TIME WASTER #4 of 15: Low Levels of Motivation
Low motivation usually arises from one of the problem areas previously mentioned (poor strategy, mis-hiring, unclear objectives, unfair goals, complex priorities, and slow feedback) as well as from poor leadership, lack of discipline and accountability, and a win-lose or lose-lose pay plan.
Salespeople want to sell as much as possible as easily as possible. They will be quickly demoralized when obstacles that are outside of their control prevent them from succeeding.
These things tend to dampen sales teams’ motivation:
- Pay plans that reward actions and events beyond the employees’ control.
- Pay plans that take too long to reward success.
- Lack of immediate recognition.
- Lack of clarity about expectations.
- Goals that are set too high.
- Lack of leads or good lists.
- Products or services the salespeople don’t believe in.
- Working for a Sales Manager who isn’t perceived as fair.
- Poor communication of what is good and bad.
Best Practice: Ask your salespeople what motivates them, do your homework with the experts, make a list viable incentives and get started.
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This is particularly interesting to me, because I am responsible for quantifying opportunities for our outside Account Managers (Sales). I am in the Marketing department, but my title is “Senior Sales Support Specialist.” While I create opportunities for our Sales team that have specific dollar values, I do not receive any commission if the sale is closed. I recently had a heated discussion with my manager regarding this. There are also 2 Sales Support Specialists on my team. We launch campaigns to leads or inactive customers, follow up with them by phone and email, and the goal is to quantify an opportunity or make an appointment. My company is highly technical, and the 3 of us possess a great amount of background regarding our services. It is our responsibility to essentially diagnose the needs of the potential client and learn how we may be a fit for their company. I have personally been responsible for more than 1/2 a million dollars in sales in 2011. So I’ve been told that I’m not inside sales and we don’t qualify for commission, because we don’t have a quota. We have no clearly defined goals and are told that we “fall short,” because we don’t create enough opportunities. With that being said, my company has surpassed our goal of 15% growth for 2011. Am I confused?