When your compensation and incentive programs aren't getting the job done, it's time to look beyond the traditional motivational programs and get creative. There are a number of other ways to motivate salespeople and I'll discuss three of them here. I'd love to have you comment with your personal favorites.
1) Nothing is more motivational than when a salesperson closes a sale - not any sale - a first sale, their biggest sale, their most challenging sale, their fastest sale, their slump breaking sale, their "I beat the competition" sale, or even their contest winning sale. Immediately following that success, is when your salespeople are most likely to have another success. Their confidence is at an all time high, their courage is strong too, and as a result, they'll take the greatest risks within 24 hours of that success. By risks I mean that these are the times when they are most likely to do the things they have the greatest difficulty doing.
2) A surprising motivator is anger. Getting your salespeople just pissed off enough to ratchet it up as much as it takes to get the job done, but not so pissed off that they walk out on you. This method is a little more difficult than example number one, but in many cases, salespeople won't do the things they haven't been able to do until they get angry.
3) I have discussed fear as a motivator before. When your salespeople are afraid of losing their job, losing a residual commission, losing part of their territory, losing a client or losing your respect, they will often perform in a more inspired manner.
What have you tried to motivate your salespeople? Leave your comments below.
(c) Copyright 2008 Dave Kurlan
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In the May 12 edition, 19 accomplished people told Fortune Magazine about the best advice they ever got. 16 of those 19 were prominent business executives and no fewer than six of them cited something having to do with sales.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was advised to always ask for the order and when the customer says yes, stop talking. I would add that with the Inoffensive Close, you're asking without your prospect realizing it.
Mark Hurd, Hewlett-Packard's Chairman and CEO, was told that it's hard to look good if your numbers are bad. I would say that in sales, people won't listen for very long if you talk the talk without walking the walk.
Sam Palmisano, Chairman and CEO at IBM, said he's observed that the most successful people, the greatest leaders don't make themselves the center of attention. I would add that the same is true of the best salespeople; it's not about them, it's about their prospects and customers.
Thomas S. Murphy, former CEO of Capital Cities/ABC, said the advice was not to spend your time on things you can't control and instead, spend your time thinking about what you can. I would add that the only things your salespeople can control are the number of times they pick up the phone, the quality of their conversations, the number of great questions they ask their prospects, their execution of the selling process and their thoughts.
Nelson Petz, CEO of Trian Fund Management, said his dad told him to get sales up and keep expenses down. I wouldn't add a thing to that one.
Charlene Begley, CEO of GE Enterprise Solutions was told to spend a ton of time with your customers.
(c) Copyright 2008 Dave Kurlan
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On Friday evening we saw David Copperfield perform his outstanding style of illusion at the Opera House in Boston. Every single illusion was incredible, leaving us wondering, "How the %$!& did he do that?" At the request of an audience member, he even performed one illusion over again - in slow motion - to the same outcome.
And now, as always, the sales management takeaway; Your salespeople should be immitating David Copperfield on every single sales call. At the end of calls, their prospects should be wondering what just happened to make them feel so good. They should not be frustrated and they should not be able to point to any specific thing your salespeople did or didn't do. They should not be able to provide a critique of their performance!
Unfortunately, ineffective salespeople are very transparent and their prospects see each of the moves they make - and more often, don't make. There are so many salespeople who don't do anything beyond presenting that the only illusion taking place is to call those individuals "salespeople".
(c) Copyright 2008 Dave Kurlan
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One of my clients is recruiting and, despite plenty of quality candidates to choose from, had failed to hire anyone in a span of ten months, 1200 resumes and dozens of interviews. He loved 5 of the 20 final candidates but, for one reason or another, was unable to land them. The process was being conducted the right way, he was using the assessment at the right time, and the first live interview was conducted properly. In an attempt to rectify his problem, I identified two issues with his final interview.
1) Two much time was elapsing between the first live interview, the final interview and the decision to make an offer. This was more than enough time for other companies to make offers and it was smart for the candidates to take the sure offers. Candidates are perishables and great candidates have a spoil date of tomorrow!
2) My client was not effectively selling his opportunity. Sure, he presented the company, described the job, showed the compensation package, etc. Boring. Not compelling. I introduced him to my secret weapon. The recruiting scene at the beginning of the movie Anti-Trust provides a fantastic example of how to sell your opportunity in a compelling way. As my client said, "that was the missing link" that was preventing his company from generating three times his current revenue.
What are you doing to sell your opportunity?
(c) Copyright 2008 Dave Kurlan
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Our son read 130 pages to us at bedtime when Mommy usually reads to him. He's always too tired to attempt sounding out words but tonight he read two 65 page books. And when Mommy helped him with the one word he had trouble with, he said, "It's OK, I don't need your help Mommy!" And he laughed so much harder when he heard the funny words coming out of his own mouth. He reread one funny passage five times he liked it so much. And he was so proud of himself he just wanted to keep on reading, and reading, and reading. He was still reading when we checked in on him a half hour later.
The same phenomenon takes place with salespeople. Not just new salespeople, but veteran salespeople too, who find themselves with new companies, industries, products or services, or calling into new markets.
At first, they just want to listen. Then they want you to go with them and help them do it. Finally, at some point, just when it seems like they can't do it by themselves, they successfully read the call, execute the entire process and have a great big smile on their faces, so proud of what they accomplished. Finally, they don't need your help anymore - you might screw it up!
As their manager, you must have the patience to allow this to happen, while at the same time having the urgency to push them along, coach and encourage them, provide constructive criticism, and make sure they're performing enough activity to drive results.
And then one day, when you aren't expecting it, they surprise you and read you the email they received from the client or customer they just closed.
When you are consistently hiring the right salespeople, it gives you greater confidence to demonstrate the patience required to develop them. When you play the numbers game and know that half of the people you bring on won't stick, it's difficult to differentiate between a slow bloomer and a chronic failure.
(c) Copyright 2008 Dave Kurlan
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