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5 Ways to Motivate Your Salespeople

Written by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: I believe that motivation is very misunderstood. You can't motivate by being a cheerleader, nor can you motivate by reciting somebody else's inspirational quotes. Motivation comes from within and you must find out what your salespeople's internal motivators are. Why are they doing this thing called selling? The other thing that's important to know is that everyone reacts differently to motivation and motivation takes may forms. For instance, perhaps you have some people who respond to one of these methods when trying to get them to perform:

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5 Ways to Motivate Your Salespeople

I was coaching a senior leader today and the conversation turned to motivation, specifically, how to be a better motivator. I believe that motivation is very misunderstood. You can't motivate by being a cheerleader, nor can you motivate by reciting somebody else's inspirational quotes. Motivation comes from within and you must find out what your salespeople's internal motivators are. Why are they doing this thing called selling?

The other thing that's important to know is that everyone reacts differently to motivation and motivation takes may forms. For instance, perhaps you have some people who respond to one of these methods when trying to get them to perform:

* Challenge them (I have a challenge for you...do you think you're up to it?)

* Lose faith in them (tell them that you don't think they can do it and they'll say, "oh yeah?")

* Encourage them (I just know you can do this and they say, "thank you")

* Demand that they perform (You are required to do this and they say, "OK")

* Ultimatums (If you don't do this you'll be out of a job and they either do it or not)

Here are some additional sales personalities and the ways to get them motivated.

So here's the assignment I gave this leader today. Match up the method with the people (right people with the right method) and use the appropriate method to motivate each of them to achieve something you need them to accomplish. Then report back to me with how they responded.

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Home > Sales > Dave Kurlan > 5 Ways to Motivate Your Salespeople
Article Tags: cheerleader, faith, inspirational quotes, internal motivators, job, motivation, motivator, personalities, salespeople, ultimatums

About the Author: Dave Kurlan
RSS for Dave's articles - Visit Dave's website

Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development.  He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan).

Click here to visit Dave's website
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