How to Motivate Your Clients or Colleagues or Staff or Boss

In our sales training programs, we spend a great deal of time teaching our students how to detect and respond to specific motivation patterns that are known in NLP as “meta programs”. These little beauties are like a set of directions for the way we engage in the behaviour that we do, the way we make the choices that we do. And of course the choice to buy or not buy is one which is crucial to the success or otherwise of the sales professional, so one thing every sales professional must make it his/her business to know, are the meta programs.

Although all the meta programs are dead simple to grasp, we like to start with the “away from/towards” meta program because it’s just so darned obvious, and often it’s also the “clincher”!

Away From/Towards Meta Program

People who are motivated “away from” have their attention on the thing they wish to avoid. They make progress by moving away from problems, painful feelings, or situations of disadvantage. These people often plan well for contingencies!

People who are motivated “toward” have their attention on the benefit, gain or advantage of the thing they wish to acquire. Whilst they tend to be goal driven and are unlikely to procrastinate, they may not see the pitfalls along the way!

These are the extremes of “away from” and “toward”, and most of us are somewhere in between.

Case Study

Madeleine was a sales manager of a team of 8. Times were tough and the team was struggling, so Madeleine decided to “motivate” the team by offering bonuses for higher sales.

Consequently 2 members of Madeleine’s team actually got higher sales. 2 were unchanged, and 4 actually got worse! What happened?

The answer to this puzzle is easy once you understand that each of us is motivated away from pain and toward pleasure. However, we are motivated in different proportions of “toward” and “away” and individuals have a “critical point” along a continuum which is their prime motivating point. The 2 members who improved were almost entirely “toward” motivated, meaning that they were easily inspired by reward. The 2 who were unchanged actually needed to have a little “pain” built in.

Without that, their motivation “recipe” wasn’t quite right. The 4 who got worse would possibly have improved if no bonus were offered, but instead the consequences of failure were made very clear!

Are you wondering if you can be clever enough to quickly sum up your potential client’s motivation style when it comes to this particular meta program? I assure you that it’s very easy, and you might like to test this out with family and friends, just to prove to yourself how easy this is.

Make a list of people that you know, and spend a few minutes rattling through and deciding to yourself whether they are away from, toward, or something in between. Most people are amazed to discover how obvious it is once they give it even a modicum of thought!

I’ve seen people charging many thousands of dollars for this type of training – I hope this brief exercise will show you how quickly and easily you can learn and make use of meta programs like this one.

Make sure this important aspect of NLP is thoroughly addressed in any sales or communication training you undertake.

How to Motivate Your Clients or Colleagues or Staff or Boss - To learn more about this author, visit Christine Sutherland's Website.

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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

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

Anne Barr Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website

Kim Castle With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website

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Christine Sutherland Subscribe to Christine's articles (Visit Christine's Website) Christine Sutherland is an Australian entrepreneur, clinical researcher, author and trainer, and the founder of My Speed Business Network, an interactive business community with a vast array of free business development resources. Her NLP Training is legendary! Christine Sutherland is a Platinum author on EvanCarmichael.com

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