On the Right Motivation for Salespeople

This will be a text in several chapters, in which I will explore some aspects of salespeople’s motivation.
This post will be aboutHorizontal careeras a means of motivation.

However, before delving into the topic, I will start with a preface.

Preface
Often what I will be writing about is also referred to as “additional motivation,” implying that commissions are the “primary” motivation. From the very beginning, I want to point out that the term “additional” is, to put it mildly, inaccurate. regret Money does not motivate, and often it has the opposite effect. The more money a person has, the less effort they are willing to put in to earn another penny. Therefore, it’s important to distinguish between commission rewards and employee motivation activities; motivation should not be referred to as “additional,” as it is fundamental. Commission is not a form of motivation; it is a part of the contract between you and the seller, meaning it is a mandatory factor. However, it has become customary for us to label everything we do, aside from paying commissions, as “additional motivation.” Exists Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation suggests that money is not a motivating factor for work, but rather a factor that keeps employees on the job. Other factors that fall into the category of retention include management policies, working conditions, and relationships within the team. Even if all these factors align perfectly with an employee’s wishes, they do not, on their own, lead to job satisfaction unless motivating factors are also present: achievements, recognition of merit, responsibility, and opportunities for career growth.
Why do we need “additional” motivation when dealing with salespeople who directly earn more the harder they work? For a businessman, any motivation should be viewed as a means to intensify the efforts of the sales team.
I’m already. wrote. The introduction of a special award for “star” salespeople, while making the sales made by these stars unprofitable, boosted our overall profit because other salespeople were motivated to reach that star level. Additionally, by overpaying for the work of the stars, we made it difficult for competitors to poach them—practically impossible, in fact. From the outside, it appears that we are capable of paying very high commissions, which attracts salespeople from other companies, intimidates our competitors, and boosts morale within our own company.

Horizontal career
It seems that here it is – the idea of differentiating pay for salespeople based on their performance. Some companies are starting to implement so-called “levels” for salespeople, categorizing them into first, second, third, and so on, and offering them a “horizontal career” – sell better and earn more!
However, in reality, it turns out that:

• At the most challenging stage of a salesperson’s career—at the beginning—they receive a penalty from the company instead of support, even though their efforts are just as significant, if not greater, than those of an experienced salesperson.
• From the perspective of job market dynamics, a new salesperson will evaluate the prospects of working at a company based on the commission they are likely to receive, which means they will consider the lowest possible commission.
• Since the commission for agents of different “types” is not a loss for the businessman, it turns out that the businessman underpays all his sellers except for those of the “higher” type. This means that competitors will surely offer better deals.
• It’s not beneficial for a businessman to have top-tier salespeople, and the business model tends to naturally shift towards bringing in a large number of inexperienced newcomers, rather than focusing on retaining valuable employees.
• Sorting vendors is more challenging from an administrative standpoint — it’s not just about tracking which commissions belong to which vendor, but also about making timely updates to the commission plan for those who have changed their “category” in one direction or another.
• The sellers will quickly figure out what’s what and will start recording sales under one seller’s name, so that the commission received is paid out at the highest rate, resulting in unexpected losses for the business.

In my opinion, it’s convincing enough not to think about dividing agents into “categories.” Agents already have financial motivation, and it’s pointless to come up with something new in this area. It’s already clear that the more you earn, the more you receive. The human brain cannot distinguish between two similar stimuli coming from the same source, just as we cannot differentiate double stars in the sky without instruments. In other words, the “message” conveyed through a “horizontal career” already duplicates the “message” delivered through commissions.

But at the same time, we we distinguish a loss for us, an excessive reward for the “stars” compared to the regular commission.
But how can you protect yourself from fraud when agents band together and create a star artificially? If you have a small company and everything is under control, they won’t be able to do that. If you have a large company, there is a security service in place, but if you have a really big company, you need to change the prize and make it something deeply personal rather than monetary, something that can’t be shared among participants. Moreover, the prize can be awarded based on long-term results (quarterly, annually), promising it in advance at the beginning of the year, and constantly promoting that the best performer will receive it. This prize can then be something truly luxurious, seemingly extravagantly so. In large retail companies, for instance, they give away fur coats, cars, jewelry, Swiss watches, trips abroad, and so on.

Vertical career
The opportunity for a real career is one of the four motivating factors mentioned earlier. By paying proper attention to your employees’ career ambitions, you can enhance work efficiency. Ideally, the rules for career advancement should be transparent and achievable. However, their achievability should not encourage salespeople to focus solely on building their careers. Career growth should be managed administratively. In other words, there should be no rules for “automatic” advancement based on achieving certain metrics. Decisions about growth within the organization should be made, as I wrote in… this. The leaders who are one step above the immediate supervisors are interested in the growth of the individual, as they, rather than the immediate supervisors, have a vested interest in that person’s development. When discussing the vertical career path below, we will focus on the level of sales manager. The conclusions we draw can also be applied to other levels of the network, if they already exist in your organization.
If we try to develop career advancement rules based on the achievements of a salesperson performing their direct duties, we will encounter the following problems:

• We are facing the duplication of the “message,” and the possibility of a career operates in parallel with financial rewards, which means it is inefficient.
• Competence at one’s level is not an indicator for holding a leadership position.
• Promoting a “star” to a higher position, without having brought in a good manager, deprives the company of a good salesperson.

Actually, we don’t need a salesperson for the manager position. What we need is a manager. A person who can train, hire people, and supervise subordinates. So, here’s what we will do:

• We are setting a performance threshold, which, once reached, will allow for consideration of career advancement. This threshold doesn’t need to be impressive—just at the level of a salesperson or an average-performing employee. This will serve as a good incentive for newcomers to reach this threshold and will allow you to remain flexible if you decide to expand the management team while maintaining the rules of the game.
• An important criterion for the possibility of career growth should be work experience. If you are in a phase of rapid growth, the required experience should be kept as short as possible—three months, for example. However, if you have an established network, the required experience should be set at a level that most “job hoppers,” people who leave without achieving anything and without developing loyalty to the company, cannot meet. Additionally, a longer tenure will be viewed positively by existing managers, as they will be able to devote more attention to training and mentoring promising salespeople without fearing that they will leave for higher positions.
• • It was mentioned above what qualification requirements we should have for a manager. How can we determine if a salesperson can manage other salespeople? First of all, we establish that training is necessary for the position, and therefore, what we will teach the future manager must be known in advance. This includes, at a minimum, a thorough knowledge of the product, the sales cycle, an understanding of recruitment theory, and familiarity with reporting.
• In the penultimate instance, we say that career growth is only possible if the company currently has a need for a new manager. For example, you might simply not have the budget this year for office expansion, and hiring a new manager isn’t part of your plans, even if there is a worthy candidate.
• And, lastly, we give him the opportunity to experience his future job by recruiting a group of salespeople and training them to work over a certain period. We show him that he is still a salesperson, not a manager, and the results of this trial work should demonstrate what he is capable of. Of course, the future manager should not be involved in sales during this time, so we can set his salary at 80%-90% of the managers’ salary level. It goes without saying that poaching salespeople from the former manager is unacceptable, even if those salespeople are relatives of the future manager.

In any case, the initiative for career growth should come not from the salesperson themselves and certainly not from the manager, but from a higher-level leader.
A manager, due to their position, is not invested in the growth of the salesperson and cannot assess them as a potential future manager. In cases where you are the owner of a business and also manage the salespeople, only an external sales organizer can evaluate which salesperson has the potential to become a group manager, train them, bring them up to speed, and assist them during the initial stages. This external organizer will be the one you engage to facilitate the growth of the company. (This is a subtle hint regarding my…) services Once you become the leader of several groups of managers, an external manager may be useful to you in the next stage of growth, when you need to create directors.
Earlier, we touched on the topic of sellers transitioning from one group to another. This is quite relevant, especially when a new manager is appointed, and there are people in the old group who are personal acquaintances or friends of the newcomer. A complete ban on such transitions is unproductive. Allowing these transitions demotivates the managers from whom these individuals are leaving. The solution to this situation is simple: Transitions are possible under the following conditions:

• consent to the seller’s transfer;
• consent for the transition of the new manager;
• delays in time between announcing the desire to transition and the actual transition. The delay should be such that the outgoing manager can recruit and onboard a replacement.

Of course, a career can only serve as a motivator when everyone knows the rules of career advancement. It’s ideal for these rules to be documented, not changed retroactively, and for any changes to be implemented properly. I can write more about how to introduce changes if you ask me to! 🙂

The very best
When we try to come up with some additional reward, like organizing a trip abroad for the top salespeople, we immediately think about the budget for such a gift, and the question arises: How can I determine how much money I need to set aside for the gift if I don’t know how many people will be going?
The simplest solution would be to announce the conditions of a promotion like “The top 5 salespeople will go to Turkey at the end of the year.” When asked what exactly needs to be done to achieve this goal, no specifics are provided, and all the salespeople, thinking that none of them are truly the best, forget about the promotion and continue working calmly until the end of the year. At the end of the year, the businessman sees that there are no stars, as no one aspired to “stardom,” but he still needs to send someone to Turkey so that the salespeople don’t feel cheated. He then chooses simply the technically best performers based on criteria known only to him (perhaps he decided that selling to corporate clients is better than retail and chose to reward the top corporate sellers instead of those who sold more overall) and sends them to Turkey, realizing that he is throwing money away. The salespeople who didn’t go are also left puzzled, not fully understanding why Ivanov, who sold just 10 hryvnias more than average over the year, was chosen over the others.
Such an unpleasant situation has arisen for both the sellers and the businessman due to the incorrect setting of goals for the sellers. As is known from other management books (which is why we won’t delve into this topic in detail), goals should be:

• specific
• measurable
• significant
• achievable
• time-limited

In other words, the promotion for the trip to Turkey should sound like this: Those who will go to Turkey are:

• over the next 12 months
• attracted more than 3 new clients
• each of which brought in over 100,000 hryvnias in sales
• and thus became a new key client of the company

We would like to add that this goal is quite achievable, in our estimation, if we make an effort and put in the work, especially since last year the company gained a total of 50 new clients.
So, we don’t know in advance how much money we will spend on the trip to Turkey for the top sellers?
Yes. And let this be our business risk. Moreover, it’s not entirely bad if the company ends up with more good clients than expected. We can mitigate this business risk by evaluating last year’s performance, comparing it to this year’s plan, and understanding approximately how many people will be traveling to Turkey. Most likely, your answer will be: between 3 and 8. That’s enough for us. If we have budget constraints and the cost of the trip to Turkey needs to be determined in advance, we still have plenty of room to maneuver: travel dates, hotel class, travel season, etc., right down to whether or not there will be excursions.
By the way, the worst thing you can do is, after setting such a specific goal, to add that only the top 5 out of all who meet the competition’s criteria will get to go. This means we’re back to the point where no one knows what “the best” really means, but from a planning perspective, the cost of the trip is clear and final. This is a great example of how the tail wags the dog and how you should never allow a situation in your company where sales have to adapt to other processes instead of the other way around.
One possible way to stay within budget is to announce that the number of prizes is limited and that there is a qualifying level to be eligible for the prize, but the prize itself will be awarded through a lottery. In this case, the prize should be something that completely blows people’s minds. A car, an apartment, a round-the-world cruise—these are examples of super prizes.

The significance of the goal for you.
In the earlier example of the trip to Turkey, it is clear that the businessman organizing such a contest needs to have more clients with an income of 100,000 hryvnias per year. This was not a random choice, and there were reasons for it. We do not know why it was chosen this way, but we can note the following: The goals of the contest should be significant for the business and, as mentioned earlier, should not duplicate existing sales rewards. For example, if you announce that those who achieve a total sales volume of 100,000 hryvnias in the second quarter will receive a digital camera, you are making a mistake. Your camera is simply an addition to the standard reward, having no impact other than on the sales volume.
Now let’s imagine that you have Product A, which is more expensive, and Product B, which is cheaper. Consequently, it is more profitable for sellers to sell Product A. However, you are selling Product B at a lower price because it costs you even less, meaning you earn more on each unit of Product B. This means you need to encourage sellers to sell Product B. You also know that, on average, sellers sell 100 products per quarter, of which 60 are A and 40 are B. Therefore, the competition conditions should be formulated as follows: A digital camera will be awarded at the end of the quarter to the one who sells 70 or more units of Product B by the end of the quarter. All sellers will strive to sell more B than A, but in reality, this will only happen for some, as customers themselves are asking for Product A, which is more expensive solely because the manufacturer of Product A has included the cost of an expensive advertising campaign in its price. Again, we do not specify the model of the camera to remain flexible when purchasing the necessary number of prizes within a pre-set budget.
Through contests and motivational events, we can steer the activity of salespeople in the direction we want.

• Perhaps we want most of the salespeople under the managers to be seasoned veterans — so we’re coming up with a competition for managers to retain these veterans.
• Perhaps we want to continuously motivate newcomers and understand that if a newcomer achieves some impressive yet attainable result in their first month of work, we can award them a prize like “Great Start,” which will significantly strengthen their loyalty to our company.
• It may be important for us to focus on the growth of sales success, and to ensure that both newcomers and experienced sellers are on equal footing, we will hold competitions based not on absolute figures, but on percentage growth compared to the previous period.
• Perhaps the efficiency of the sales office is important to us – let’s set profitability as the goal of the competition.
• Perhaps we want to make the sellers wear ties…
• and so on.

At the same time, we should not forget that all competitions must have clear time limits for participants, and it is preferable to have different time periods, such as a quarter and a year.

Responsibility
It’s important for salespeople to understand the meaning behind various contests and to take joy in doing something more significant for the company than just making another sale. Carp and pike are both just fish. They weigh the same and are both delicious when fried. However, for fishermen, it’s much more satisfying to pull a pike out of the water than a carp. Help your salespeople recognize what the “pike” is in your business, and they will strive to catch pikes and enjoy the process, even if the commission is the same for both “carp” and “pike.” It’s relatively easy to shift a salesperson’s preference to sell one product over another simply by promoting the value of the sale you want as an achievement they can be proud of.
For example, you can intentionally highlight successes in one aspect of the business during regular meetings while ignoring another aspect that may be even more important. Let’s say your salespeople are not active enough, leading to low sales. Telling them to “sell more” is pointless for many reasons, but in this context, you simply need to ask yourself: “What do they need to do to sell more?” Of course, they need to sell more often, and each sale should bring in more money. However, larger sales only come from more experienced salespeople. And to gain experience, they need to sell more frequently. So what do you do in this case? Share information with the salespeople about who has made the most sales in terms of quantity. Who has the most clients, and who has the least. Stay silent about sales volumes. Salespeople quickly catch on that to get into the spotlight, they need to sell more often. And indeed, they start showing a higher number of sales. The average sale amount may drop, but at this stage, that doesn’t concern you. What matters is that the salespeople get used to the idea that, say, 10 sales a month is a normal figure. Only after achieving this level of activity can you introduce the next idea: “The key is the average sale.” And again, during meetings, you discuss who has a higher average sale and who has a lower one. You encourage salespeople to share their experiences with each other and provide examples. In other words, we tackle the problem in small steps instead of asking them to jump higher than they can.
It is very important for salespeople to understand the meaning behind your actions. Everyone should clearly see the company’s overall direction and development path and actively strive to follow it. Encourage the initiative of your sales team. Any action, even if it’s a mistake, is better than correct inaction. If the overall goal is clear, it reduces the number of errors. After all, if you don’t take a shot, you definitely won’t hit the target. Don’t scold salespeople for misplaced initiative. Instead, praise them and then conduct a friendly debriefing, showing those who made mistakes that the glass is half full, not half empty. In any initiative, in any action, there is always a chance of failure. To achieve something, you simply have to take action. By doing nothing, you will definitely achieve nothing. To become the best, you need experience. To gain experience, you must understand that things may not work out at first and see the potential ahead. You can’t learn to swim without getting in the water. To swim, you have to swim. I’ve already mentioned this, though. wrote. 🙂.

Smart prizes
It’s great if the prizes you give allow sellers to work more efficiently.

• For example, if the seller is a realtor, a camera would be useful for their work.
• If we’re talking about software sales or when the sale requires calculations and presentations – a laptop.
• If a seller is communicating with top executives of large companies, having the ability to casually pull out a luxury pen can be quite helpful in their work.
• If the job requires frequent travel, you can give a suitcase or a travel bag with the company logo as a gift.

Any prize that serves as a constant reminder to other salespeople of its past award is appropriate. A trip abroad will be captured in photos and videos. The photos will be prominently displayed in the office: “Look, we are the best!” A training seminar with a certificate will be designed in such a way that it can’t be ignored on the wall when it’s presented. This way, you not only improve the skills of the salesperson who receives it, but you also leave everyone with a reminder that the best are rewarded.
The rotating prizes work wonderfully. There is a very genuine competition for the title of the best sales office, which comes with the right to keep the rotating trophy in their office. All the salespeople in the office throw a celebration, cut up some sausage, buy champagne, and then take turns drinking from the trophy. Additionally, the “Best Seller of the Month” banner excellently highlights the top performers among the rest. These prizes cost almost nothing, but they add a sense of recognition for the employees.
If you can’t come up with a clever gift, try to make sure it’s useful and inspires a desire to fight for it.
It is completely inappropriate to give a gift like a bicycle if all your salespeople, due to the specifics of the market or product, are women over 40.
Also, when setting goals for the competition, try to avoid a situation where prizes are given out just for the sake of giving them away, and neither the seller nor even the businessman, if asked, can explain why this competition was held and what they hoped to achieve with it, aside from the positive emotions during the award ceremony. For example, I have practical experience working with a company where prizes were awarded for selling a product to a customer who had the youngest child at the time of purchase, specifically a girl.

Individual approach
It is worth noting that any contests or prizes are only appropriate if you have a sufficiently large number of salespeople. So large that you are unable to dedicate time to each salesperson, and your managers handle that instead. If your business is at a stage where you are still managing your salespeople yourself, then contests may not be suitable. After all, you can understand in a personal conversation what is most valuable and what motivates your salespeople the most. Moreover, each salesperson has at least two characteristics: experience and enthusiasm. (By “enthusiasm,” following a comment from one of the readers, I clarify that I mean a genuinely positive attitude towards their work, not a “psychotropic pill.”) Accordingly, for different employees with varying degrees of these traits, you need to set different levels of goals. Ideas for goal setting are shown in the diagram below:

• For example, having a salesperson with impressive experience who has a negative attitude towards the world can make them a valuable resource on one hand, but on the other hand, they might infect the company with passivity, cynicism, and indifference. In this case, it’s important to set goals for such a salesperson that require maximum personal involvement and minimal communication with others. By understanding what they value most in their work, you can offer them the opportunity to realize their dreams in exchange for improved performance. It would be great if during the conversation they mentioned that a flexible work schedule is important to them or that they enjoy working at night. 😉
• If we have an inexperienced and unmotivated employee, we can use them as an example of how not to do things, and then let them go. Training them is pointless, and waiting for them to become experienced while wasting the manager’s time on unproductive training is also unwise.
• If a newcomer is full of enthusiasm, it’s important not to dampen that enthusiasm during their initial setbacks. Instead, we should create conditions that allow them to gain experience. A good option would be to offer them a prize in exchange for getting 100 “no’s” from potential clients within a month. Naturally, the reasons for the rejections should be documented and addressed during training.
• If you are not satisfied with the level of enthusiasm of a newcomer, but they can’t be considered a slacker, you can suggest a “small wins” strategy. For example, involve them in closing deals alongside an experienced salesperson and set a specific goal: to participate in at least 10 deals with an experienced seller, where the contact is handled by the newcomer, but the deal is closed professionally by someone else. Achieving the goal of organizing 10 meetings is realistic. The involvement of an experienced salesperson in the closures will have a significant impact on the number of deals closed. The first earned commissions, the first 10 meetings, and the first clients can greatly boost enthusiasm. The thing is, enthusiasm can easily shift from “average” to “low.” A newcomer’s enthusiasm is solely based on their confidence in their abilities. While the moderate enthusiasm of an experienced employee may stem from their rich experience and a sober assessment of the futility of certain actions, the moderate enthusiasm of a newcomer needs to be supported at the very least to avoid losing the employee.
• By the way, an experienced and proactive salesperson is well-suited for the role of a mentor, but not a “guru.” A guru is too far removed from the problems that seem insurmountable to a beginner and is no longer able to teach anything. For a guru, everything just “happens” effortlessly, and they may not even realize which specific skills they use in which situations. A guru’s example would be unproductive for a novice, as the novice simply wouldn’t understand what is happening. It would be like someone with a superficial understanding of the game of preference watching professionals play, as they look at their cards and mentally calculate options, agreeing on the outcome of the game without having played a single trick. In contrast, a salesperson who is already considered experienced and shows enthusiasm can inspire beginners with that same enthusiasm. They can explain why they behaved in a certain way during a sale and what the reasoning is behind asking clients specific questions. Thus, goals for such a salesperson can be found in achieving impressive sales results or agreements based on leads from beginners and meetings held together with them.
• An experienced salesperson with a reasonable level of initiative should deliver average results, and their work should be seen as a standard of productivity. This means we need to raise these standards. The motivation of this employee should be focused on achieving results in the segment/product/client group that you consider strategically important at this time.
• An experienced but unmotivated salesperson needs a boost of enthusiasm. It’s important to understand what has drained their initiative. They may be tired from work or dealing with personal issues. A good motivational tool is recognition and the offer of career advancement. You can talk to them about their experience and how valuable it is to the company, as well as the positive feedback they receive from colleagues. You might even consider shifting them to a role focused on training newcomers or conducting workshops. However, for this to work, the salesperson’s personal example must impress those they are meant to teach.
• The enthusiastic guru demands your full attention. His enthusiasm and desire to be helpful will serve you well. You just need to pay attention to his questions, requests, and initiatives. Discuss the planned innovations in the company with him. Such a person will clearly be an informal leader among the sales team, and his agreement with your policies and support for you are very important. In this case, valuable prizes might even offend the guru-seller, while recognizing his authority will be mutually beneficial.
• A guru with moderate enthusiasm should be managed in a way that prevents losing them. Games with super-rewards for “star” sales should be aimed at such individuals. This will keep them engaged in the company, boost the guru’s enthusiasm, and set an example for other salespeople to aspire to.

Am I not getting on your nerves yet? It’s your fault for insisting on discussing this topic. By my estimates, there are only a couple of posts left until the end. However, I’ve been thinking that there’s no point in posting in communities or engaging in “friendship,” so now I’m only writing here and just for you. So, if you find my entries even a little bit useful, I kindly ask you to recommend me on your blog. And I won’t be in your debt either. After all, you want me to keep writing, right? I can continue if you throw me some topics and if I feel like it, as long as I have readers.

Planning
We have already encountered the fact that budgeting for motivational campaigns is an important aspect of sales management. Without knowing how much we will spend on these campaigns, we won’t understand what the results of our work will be for the year. Without understanding the results of our efforts, we won’t know whether it’s worth pursuing this endeavor at all. Therefore, the budget for motivational campaigns needs to be planned in advance.
If we have been making sales for over a year and we can see the statistics, seasonality, and performance metrics of each seller, then when planning the company’s growth for the next year, we can fairly accurately predict how many people will be nominated for various awards. If you are just starting out, there are two options:

• Either accept the planned promotions as an investment in the development of the sales network and, accordingly, specify the goals of the promotions as factors for network growth: recruiting, training, motivating newcomers, etc.
• either leverage the existing experience of competitors or external consultants

If you are having difficulty calculating motivational campaigns, consider hiring an outside person (here I’m subtly promoting myself :-). But you need to know exactly how much money you need to reserve for such campaigns. Of course, if you are planning any motivational activities, your salespeople should not only be aware of them but also remember them every day. To keep the enthusiasm of the sales team alive, campaigns should be organized for different periods: a month, a quarter, six months, a year. When drafting the budget for motivational campaigns, you should demonstrate to yourself how sales will differ with motivational campaigns compared to without them. In other words, if you are planning a competition, you need to think not only about who or how many salespeople will receive prizes but also about what the sales volumes would be without motivational campaigns and what sales volumes you could achieve by implementing such campaigns. The difference between these figures will give you an assessment of the feasibility of conducting motivational campaigns. Evaluations of campaign effectiveness like “Wow!” or “Nah…” are not appropriate. You need calculations, not emotions. Thus, motivational campaigns are a matter of careful calculations, accompanied by an assessment of the results obtained, adjustments, and recalculations.

It is worth noting that motivational campaigns are organized by companies whose level of network development implies the presence of many directors, all managed by a network curator, at a minimum. In this case, it would be reasonable to allocate separate analysts for the entire network who can calculate everything and propose solutions. But you shouldn’t give up such a wonderful tool for increasing profits as motivation! Therefore, it would be beneficial for you to hire external consultants (that is, me) for a reasonable fee, who can formulate, calculate, agree with you, and put the rules of motivational campaigns in your company on paper. Besides this purely technical work, external consultants are valuable because they accumulate experience (both positive and negative) from motivational campaigns that have taken place in other companies. After all, many heads are always better than one.

Having focused on self-promotion and product placement, let’s move on and discuss behavior modification.

Behavior correction
It is very important to understand that enthusiasm, self-belief, and a positive attitude are the keys to a salesperson’s success and, in fact, to any employee in a sales organization. A salesperson with a bad mood won’t sell anything. This means that if a salesperson is struggling in their job, the worst thing you can do to make their work even harder and less effective is to criticize them, raise your voice during conversations, reprimand them in front of others, force them to justify themselves, or impose overly meticulous control over their activities, and so on. If you can’t do anything to improve a salesperson’s productivity, it’s better not to waste your own or others’ nerves and simply let them go. However, this is already a situation that has gone too far, and it should be avoided.
How should you correct a seller’s behavior? First of all, you need to help them. The seller should know that they can always turn to you for assistance if something isn’t going well. If you are inexperienced as a seller yourself and unable to help them develop their skills, the best thing you can do is to gather common issues and seek help from a professional coach (oops, I couldn’t resist mentioning myself again :-)). Make it a habit to start any conversation with the seller by offering your assistance.
It’s possible that the problem you want to solve cannot be addressed through training. For instance, it may simply require stopping certain actions of the seller.
When choosing methods to influence a seller, it’s important to focus not so much on the strength of the impact and the effect it has, but rather on the consequences of that impact. If you publicly reprimand a seller for some action or mistake, it will certainly be a more striking event for them compared to a private conversation. Of course, the seller will do everything possible to avoid repeating their mistake or oversight. However, not only will the seller become demotivated and their performance decrease due to their discouragement, but the very “inoculation” against making mistakes may lead to new errors. I discussed this topic in a post about fear Describing the story with the log over the abyss, it turns out that keeping salespeople in an atmosphere of fear of failure is not the best tactic. It also seems that if a salesperson is struggling to sell, it might be because they are too afraid of not making a sale. This can be addressed in many ways, but not with shouts of “Sell more!”
So, the salesperson should never be criticized publicly. Remember that any demotivation of the salesperson will only worsen the situation. It’s best to have a conversation as if you are “selling” the idea of proper behavior to the salesperson. For example, in one company, I had a salesperson who, when scheduling a meeting over the phone, constantly used the following phrase:“We could meet and, so to speak, discuss our issue in an informal setting.”Пожалуйста, предоставьте текст для перевода.
Of course, the story about the “informal atmosphere” was clearly unnecessary. The seller’s tone was apologetic, and it was evident that behind this phrasing, she was hiding her fear of making “cold” calls. It’s also worth noting that she was a woman, and her embarrassment, along with her trembling, stuttering voice, was very noticeable on the other end of the line.
In this case, I could have publicly criticized her, wrapping it in a guise of help and turning the criticism into a service for the seller to improve her skills. However, understanding that I could potentially lose contact with the person in such a situation, I invited her for a one-on-one conversation, and we had the following dialogue:

- Tamara, do you consider your cold calling skills to be perfect?
- Yes..
- You are right, you have achieved a lot, and I see how hard you are working. I believe great success awaits you!
- Thank you!
- Why do you keep talking about "informality"? You weren't taught that, and it's not in the standard script.
- I believe that this is better and that it relaxes the client.
- Why did you decide that the client is tense?
- Well, of course, he doesn't know why he's going to the meeting!
- Why don't you tell the client about the reason for the meeting?
- Well, I'm afraid he won't come!
- So, you're talking about the "informality" of the meeting because you're afraid of the client's rejection?
- So it turns out, yes!
- And if you were more confident in yourself, you would certainly conduct the phone conversation according to the proposed script, right?
- Yes, I believe that the proposed script is more suitable for experienced salespeople.
- So, you just lack experience?
- Yes. But I'm trying!
- I’m watching you very closely, Tamara, and I see how hard you’re trying. You’re doing great!
- Thank you!
- Tell me, Tamara, why do you think the client will refuse to meet?
- Well, what we're offering is not needed by anyone!
- Is that what you think?
- No, of course not! That's what everyone around thinks!
- Do you need this?
- Yes, of course, I even have two already!
- So, it turns out that someone actually needs this?
- Yes!
- Why did you buy this for yourself?
- because of that
- Why would your client purchase this?
- Basically, for the same reasons!
- So why not suggest it to him using the same words? After all, what we’re offering people is truly a wonderful thing!
- You're right, but there are so many rejections!
- So know that there will be even more rejections! It's such a job that for every 90 "no's," you'll only hear "yes" 10 times.
- I already know that, but I still can't manage it!
- Well, it’s not working out because I don’t have any experience yet. Plus, you’re deciding how to communicate with the client without any experience. Maybe it would be better to try following a script first and then see if it works? After all, if we don’t try it the way it’s recommended, we’ll never know if the advice was right, right?
- That's right!
- Moreover, these scenarios were developed by true experts in their field, professionals with many years of experience! So, shall we try again, following the script, while I stand back, listen, and support you if anything goes wrong?
- Let's give it a try!

Often, sellers who consider themselves experienced simply because they have been in the business for several years react quite aggressively to any comments about their work. Their argument is simple: “I’ve been doing it this way for five years, and it works for me.” In reality, we know that when they do it “this way,” it works not “thanks to” their method, but “in spite of” it. However, there is a mental block in the seller’s mind that protects them from the thought that they have been doing it wrong for five years. As a result, sellers engage in pointless arguments, claiming that the techniques being suggested won’t work, and dismissing what they are told as nonsense not worth considering.

It’s also important to remember that people who have stood the test of time in sales are very self-confident. Those who lack confidence tend to give up in the first year. It is extremely difficult to convince such a seller of anything unless you can lead them to the conclusion you want them to reach, essentially selling them the right idea.

A helpful analogy to break through the ice of false experience is the parable of the fly that keeps banging against the glass. From its perspective, it was doing everything right. There’s the light, there’s the flight—let’s go, bang. It didn’t work. Let’s try again. And so it goes, time after time, for hours. Eventually, the fly exhausts itself, falls onto the windowsill, and dies. All it needed to do was to fly away from the glass, look at it from the outside, and see the open window nearby. The same applies to work. If you keep doing something and it’s not yielding the results it should, perhaps it’s time to look at the problem from a different angle and change your tactics?

Work Standards
For the seller to understand what is expected, it is essential to know the performance standards. If we don’t know what the desired outcome looks like when everything is going well, we won’t know whether to praise the seller or offer assistance. A seller who is also unaware of their goals will be less motivated to perform effectively. The performance standards of an existing organization can be understood through average metrics. However, “standard” and “average” are not the same. If we simply take the total sales and divide it among everyone, we end up with the “average temperature in the hospital.” A closer look may reveal unproductive sellers whose performance should not be factored into the assessment of standard productivity. There may also be some randomly large contracts that are not representative either. When evaluating what should be understood as a performance standard, it is important to know what the seller does day in and day out, not just according to their written schedule, but in reality. External consultants (like myself) often offer services to monitor seller activity. By understanding what it would look like if sellers dedicated all their time to the right actions, we can grasp what a work standard truly is. It may even be the case that in your existing organization, only local stars meet the standard. In this situation, you will face challenges in implementing motivational initiatives for the “elite,” as there is no true “elite,” and it will need to be “invented.”

Dismissal
If we have a motivation system in place, there will always be room for the “ultimate measure” — termination. Of course, it’s hard to call this motivation, but it is still a motivating factor.
Your salespeople should know that you will never consider firing them, even if their performance is unsatisfactory, unless something arises, as I mentioned before. тут. any of the following factors:

• Crime or serious violation;
• Lack of enthusiasm.

If a person is struggling but is eager to achieve results, we can teach them because they want to learn. However, if they lack enthusiasm, we can’t expect any sales from them, and they might even spread apathy among the other salespeople. On the other hand, if a person is full of enthusiasm, the lack of results is likely not their fault but rather the fault of their manager. Of course, there are also individuals who may have mental health issues or physical shortcomings (like stuttering or an unpleasant odor), but in that case, it’s the unprofessionalism of the person who hired them, which means it’s not the problem of those individuals but rather the problem of their manager. To filter out unsuitable candidates from potential hires, any hiring decision should be made by both the immediate supervisor and a higher-level manager, following the same principle. observation through a step It seems that there is no text provided for translation. Please provide the text you would like me to translate.
Any reward system in a network will inevitably have “loopholes” that can be exploited not to increase sales, but for personal gain. Such issues should always be anticipated and, once discovered, addressed immediately; otherwise, others may think that such behavior is acceptable. Additionally, unacceptable behaviors include rudeness towards clients, drunkenness, scheming, falsifications, and similar phenomena.
For commission-based salespeople, a lack of sales over an extended period can be a reason for termination. For us, this means that the person is likely occupied with something else rather than working for us. If a salesperson, for example, has no sales for three months, it indicates they have income from other sources, and we, as an employer, are not needed. Naturally, no automatic decisions should be made. It’s possible that we simply don’t know certain personal details about the salesperson. Their lack of productivity could be due to vacation or illness. However, salespeople should understand that the company has the right, but not the obligation, to terminate their employment if they do not produce results over a certain period. “Automatic” terminations are characteristic of MLM networks due to the nature of their work.

When dealing with layoffs, remember that salespeople are very sensitive to bad news and should not lose confidence in the future. If the layoffs you implement are frequent, random, and repressive in nature, you might wake up tomorrow without any salespeople at all. Instead of passively waiting for their turn, they will start looking for new jobs.
Despite all this, one can also derive benefits from layoffs, just as one would from recycling. Each salesperson had a portfolio of clients who worked with the company. These clients should not be lost and, therefore, must be handed over to the best salespeople for servicing. Naturally, the other salespeople should view the transfer of client portfolios as a motivational factor and recognition of their merits. After all, commissions on existing clients and new leads are still very much in play!

Relationship
In conclusion to the discussion about motivation, it’s important to say that, in reality, the most valuable thing you can offer your salespeople is your attitude towards them. A good attitude is worth a lot, and if you are unable to respect the people who work for you, to consider their opinions and needs, you will pay for it with higher costs in commissions and salaries, as well as greater efforts in hiring and retaining staff. Remember that the Eskimo will feed his dogs before he eats himself, and a jockey is willing to spend more on his horse than on himself. You may have once thought that your subordinates depend on you and that you can treat them “like a lord,” but in fact, it is you who depend on them. They do not work for you; rather, they are your clients. They will stay with you as long as you provide them with something beyond just a salary or commission. However, this doesn’t mean you should expect reciprocity or try to be their “buddy.” If your company faces tough times, they will leave you in an instant. You are their employer, not a beloved figure. And if you allow informal relationships, they will take advantage of you. Simply treat your employees as a very valuable and hard-to-replace resource.
When I’m asked what specifically can be done in this area, I respond that it’s essential to pay commissions on time or even ahead of schedule. If your commissions are paid once a month, you need to structure your business processes so that by the evening of the last day of the reporting month, you have already provided the sellers with draft versions of the work completion reports, and by the first or second day of the new month, the final versions. Commissions should be paid within five working days after the start of the new month. Delays in commission payments are unacceptable, primarily because if the sellers do not have confidence in your company as an employer, they won’t be able to convey that confidence to clients regarding your company as a partner. Issues with commission calculations are your problems, not those of the individuals who have completed their work and are waiting for their reward. If you can’t process payments quickly, pay advances. Sellers must have complete confidence in the company and believe that they can “go into the field” with you personally.
Deception must never be allowed under any circumstances. This includes both direct deception and misleading expectations. Ambiguous terms of incentive promotions can be perceived as deception by sellers. Whenever you make a promise to sellers, always put it in writing, and before implementing it, ensure that what is written is clear and understood correctly.

Thank you for your attention.

And I took the liberty of summarizing everything that was written above.

Conclusions:

1. Motivation and monetary reward are two different things.
2. Any motivational activities should not duplicate the meaning of commission-based rewards.
3. If there is a possibility of fraud through the “collusion” of sellers, then prizes should be non-monetary and instead be tangible items, specifically personalized ones.
4. It is not advisable to propose rules that guarantee “automatic” career advancement.
5. A good salesperson is not necessarily a good manager.
6. The initiative for career growth should come not from the immediate supervisor, but from a higher level.
7. The criteria for winning motivational contests should be known in advance. Setting clear goals is the key to the success of motivational competitions.
8. Motivational campaigns should be carefully planned, calculated, and budgeted.
9. The goals of motivational contests should be meaningful for the businessman.
10. Every soldier must understand the overall plan of the command.
11. If you didn’t shoot, you definitely didn’t hit.
12. Prizes should help sellers sell.
13. The best motivation is personalized, as each salesperson has their own values and motives. It’s also important to encourage each salesperson to develop in a specific direction, depending on their experience and enthusiasm.
14. At the core of all motivational campaigns is economics, and we need to understand what each competition will bring us in terms of money.
15. It is essential to be extremely cautious when using negative motivation with salespeople.
16. Any adjustment to the seller’s behavior should be “sold” to them rather than imposed.
17. What you fear the most is happening.
18. Work standards determine the performance evaluation of the seller.
19. Dismissals should not be automatic, and the dismissal policy itself should not demotivate salespeople.
20. We should treat people as our most valuable resource. This is not about being overly familiar or ingratiating.