MOTIVATION

Professor Chip Besio

Sales Management
Marketing 3345

What is Motivation??
Drive to initiate an action.
The intensity of effort in an action
The persistence of effort over time.

Why
Whythe
theconcern
concern
for
forsales
salesforce
force
motivation?
motivation?

What
Whatare
arethe
the
different
differenttheories
theories
of
ofmotivation?
motivation?

Motivation
MotivationTools
Tools
SelfSelfmanagement
management

Quotas
Quotas

Incentive
Incentive
programs
programs

Recognition
Recognition
programs
programs

Why is Motivation
Important?

Frequent rejection

Physical separation from

company support
Direct influence on quality of sales
presentation
Indirect influence on performance

Steps to Greater
Personal Motivation
1.
Define what you want.
2.
Inform a special person of your
goals.
3.
Do something.
4.
Dont let failure deter you.
5.
Break down problems into pieces.
6.
Set deadlines.
7.
Turn work into play.
8.
Associate with people who motivate
you.

Sales Force Needs

Company Actions to Fill Needs

Status

Change title from salesperson to

area manager.
Buy salespeople more luxurious cars
to drive.

Control

Allow salespeople to help plan sales

quotas and sequences of calls.

Respect

Routine

Invite salespeople to gatherings of

top executives.
Put pictures of top salespeople in
company ads and newsletters.
Assign each salesperson a core of
loyal customers that are called on
regularly.

Sales Force Needs and Ways to Fill

Sales Force Needs

Company Actions to Fill Needs

Accomplishment

Set reasonable goals for the

number of calls and sales.

Stimulation

Run short-term sales contests.

Schedule sales meetings in
exotic locations.

Honesty

Deliver promptly all rewards

and benefits promised.

Sales Force Needs and Ways to Fill

MASLOWS HIERARCHY OF
NEEDS

Self-Actualization

Intense job challenge, full potential, full

expression, creative expansion.

Self-Esteem

Achievement, respect, recognition, responsibility, prestige, independence, attention,

importance, appreciation.

Love-Belonging

Belonging, acceptance, love, affection, family

and group acceptance, friendships.

Safety-Security

Physiological

Security, stability, dependency, protection,

need for structure, order, law, tenure, pension,
insurance.
Hunger, thirst, reproduction, shelter, clothing,
air, rest.
Motivation and Personality, Abraham Maslow, 1970

AN EXERCISE TO DETERMINE YOUR

MOTIVATIONAL NEEDS
To perform the exercise, read through the following statementscheck
those which are most important in motivating you to do your best
work.
Select the ten most important statements.
629
Job security
847
Being trusted to do my job the way I think it should
be
done.
333
Participating in work group conversations.
311
Having adequate shelter to protect from the
elements.
836
Having a job which allows me time with my family.
151
Having an opportunity for personal growth.
937
Socializing with my friends.
743
Being considered for an advancement opportunity.
431
Working with other people.

AN EXERCISE TO DETERMINE
YOUR MOTIVATIONAL NEEDS
Select the ten most important statements. (Contd.)
819
Having children.
458
Doing something meaningful with my life.
757
Being in a position to contribute new ideas.
828
Having an associate that looks out for my interests.
735
Including other people in what I do.
949
Being selected for an exclusive award.
234
Being involved with work associates in social and
recreational activities.
616
Being sexually satisfied.
146
Having a responsible person tell me when Ive
done a good job.
539
Having an active part in work related social
activities.
341
Knowing that other people respect me and my
work.
132
Acceptance as a work group member

Determining Your
Motivational Needs
Second Number to left of statement
indicates the category; how many in
each:
Number
Category
1
Physiological
2
Safety - Security
3
Love - Belonging
4
Self Esteem
5
Self Actualization

YOUR SCORE
To determine results: the statements
are divided into five categories
intended to represent the five levels
in Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. The
second digit in each statement
number indicates the category.
These categories are: 1-Physiological,
2-Safety-Security, 3-Love-Belonging,
4-Self-Esteem, 5-Self-Actualization.

Maslows Hierarchy
U.S. Salespeoples Responses

Number
847
341
757
431
828

Percent
86%
74%
54%
51%
37%

INDIVIDUAL NEEDS
Maslows
Hierarchy
of Needs

Related
Sales Force
Motivators

Self-

Challenging tasks

actualization

calling for creativity

Esteem

Recognition programs

Belonging

Presidents Club $1 mil.

Safety & security

Job security & fringes

Physiological

Cash wages & bonuses

Chinese Culture Hierarchy of Needs

Selfactualization
in service to
society

Safety

Physiological

Affiliation (belonging)

What Makes Great Salespeople?

The Competitor
This person not only wants to win, but derives
satisfaction from beating specific rivals -- another
company or even colleagues. They tend to verbalize
what they are going to do, and then do it.
The Ego-driven
They are not interested in beating specific
opponents, they just want to win. They like to be
considered experts, but are prone to feeling slighted,
change jobs frequently, and often take things too
personally.

What Makes Great Salespeople?

The Achiever
This type of person is almost completely selfmotivated. They usually set high goals and as soon as
they hit one goal, they move the bar higher. They like
accomplishment, regardless of who receives the credit.
The Service-oriented
Their strengths lie in building and cultivating
relationships. Winning is not everything to this person,
but they do respond to feelings of gratitude and
friendship from other people.

Role Perceptions
Sales is a boundary spanning position
you must be responsive to expectations
of multiple people.
Company

Sales
Manager

Customers

Family

Salespersons Role Perceptions

Expectations:
Ambiguity:
Accuracy:
Conflict:

What do others expect me to do?

How sure am I about what others expect?
Is what I think what they really expect?
Does meeting expectations of one person
mean not meeting the expectations of
another?

Role Perceptions
Typical Sales Job Activities
Where is their potential for
the following:
Ambiguity
Lack of Accuracy
Conflict

Typical Sales Job Activities

Job Dimension

Activities

SELLING FUNCTION

Plan Activities
Develop leads
Prospecting
Identify DecisionMakers

WORKING WITH ORDERS

Write orders
Find last orders
Expedite orders
Handle back
orders

Prepare Presentations
Make Presentations
Overcome Objections
Introduce New Products

Handle shipping
problems

PRODUCT SERVICING

Learn about
Train customers
product
Test equipment
Supervise repairs
Supervise Perform maintenance
installation

MANAGING INFORMATION

Receive feedback
Provide feedback

Provide technical
information

Source: Adapted from William C. Moncrief, Selling Activity and Sales Position Taxonomies
for Industrial Sales Force, Journal of Marketing Research, August, 1996), pp. 266-67.

Typical Sales Job Activities

Job Dimension

Activities

SERVICING THE ACCOUNT

Stock shelves
Set up displays

Count inventory
Promote local
advertising

ATTENDING CONFERENCES

Sales
conferences
Client conferences

Product exhibitions
Training sessions

TRAINING/RECRUITING

Recruit new reps

Train new reps
Travel with trainees

ENTERTAINING

Parties
Drinks

Dinner
Lunch

TRAVELING

Out-of-Town

In-Town

DISTRIBUTION

Sell through
Train
Establish Credit processing
relationships

Source: Adapted from William C. Moncrief, Selling Activity and Sales Position
Taxonomies for Industrial Sales Force, Journal of Marketing Research,
August, 1996), pp. 266-67.

Motivation
Career Stages
Does everyone go through these

stages?
What can be done to address the

concerns of management at each

stage?
How can sales managers address the

management concerns at each stage?

Career Stages

Exploration
Career Concerns Finding an
appropriate
occupational
field.

Motivational
Job Related

Establishment
Successfully
establishing
a career in a
certain
occupation.

Maintenance
Disengagement
Holding on to
Completing
what has been
ones
achieved;
career.
reassessing career,
with possible
redirection.

Learning the
Using skills to
Developing
Establishing a
skills required
produce results. broader view of
stronger selfto do
Adjusting to
work and
identity
the job well.
working with
organization.
outside
Becoming a
greater Maintaining a high of work.
contributing
autonomy.
performance
Maintaining an
member of
level.
acceptable
an organization.
performance
level.

Career Stage Characteristics

Career Stages

Exploration

Establishment

Maintenance

Personal
Challenges

Establishing a
good initial
professional
self-concept.

Producing superior
results on the
job in order to
be promoted.

Maintaining
motivation,
though
possible rewards
have changed.
Facing concerns
about aging.

Acceptance of
career
accomplishments.

Psychological

Support

Achievement

Reduced

Detachment

Needs

Peer Acceptance
Challenging
position

Esteem
Autonomy
Competition

competitiveness
Security
Helping younger
colleagues

Career Stage Characteristics

Disengagement

from the
organization
and organizational ife.

Career Stage Research

Findings
Job Satisfaction and Career Concerns
200 Salespeople -- Large Industrial
Organization:
all are least satisfied with promotion & pay
pay satisfaction is only dimension on which
exploration sales people are more satisfied than
establishment or maintenance salespeople
maintenance salespeople are less satisfied with
supervision than are establishment salespeople

Career Stage Research

Findings
Career Concerns and Age
200 Salespeople -- Large Industrial
Organization:
Note proportion

of people in each stage

Note overlap in ages of people in each stage

Disengagement as well as maintenance occurs quite
early for some people --

Is this a management concern?

Relationship Between
Career Concerns and Age

Proportion of
Career Concerns Sales Force
Exploration

14%

Establishment

29%

Maintenance

42%

Disengagement

15%

Age Range
20

30

40

50

60

65

Sales
volume
quota
Profitbased
quotas

Large firms
Sales >$40M
Small firms
Sales < $40M

Activity
quota

Use of the Various Types of Quotas

S&MM Compensation Survey 2008

Quotas & Reasons

for Use
1. Help motivate salespeople
2. Direct where to put effort
3. Provide standards for evaluation.
a. Sales volume in dollar or point system
Points allow for different weights for different important
products independent of price.
Points not affected by inflation.
Sales quota may be developed for:
Total territory sales, and/or
Individual product or product group.

Quotas & Reasons

for Use
2. Profit-based quotas are rarely
based on bottom line profits
Difficult to account for indirect expenses
Profits are usually configured as gross margins minus
some load factor

3. Activity-based quotas are based on activities

directly related to sales volume
More directly under control of the salesperson
Biggest problem is falsification of call reports
Issue of quantity vs. quality of activity?

Incentive Programs
What is difference from regular
compensation such as commission?
Key decisions

Goals
Timing
Participants
Theme

-- Rules
-- Awards
-- Publicity
-- Cost

What is difference between

Incentive and Recognition programs

Types of Incentive Awards

Used by 168 Firms

Type of Award
Cash
Selected Merchandise
Merchandise Catalog
Travel

Percentage of
Firms Using
59
46
25
22

Giving Status to
Salespeople
1. Compensation -- exceed first-line managers
2. Job Title -- no cost but considerable payback
3. Company Car Upgrade -- salespeople spend
much time in car - reminds them of their value.
4. Car Phone -- justified on a purely business basis
5. Field Sales Council -- meet president for 1/2 day openended discussion on field marketing conditions - report
back to field meetings the results
6.Outside Secretarial Support -- or more exclusive central.
7. Published Success Stories -- high form of recognition
8. Task Force Assignments -- e.g., review of all paperwork.