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Understanding what motivates your sales team

Understanding what motivates your sales team

So many sales managers and executives lament the fact that their sales people are not like them. “Why aren’t they as driven and motivated as I am?” “Why don’t they work as hard and with as much commitment as I do?” “Why are they content and comfortable in their comfort zones and not ambitious for growth like I am?” Well sorry to break it to you they just aren’t the same as you, so get over it and manage it! The role of a manager today is to understand each individual’s motivation and work to ensure that this is matched and optimised. No two people‘s motivation will be the same. Understanding what it is that makes each team member ‘tick’ is vital to managerial success. One size does not fit all! In these challenging times where change is taking place at an unprecedented rate we must ensure that managerial skills keep abreast of the rapidly evolving cultural shifts that are driving a different attitude to work and life in our employees. It is now normal not only to change jobs and even careers several times in our working life. People re-locate not just nationally but internationally. It is now common for people to marry several times and have more than one family. It’s like having several different lifetimes in one! There has never been a time when so many life changing decisions need to be taken on such a consistent and accelerated basis. We all experience some form of change, some may be minor some may be major. We cannot stop change but how we deal with it is within our control. With knowledge, skill and effort you can learn to direct change. Mastering this can help you move towards the outcome you desire and is a vital skill for success in the 21st century. Change is a fundamental for any form of evolution or growth. It is like the wind that blows. It is neither good nor bad, it just is. We must learn to harness the wind of change by settling a different sail. Today, the winds are gusting faster than ever before in the evolution of man. We are creating more opportunities for more people to live the life they choose. Never before have so many people been so free and able to live the life that they choose. Never before have so many been so aware of their environment and felt motivated to improve it in some way. Be it a greater health consciousness or environmental awareness, globally, people are finding their voice, coming together via social networking and driving positive change. Now is the time to acquire the ability to steer and maximise change. Learning how to steer allows you to benefit from some of the changes, learn from others and leads your life into calmer waters. By learning how to lead your thoughts, feelings, attitudes, actions and habits in the direction of your choices, it allows us to achieve the creation of our desires, goals and dreams. The results of your actions are the fruits of your thoughts. So what has all this got to do with sales performance you ask! Times are changing and changing fast. You need to understand what makes each member of your sales team tick. What will motivate them to achieve your desired outcome of sales success? Consider what it is you need to do differently to incentivise and motivate your sales people. To get you started consider how you stack up in the following areas: • Clarity • Flexibility • Trust • Respect • Authority • Responsibility • Corporate social responsibility There is only one thing we can be absolutely certain of in the future and that is more change. It carries with it the seed of opportunity for those that want to steer their own ship, set a better sail and flow with the current. Make sure you get on board!





Understanding what motivates your sales team - To learn more about this author, visit Debbie Robinson's Website.

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Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan 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 and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

David Acheson
David Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns.  David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website

Stephanie Robey
Stephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals.

She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com   Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences.  Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

Read Steph's Blog
Meet Steph and Dave
Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich
- Visit Stephanie Robey's Website

Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website

Linda Richardson
Linda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website

Dianne Crampton

Dianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here.

Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009.  Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010.  To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here.

- Visit Dianne Crampton's Website

John Brennan
John Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website

George Ludwig
George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website


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About The Author


Debbie Robinson
(Visit Debbie's Website)

I set up http://www.topperforman cecoaching.co.uk in 2008 following a suc cessful and fulfilling career of 26 years in IT Sales and Sales Management.

As a former Executive Sales  and Marketing Director of an SME IT services company, I have extensive experience in business, sales team and personnel development and understand the challenges faced by sales professionals and management in today's demanding market.

Having had responsibility for sales budgets in excess of £4.5m gross margin, strategic planning,training and development of sales teams I fully understand the stresses and strains experienced by Sales Executives and Managers.

I have total empathy with Sales Executives striving to achieve targets, Sales Managers struggling to deliver consistent performance and Chief Executives frustrated by lacklustre growth. 

I believe that the new paradigm of managing is not telling or directing employees, but guiding and enabling answers from individuals.

Managers who wish to free themselves from the time consuming aspect of day-to-day management of process and performance can adopt a coaching style to help their people to access their own inner resources, to increase their confidence and achieve their tasks and targets. 



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