Sell Don't Tell

"Everyone lives by selling something" - Robert Louis Stevenson

I'll always remember the first sales course I ever attended and the definition of selling that was drummed into my brain.
"Selling is the art of creating a desire in the mind of a buyer and satisfying that desire so that buyer and seller benefit."

Now that may seem a bit old fashioned for many of today's salespeople and this isn't an article about selling, but I believe the principle still holds true.
If you want to get one of your team to do something, then you need to communicate your instructions to them. Of course you could just 'tell' them to do what ever it is you want, and lots of managers do just that. However that's not what being a Motivational Manager is all about and 'telling' just makes your job a lot harder.

There's sometimes a case for 'telling' however it's harder work for you because no one will continue to do what you want unless you keep telling them.
Your team members are your 'internal customers' and you need them to 'buy' from you in order to get the job done. And in order to get them to buy; you need to be a good sales person. I'm sure you've heard the phrase - you need to get peoples 'buy in.'
You also need good sales and persuasion skills when you're dealing with your colleagues and even your boss.

Now you've no doubt noticed that I've started to talk about sales people and buyers. It's because I believe that we're all sales people and buyers from the moment we enter this world till the moment we leave it.
A baby crying for food, attention or a change of nappy is trying to persuade you to take action. If you don't respond to this initial 'request' then they step up the volume until you do. Because we love that child, because we care, we are very open to their persuasion.
So, it follows throughout our life; if people care about us, if they respect us, if they have good rapport with us, then they're more likely to respond to our persuasion.

The sales or persuasion process is very much part of our world, and it's far better to sell than to tell.
A manager will get much further with the people who work for him or her by selling rather than telling. If people understand the benefits for them, then they're more likely to respond in a positive manner to those who supervise them.

In any sales or persuasion situation, you should be looking for a 'win-win' outcome. This is when you obviously benefit as much as the other person. If this isn't the case and it's a 'win-lose' situation, then instead of the words selling or persuasion, we may be talking about manipulation, control or coercion.

However, as any good salesperson or negotiator knows, a 'win-win' outcome is what you should always be aiming for. It follows, that if you want one of your team to do something and they see a benefit for them or they're just happy to do it, then you have a 'win-win' situation.

"You can get everything you want in life if you just help enough other people to get what they want" - Zig Ziglar

So whether we like it or not, selling and persuasion is going on all the time and you need to utilise these skills if you are to be a successful Motivational Manager.