job descriptions and responsibilities and predict if these talents can succeed in future. As such, you'll get:

* Up to 40% reduction in staff turnover

* Up to 30% increase in employee productivity

* 85%+ accuracy in identifying effective performers

Prior to this, c.j. was Asia Marketing Manager for a Fortune 500 logistics company, as well as Corporate Training Manager for Ringier AG, Switzerland's largest media group, in China, where he was responsible for sales team development, and helped increase the % of new hires to close their 1st sales within 2 months by 30%, as well as increase overall sales targets by more than 50%. Visit http://www.psycheselling.com for more info.

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How to Help Motivate People With Depression - 3 Steps to Escaping From the Tunnel

Many people who suffer from mood swings and who are feeling down, often need motivation. How to help motivate these people is the aim of this article.

A pretty typical scenario is where a partner is either subject to mood swings or is just totally withdrawn. It sometimes seems that you are living on your own and anger, resentment and loneliness will probably make you depressed as well. It seems that there is no way out. So, how can you help motivate a person like this?

Motivate

These depressed people need motivation because apathy and fatigue are major symptoms. Just by suggesting a visit to a professional for help may actually seem like a daunting task to a depressed person. After all, they are locked into a vicious circle of negativity and hopelessness and have self esteem which is at an all time low. This is not helped either by physical symptoms of pains and aches, because depression can manifest itself in very dramatic physical ways. That may convince the person he or she is really ill and they will sink further into a deeper depression.

The first step to help motivate a depressed person to actually do something is to gently persuade them that have a problem. If you can do that, you can build on ways of helping by giving practical support. That means helping him or her to find a suitable therapist or doctor and of course, accompanying them on the visit.

The second step is to offer love and support 24/7. It really seems a gigantic task when you have to be the loving, cheerful and patient partner while you may be met very often with hostile silence, anger, resentment and also hopelessness. It often seems that you are the one who will need motivation, just to keep going.

The third step is to be an active partner in the sense that you will always encourage some kind of pleasant activity and support them in making certain lifestyle changes which will help motivate both of you. Looking at exercise programs and doing them together are useful ways to bond. Taking part in therapy when necessary and helping him or her stick to the treatment are all useful ways you can help.

Depression should never be brushed under the carpet. The site below will give you some great ideas on how to help motivate each other and make positive lifestyle changes. The site also examines herbal remedies for depression as a valid and safer alternative.

How to Help Motivate People With Depression - 3 Steps to Escaping From the Tunnel

Depression CAN be treated successfully. Discover more about how you can help motivate your partner or loved one. Robert Locke has written extensively on Mental Health for many years.

Related : The Global Marketing

Tattoos and Motivation - Why Do People Get Tattoos?

With ink appearing on everyone and anyone it becomes a common question as to why do people get tattoos? What exactly is it that motivates us to modify our bodies and inject ourselves with ink in a rather painful manner? What exactly is it that causes us to approach complete strangers and allow them to permanently place their artwork upon our bodies for life? Of course the reasoning will vary from person to person but here are some of the most common reasons why people get tattoos.

Some get tattoos simply as a form of self expression and the rebellion of society. We get them to show off who we are and what we stand for. We get them to show the world that we are who we are no mater what they think or what they expect from us.

Motivational Techniques

We get our ink to show our affiliations and connections. This doesn't have to be gang related or anything of the sort. For some it is the affiliation to the Marines or something we are very proud to be apart of, others it is simply a sign of their family and who they belong to and love.

Some of us get tattoos simply because it is something we want to do and something we want to endure. Our reasons are as simple as we have gotten our first ink and became addicted. Getting tattooed is an addictive habit. And once addicted and bitten we go back for more ink. And that can be the simple reason behind getting the ink.

Some choose to get their ink to show off what has happened in their lives, to recall everything that has happened in their lives. This is the case of prisoners who have their entires stories tattooed upon their bodies. For those without ink are said to have never lived or existed.

Tattoos and Motivation - Why Do People Get Tattoos?

So why do people get tattoos? They get them because they choose to. Make your choice by clicking here!

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Exercise Motivation - The Most Common Reason Why People Quit Martial Arts Training

Finances? Injuries? Too stressed for time?

Exercise motivation is often lost for a variety of reasons. But while there may be many excuses for giving up a workout program, there is often a greater, underlying reason why a student gives up--especially in Martial Arts practice.

Motivational Techniques

It is simply that motivation got misplaced.

And a good instructor can help a student get beyond the experience of losing exercise motivation. How? I've learned over my three decades in the Martial Arts that loss of exercise motivation in training almost always comes down to something I call

"Expectation of Competency Level."

An odd choice of words, I'll admit. But if your serious about training in the Martial Arts, read on. I think you'll be as fascinated by this concept as I was when I discovered it!

Understanding Three Essential Components Of Martial Arts Training

There are three essential components to any kind of Martial Arts Training:

1. The Competency Level Of The Student
2. The Student's Own Expectations
3. Creative Variation

All Martial Arts students have basically the same goal: To get good at what they are learning, and to be able to use their new skills in either a real self-defense situation or a tournament.

And all good Martial Arts instructors have those same goals for their students. But sometimes the goal of the instructor doesn't mesh with the expectations of the student. You see, the instructor is particularly concerned with the competency level of the student. That is, teaching the student to perform specific skills at a certain skill level.

Most Martial Arts students enter their training with the expectation that they will learn some sort of techniques and strategies...but...once they have learned those techniques and strategies at the level of Conscious Competence, they want to move on to the next technique.

The expectation of the student is, "If I've memorized and learned how to do the technique, I should be able to test and move on to the next belt level."

Conscious Competence Vs. Unconscious Competence

But students who have achieved Conscious Competence with a technique or skill should never be allowed to advance to the next level. And if they have a good instructor, they won't. All good, qualified Martial Arts teachers know that skills acquired at the level of Conscious Competence won't carry over into either real self-defense situations or tournament competition. Those require skills at the level of Unconscious Competence.

Unconscious Competence is a skill level beyond having just learned and memorized a technique. It is experienced when you have achieved a detailed memory and understanding of how to perform the technique such that it becomes a reflex.

The problem is, to get from Conscious Competence to Unconscious Competence requires about twice the amount of training time, and many students simply don't have the patience to practice a technique for that long beyond the level of Conscious Competence. They've learned it; they understand how it works. Now they want to move on and learn something new. If they don't, the class becomes boring. They slack off, start to lose exercise motivation, attend fewer training sessions, never rising beyond Conscious Competence, and, when the boredom gets to be too much, their motivation is gone. They quit.

For them, Martial Arts was fun for a little while, but, they usually say, "It just wasn't my thing."

And the same loss of exercise motivation will happen to you...to me...to any student under the same circumstances, no matter what you're learning, and no matter who's teaching you.

Creative Variation: The Key To Staying Motivated

So, what can you do to avoid losing Martial Arts, or for that matter, any type of exercise motivation?

First, acquire an understanding from your teacher of how much time you can expect between belt tests. And second, understand that only the first half of that time will be spent learning a new, fun, and interesting skill. The second half of that time will be spent honing that skill from the level of Conscious Competence to Unconscious Competence.

But that second half of the training does not have to be boring!

A Message For Teachers: You Can Keep Your Students From Losing Motivation. Here's How...

Teachers, you can easily keep students interested in the classes by laying out the time and competency expectations in advance, and by using the second half of that time to add more variety to the learning.

Adding variety means more than just incorporating games into the training sessions, or tossing in techniques from the latest Martial Arts fads. Rather, it means offering a Creative Variation of the same techniques they are already doing.

For example, at the beginner level of the Wu Ying Tao system, during the first month of training, the student learns a set of nine basic punches, three basic kicks, and blocking defenses for each.

By one month into the training, the student has usually achieved Conscious Competence of the skill involved in standing in a correct fighting stance, stepping into range, and executing the attacks and the defensive moves.

But now, the student is going to have to spend another full month of training in order for these skills to become ingrained. Instead of coming away from each class feeling excited over having learned something new, he might start coming away feeling like Martial Arts training involves a brief introduction to interesting concepts, followed by long series boring repetitions. That is, once the concept is no longer new, it simply becomes a drill to be done over and over, and quite frankly, yes, that does get pretty boring!

Keeping the "eye on the prize" can help, of course, by reminding the student that in only one more month, he or she will have the skill level to take and pass the test.

But there's another way. A better way.

With Creative Variation, you would, perhaps, change the method of practicing the punches from punching with the rear hand to using the front hand.

Yes, I know, this is a simple variation, but it's not so simple to a student at the beginner level, either for doing the attacks or the defenses. It opens up a whole new phase of learning what is essentially the same skill, and at the same time, brings variety into the learning process and actually enhances the student's exercise motivation.

After one month of basic punching, followed by a second month of doing the same thing, but with a Creative Variation, the student's skills will have arrived at the level of Unconscious Competency.

Students stay motivated. And you enjoy the experience of teaching.

Martial Arts training should always be a fun and interesting experience. While exercise motivation can be a challenge, you can avoid "burn out" by using Creative Variation to work your students' way from simply being able to perform a skill at Conscious Competence to having the deeper understanding and reflexive proficiency of performing at the level of Unconscious Competence.

All it takes is a little time, a little understanding, and remembering to make your training experience fun!

Exercise Motivation - The Most Common Reason Why People Quit Martial Arts Training

Marshall Buchholz is a Martial Arts instructor and school owner. He teaches the Wu Ying Tao style of Martial Arts in Salem, Oregon. Visit his web site at: [http://www.northwest-martial-arts.com]

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