Think about an organization where sales are important and give an example. How is sales activity measured?

• Determine critical sales metrics in support of department and organizational goals
• Discuss motivational techniques for sales personnel

Career Relevancy

As a manager in a sales environment, it will be your responsibility to help each employee on your team meet critical sales metrics that will enable your team to reach department and/or organizational goals. In order to do this well, you will need to know how to effectively motivate your sales personnel.

Background

Trina adjusted her new nametag. The word manager under her name still felt strange, but she was excited about her promotion. She’d worked as a retail sales consultant for this company for five years, selling mobile phones, accessories, data plans, and other products and services. She’d won numerous awards for being the top seller in the region. Now, she’d get to channel all her experience into helping other salespeople be as successful as she had been. Part of her job would include making sure her team of employees met—or exceeded—the critical sales metrics set for them by the regional manager. This meant that each person on Trina’s team had to meet predetermined quotas for how many new lines of service they opened for customers and how many phones, accessories (phone cases, chargers, headsets, etc.), and data plans they sold. Based on Trina’s interactions with managers in the past, she knew there wasn’t a one-size-fits-all technique for motivating salespeople. What motivated one seller might not motivate another. That’s why Trina had done some research about various selling styles and how managers can motivate different types of salespeople. Here’s some of what Trina had read:

Although salespeople should be able to adapt their approach to fit the needs and personalities of their customers, most salespeople have a preferred style of selling. Here are some of the most common selling styles, along with motivational tips for managers:

• The Hard-Seller

This is an aggressive salesperson who moves hard and fast and aims to close the sale on a single call or visit. They often start off with a lot of energy, drive, and confidence, which will be effective with some customers. However, hard-sellers can burn out quickly because they don’t recognize that selling is often a process. To motivate a hard-seller, managers can break down the sales process into smaller goals for the hard-seller to focus on. This can allow the hard-seller to feel a sense of accomplishment from conquering a challenge while also helping them with pacing. Hard-sellers generally love tracking their progress with charts or other visible displays that indicate how well they’re reaching goals, so managers can incorporate these types of measures into sales meetings, performance reviews, etc.

• The What-Do-You-Need Seller

This is a quick-thinking sales professional who focuses their energy on the needs of the prospect. They ask many questions with the goal of identifying the customer’s pain points, and they think fast on their feet to propose a solution. This style is often based on a problem-solving approach rather than on forcing a sale—but it often puts too much focus on fulfilling a need instead of creating one. Managers can motivate a what-do-you-need seller by acknowledging ways the seller has helped fulfill customers’ needs, as indicated by customer comments, personal observation of the seller in action, etc. Managers can also tap into this seller’s desire to help others by pointing out how the seller can help the entire sales team by creating needs for customers along with fulfilling existing needs.

• The Product-Focused Seller

This type of seller is in love with the product and focuses their efforts on convincing the customer of how great the product or service is. To motivate a product-focused seller, managers can compliment them on their product knowledge and enthusiasm and may even involve the seller in helping new salespeople learn about product features. Managers can also look for opportunities to help the seller focus on customers while not losing excitement about products.

• The Competitor

This seller aims to be one step ahead of their competition. They have a lot of confidence, excellent negotiation skills, and faith in their product. Managers can motivate the competitor by drawing attention to what the company’s competition is doing and issuing a challenge for the sales team to beat the competition. Because the competitor often lacks a work-life balance, managers may also look for ways to incorporate fun into sales meetings to help the competitor slow down and relax a bit.

• The Matchmaker Seller

This is the most common type of seller. Matchmakers are focused on building relationships and are often the most adaptable sales professionals. They work hard to adjust their sales approach to fit the client they are dealing with at the time. Matchmakers are the outgoing, good-natured people on your team. Managers can motivate matchmakers by celebrating the ways they’ve paired customers with the appropriate product or service. Because matchmakers thrive on building relationships, they can be motivated by helping new or less-experienced salespeople on your team. Partnering a matchmaker with someone who could use their help can provide the matchmaker with gratification while also benefitting your sales force.

No matter which selling styles your salespeople have, they all need to be able to ask questions and listen to the customer. A good salesperson knows their product or services and can describe the features and benefits to the customer in a persuasive manner. Sales professionals should know how to apply various selling styles and be able to adapt their approach when needed. As a manager, you will have the opportunity to help them learn to do this well.

Prompt

Think about an organization where sales are important and give an example. How is sales activity measured? How would you motivate sales personnel in that industry? Explain your process, including how you motivate without using money.

For your citation, you might use articles that show examples of effective and ineffective motivation techniques. You can also find articles from experts that suggest best practices for motivating sales personnel.

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