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There are  two things that typically motivate a salesperson- money and personal success. (Personal success = achieving goals, positioning a product you admire in an industry you like, building personal and business relationships, Etc)

I will be touching on building successful relationships as the important aspect of personal success in this article.

Money

Most people assume that all salespeople are driven by money, and most salespeople say they are purely in it for the money (just to pound their chests and impress their boss).

Money is a big factor for sales, otherwise why would anyone put up with the daily grind of forecasting,  threats from management when the numbers are not met, getting down on your hands and knees begging for a deal, Etc.

Relationship Success

Many salespeople are in sales because they love the people aspect of it. They like to connect, build a relationship, add value and become a trusted advisor. They like to walk hand-in-hand with the client, bringing them the best advice and solutions available. Overall, they feel a great sense of accomplishment – it is a great feeling. There are great advantages to this as it builds loyalty and therefore better medium to long term business. And it builds friendship.

Money and Relationship Success

In many instances, salespeople are driven by both motivators. Is this the best of both worlds? Maybe.

In Conclusion

So, as much as many would like not to believe,  sales and salespeople are not all about money. And money may not be the best single factor for motivation because  there are alternative methods of obtaining money through commissions and bonuses without having to bury yourself with the company dogma and the personal quota pressure.

These alternative methods of obtaining money (and rewards) can be found through other personal drivers (or personal successes), which ultimately lead to sales and therefore commissions (=money).

But if it is all done right, then money can be one of  the many rewards.

Do you see or know of any other things that motivate salespeople?

Do you think it is best to be motivated by money or personal satisfaction or a combination of the two?

Please comment.

 (You may also be interested in Why Don’t Companies Focus More on Relationships?)

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Tags: Sales, Trust

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 9:13 am and is filed under Sales, Trust, Uncategorized, Value Creation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.