Newsflash: Salespeople Aren’t Motivated By Money Alone

Newsflash: Salespeople Aren’t Motivated By
Money Alone
One of the oldest and most widely held ‘truths’ in the world of Managed
Recruitment is that salespeople are motivated largely or principally by money. Alas,
however much this claim may have been true in the past, it doesn’t stack up very
well these days.
With one recent analysis suggesting that as many as four-fifths of salespeople may
actually be mainly motivated by non-monetary factors, now may be the time for your
HR team to reassess those old assumptions.
So what are the real factors inspiring salespeople today?
Yes, there may still be some more ‘old school’ salespeople out there who respond well
to your talk of how big a commission they could earn with you or how expensive a car
they could buy. However, it’s dangerous to presume that such monetary-pressure
tactics will work on most or indeed, necessarily any of your salespeople.
What about the general praise and recognition that your sales staff could receive for
a good job well done? Is a sales job with your firm satisfying whatever the associated
income? Does your vacancy give candidates the opportunity to develop themselves
and master the art of the effective selling of your company’s products or services?
These are all factors that you need to think about! Don’t presume that someone who
doesn’t respond to more traditional management techniques is a bad salesperson.
Quite the opposite – they may simply require a bit more finesse and subtle
management if you are to get the best out of them.
Remember the complex world of motivation

It’s vital to appreciate that motivation – whether in the world of sales or not – is a
complicated thing. Some people are mainly inspired by a love of clinching that big
sale, while others may be more driven by a hatred of missing out on that big sale.
Similarly, some achieve great results through self-pressure, whereas others may need
to be pressured by others if they are to really give their best. Some are good at selfmanaging,
while others are best suited to being closely managed by a superior.
Understanding this intricate web of motivations that is likely to apply across your
sales team is crucial if you are to not only identify and hire the best salespeople, but
also extract the maximum potential from them once they are on your team. It may be
one of the most important lessons to incorporate into your managed recruitment
approach as we head into 2017.