The Art of Motivating Salespeople
When the tide comes in, all the boats in the harbor go up! The
long-term benefit of an incentive program is to coax your sales
force out of their production comfort zone. Once a salesperson
stretches to a new level of personal production, their
self-confidence and expectations skyrocket. Traditionally, sales
managers have relied primarily on commission to motivate their
sales force. Unfortunately, a compensation structure based
solely on commission does not address separate motivational
factors and therefore, commission alone will not motivate your
sales force to peak performance. The challenge of designing an
effective sales incentive contest is that it should not only
appeal to your top producers, but it must also excite average to
below average salespeople as well. A successful incentive
program is a mixture of awards, recognition, and peer pressure.
To encourage salespeople to reach their full potential,
successful managers personalize incentives.
The secret to motivating a salesperson lies in discovering their