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| When I was at school, the best footballer was
a lad called Stephen. He could do things with a football I'd only
seen Johann Cruyff do before. At the age of 15 he was signed by Everton
and looked set to live the dream we all held dear (at the time) of
fame, wealth and stardom. He was easily the best player outside of
Everton's senior squad but..… he never made it. In fact he gave
up football altogether before he was 20 years old. At the time, when
asked why, he said he couldn't be bothered to train twice a week.
Couldn't be bothered! Even in those days professionals could earn
enough in their careers to set themselves up for life and he couldn't
be bothered to turn up and play football, a game he loved, a couple
of evenings a week. What was wrong with him? In order to at least
try to understand such behaviour we need to understand the nature
of motivation.
One of my fellow directors in a previous life managed a salesman
who inherited £7.5m. He remained in his job because he enjoyed
it - and my colleague was wise enough to realise that this salesman's
'motivational levers' were not financial ones! What do we mean by motivation? Most modern writing on the subject concludes that if we accept that the desired behaviour is purposeful; that is, directed to some end, then it can be said to be motivational. The driving force behind this motivation is need and the direction is towards perceived reward and away from perceived punishment. In sales terms, the end is almost always a financial revenue target, although it is often supplemented by the achievement of additional, often ill-defined 'business objectives', which may or may not underpin the target itself. The perceived reward is often measured with a £/$/euro sign and the perceived punishment all too obvious! Thus, to create the fully motivated sales person we need only offer huge on-target commission payments and remind him or her occasionally of the price of failure by routinely 'sacrificing' the poor performers. As rounded, intelligent grown-ups we know this to be too simplistic (don't we?) - even those with only a passing interest in sales would probably concede the existence of additional factors likely to influence the outcome. The key question is: what are they? Motivating the 'jumbo jet' salesman Consider, for example those people involved in long, complex deals, sold over several years and requiring the full force of the company's account management resource to ensure success.
They may well be able to measure progress through
achievement of the account action plan but does that represent
success and how does that compare with their own goals and expectations? Ultimately we're all motivated by success - the difficulty lies in the way we measure it…i.e. individually! It is perhaps only students and banks for whom money has an intrinsic value. For the rest of us it represents an opportunity to do something we have set our sights upon achieving. We all know people who continue to work despite the fact that they have no financial need to. What drives them? And speaking of driving, how do you convince someone like Michael Schumacher to risk his life every week when he already has more money than he can possibly spend? Ask yourself this question of someone you know well.
Now try it of someone you know less well. One of
many colleagues or associates perhaps. Now try and see how their
likely motivation stacks up with what they are being asked to
do at work. Not always easy is it? |
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So how might we improve the situation? Since it seems unlikely (and not necessarily desirable)
that financial targets will ever be replaced in the sales arena,
we must start by ensuring that they meet the following criteria:
If the sales cycle differs from region to region, country to country and person to person then this needs to be reflected in the targeting process. It also means recognising that the amount of energy any individual
has at his/her disposal in life rarely varies. It is vital therefore
that use of this available energy is optimised in favour of the
'right'
selling tasks. The role of the Sales Manager This can be defined as:
It was Benjamin Franklin who defined madness as "……doing
the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
If we are to develop and motivate the team towards improving the overall sales operation's performance via execution of the right activities then we need to ensure the appropriate development path is in place. Crucially, this should be in place before any improvement or change in activity is expected. In addition personal development should:
It is at this point that we need to map the company's expectations outlined above, onto the individual sales person's own needs and wants. To start with, do we know what they are? Have we taken the time to ask the appropriate questions and really understand the individual of whom we intend to ask so much? It may be necessary at this time to use suitable management tools to get to the heart of these particular issues, but as Herzberg observed in 1959 and we empirically know ourselves, money is almost always a 'hygiene factor.' A lack of money may lead to dissatisfaction but pay itself is not a motivating factor. It is however, a reward and is the most visible (to the individual) way of meeting their need for recognition - if they have one! Accepting the challenge If we are to be successful in motivating the individual sufficiently well to deliver the activities which will achieve the required result, then we need to sell the advantages of the scheme (and the achievement of the target) by linking them to the person's acknowledged needs and wants which we have now established. In this way they will be seen as beneficial to the individual in their efforts to attain their real goals - rarely, if ever, will these be the same as their employer's! In addition we need to provide them with the tools to enable them to measure their progress towards these goals, identifying the gaps and suggesting the appropriate remedial action as and when required. Since achievement of the required result will be a function of the Quantity, Direction and Quality of selling activity, a simple spread sheet, built on an individual's known ratios and containing the relevant measurements of achievement in both the activity and development plans can provide the means for each sales person to monitor their own progress. In addition, it provides the solid foundation for subsequent Performance Review meetings since any change required to meet both the company's and the individuals goals (since they are now clearly linked) will be obvious to each party prior to any meeting taking place. So what happened to Stephen? Some fifteen years after I last saw Stephen he arrived one day, by chance to fix my central heating boiler - he ran his own small firm employing five plumbers. Surprised as I was to see him after all those years I couldn't resist asking why he did what he now did. His answer was that, much as he still loved football, it was only a hobby now and it was the freedom to control his own destiny that had led him to start his own plumbing business. Perhaps if someone had tried to understand what Stephen wanted from life and shown him how, through regular football he could have combined that with his hobby, Everton just might have achieved today's relative success a lot earlier and probably saved themselves a great deal of money into the bargain! Summary
©Quantum Sales & Marketing
Services Limited 2003
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