Can we actually expect salespeople to sell and meet quota just because we pay them to?
I recently read the book Drive by Daniel Pink written in 2010. At first it was a slap in the face regarding everything I have learned and thought I knew about motivation, and in particular motivating salespeople. It is a common known fact that to motivate salespeople to sell more, we must have juicy commission structures –the only reason salespeople sell is if they are going to get paid on the sale. Well at least that is what I thought I knew. Daniel Pink somewhat dispels the whole carrot and stick approach and backs it up with scientific research. How will the principles of autonomy, mastery, and purpose coincide within a sales organization? Can we actually expect salespeople to sell and meet quota just because they want to, not only because they get paid if they sell? It is hard to swallow.
At Braveheart Sales Performance, we are strong believers in using data-driven analysis to make decisions and that is why we use the sequence of sales assessments created by Objective Management Group. The assessments recently added a more comprehensive analysis of what motivates the salesperson taking the assessment. Not only does the assessment determine how motivated the individual is, it quantifies how extrinsically motivated he is or how intrinsically motivated he is. Extrinsically refers to money, rewards and things, and intrinsically refers to satisfaction, mastery, enjoyment of selling, and fulfillment.
Recently, I had been noticing a trend that many candidates were showing higher levels of intrinsic motivation than extrinsic motivation. It didn’t make sense to me, until I read this book Drive. What I have learned is that exceptional salespeople come in all varieties. Some are totally and completely motivated by money, while others are just as driven, but are motivated by the satisfaction of taking care of a client, or the pride in winning a piece of business. What it illustrates for me, is that companies must understand what motivates their people and have the compensation plan and environment that rewards the sales team the way they will respond. It all gets down to understanding your people.
We want to know what you think about this fascinating book. We welcome your comments, or you can email us at info@staging.braveheartsales.com.
29 Comments
As a vendor of Sales Performance Management software & solutions, I have a huge interest in this work by Dan Pink. The attached video provides a cool multi-media take on the topic as well. Your conclusion about it all being about people is right on target !
http://www.netcommissions.com/blog/bid/106393/The-case-against-Sales-Performance-Management
Jerry Hegarty
Great video! Thank you for sharing!
Great video! It really makes you stop and be honest about treating all sales reps equally without consideration or breadth relative to incentives. Thanks for sharing!
[…] manager are not the same skills necessary in a great salesperson. Salespeople have different motivations, need coached differently, and have different growth paths. Effectively managing them is one of […]
[…] weekly conversation to have to check progress. Better still, is the process of understanding a salesperson’s motivations, hopes, dreams and aspirations, and fully understanding how achievement of his/her sales goals will […]
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[…] and some are stoked about improving their own performance in selling. In a previous blog post, A Must Read: Drive by Daniel Pink, I expressed that not all salespeople are motivated by money. It is up to the sales manager to […]
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If you have already read the book, let me know what you think about it. Do you have any thoughts to add to my post?
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Just to add more fuel to the discussion, an HBS article that models behavior for traditional sales comp plans (modeling the efficacy of accelerators) >> http://www.netcommissions.com/blog/bid/172414/Do-Sales-Commission-Accelerators-really-boost-productivity
And also a link to an article by a Stanford professor arguing against quota’s (similar to Dan Pink)>>
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/Nair_sales.html
Cheers,
– Jerry
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