Motivation

I was recently asked to teach some younger sales reps on the subject of Motivation. This is perhaps one of the more valuable things that a Salesman needs to have. I've found by experience, study, and observation, that those in sales who have the psychological "edge" are the ones that are the highest paid. By psychological edge, I would include motivation, drive, confidence, etc.

Many people think that you must be born with self confidence in order to have it. But this is something that can be grown and cultivated--which perhaps should be a blog entry for another time. The same is thought of Motivation. Many mistakenly believe that you either have motivation or you don't. But this is something that can grow, the same way a muscle is grown. Through careful observation and exercise.

I set out to do my training on Motivation by interviewing the top 5 out of over 200 salespeople, along with our Sales Floor manager, who had been one of the top performing sales reps before he became manager. I asked them questions like What motivates you? How do you stay motivated? And how do you push through rough weeks when you aren't feeling very motivated?

I learned the following:

A clear picture of what they WANTED to be:

The top performers all had a very clear picture of what they WANTED to be. This was to be expected though. When we think of someone who is very motivated, we think that they are aspiring to be something great, that they are holding an image of what they want to be very clearly in their mind's eye. In fact, when I opened up my training, I asked the newer sales reps what they THOUGHT motivated the top performers and these were the first things that came up in the discussion.

A clear picture of what they did NOT want to be:

What I found quite interesting though, was that in every case, the top performers had an even clearer picture of what they did NOT want to be. In other words, they all used FEAR as a motivator, to keep them from becoming or performing like something they did not want to become. One top performer said that he knew he couldn't live with himself if one day he were passed over for a promotion because he wasn't on his "A game". Another said that he continually reminded himself of what "the alternative" was--that if he didn't work hard, if he didn't push through the difficult days, his entire lifestyle could change. Another top performer said "I hate to lose... I hate to lose...I hate to lose..." probably 8 or 9 times during our conversation. His fear or dislike of losing was so vivid, that it spurred him on during difficult weeks or days. Another top performer said he hated the idea of ever being associated with those on the bottom.

I'm not suggesting that we as salespeople focus on the things we hate--because I also believe that you become what you think about most of the time. But I did learn a very powerful lesson from studying these top performers. They use both forms of motivation, the carrot and the stick, to drive them.

Sales is very much an internal game. Use every way possible to motivate you this week. Find something you don't want to be, as well as something you want to be. Use both vivid pictures to spur you on, helping you work harder and harder.