It is impossible to motivate anyone but yourself. All a sales manager can do to motivate those members of the sales team, is to set a climate where staff members motivate themselves. However, some managers sincerely believe that formal goal setting sets a climate for self motivation. And, because managers believe that goal setting motivates, a variety of programs that use goal-setting strategies, like Management by Objectives (MBO), have been widely employed in businesses and professional organizations across the United States and Canada. But, longer term studies of these methods suggest that the success of these programs is minimal at best--because as some observers have found, while on the surface goal setting looks fairly easy. The truth is, that effective goal setting is a difficult skill to master.
Many sales professionals, through a lack of experience at setting appropriate sales objectives, set unrealistic goals, which in turn assures their failure long before they even start to execute their plans for achieving them. When they find they are not able to meet the objectives they’ve set, they not only experience the frustration inherent in failing, but many of them also receive criticism and in some cases, punishment from management. This failure, discourages future goal setting and if given the choice, a sales professional will not likely choose to use the goal setting strategies ever again to achieve success. Even when goal setting is used successfully, it is obvious that it is not the goal setting that is the motivator.
It’s the attainment of goal that motivates your sales staff to improved performance. For a comprehensive discussion on goal setting and how to establish appropriate sales objectives, check out the Coaching & Team Development and Getting An Edge self-directed learning manuals at:
http:/www.TheSellingEdge.combook1.htm
To learn more about this author, visit Virden Thornton's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 7 Myths of Sales Success
|
| |
Myth #1: You need to be a "good talker" Anytime a salesperson is talking, the client is formulating objections. That's just the way the human mind works.
|
|
The Top Ten Myths And Realities About Business Coaching According To Your Strategic Thinking Coach
|
| |
I think it is safe to say that there are many preconceived notions about business coaching. Furthermore, some of these notions really are myths rather than reality. In an attempt to provide some insight into what ...
|
|
The \"Sales Goals Motivate\" Myth
|
| |
Many sales professionals, through a lack of experience at setting appropriate sales objectives, set unrealistic goals, which in turn assures their failure long before they even start to execute their plans for achie...
|
|
Sales Force
|
| |
So, your recruitment team has been working around the clock to ensure your company has the best and the brightest salespeople on board. But now what? How do you ensure that your new recruits will continue to invest ...
|
|
Clearing Up The Myths About Strategic Thinking and Planning
|
| |
I continue to be amazed at the amount of misinformation and the number of myths that exist about strategic thinking and planning. During my entire career, I have heard business owners, senior executives and not-for-...
|
|
|
Virden Thornton
(Visit Virden's Website)
VIRDEN J. THORNTON is the founder and
President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a 23
year old firm specializing in sales,
customer relations, personal coaching and
management training and development.
Clients have included Sears Optical,
Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché,
Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and Wal-Mart to
name a few. Virden is the author of
Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success,
Organizing For Sales Success, 101 Sales
Management Myths, A Realtor's Success
Formula, and two best sellers 101 Sales
Myths and Building & Closing The Sale. He
also has a video/audio tape training
program entitled Close That Sale,
published by Thompson Learning. He has
also authored a Self-Directed Learning
series of sales, coaching & team
development, telemarketing and personal
productivity training guides. To obtain a
substantial discount on two of Virden's
new manuals, 101 Sales Myths and
Organizing For Sales Success, just go to
www.TheSellingEdge.com/book1.htm
Note: You can contact Virden at vi
rden@TheSellingEdge.com. You can also
see an expanded biography at: www.TheSellingEdge.com/bio.htm
|
|
 |
|
Virden Thornton's
Complete
List Of
Sales
Articles
|
|
If you enjoyed this article, get Virden Thornton's Complete List of Sales Articles For FREE!
|
|
|
|
