My friend Bill Caskey just wrote a post titled What Are You Motivated By?

At the end of that post, he asks a couple of questions:

1) What have you seen work in the world of personal motivation for a team of performers ?

2) What motivates you to be the best you can be ?

Obvously, I’m writing a post to send my answers to Bill, but I want you to use the Comment function on this blog to let me know your answers or click thru and send Bill an email.

“ Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them. They make the impossible happen. “ ~ Dr. Robert Jarvik

The Real World of Sales – August 2008: In uneducated attempts to help, sales managers unknowingly demoralize and destroy sales teams every, single day.

There are at least 2 misconceptions floating around amongst sales leaders. Where they got these is a mystery to me.

1) Somebody erroneously told them that they can motivate their team.

2) Somebody erroneously told them employee morale can be managed.

The truth is, you cannot motivate another human. You can inspire, but motivation comes from within, so you as a sales leader have no control over that.

Morale is about as easy to control, or manage, as herding cats across the Kansas flatlands.

Ain’t happening.

A couple of decades of being a salesman have taught me that every now and again a sales manager gets lucky and implements a program that I take advantage of to increase my sales.

He then thinks he’s discovered a truth or at least a principle and writes it down as gospel.

The fact is he caught me on a good day, a good week or a good month.

Everything in my personal life was going well, the economy was great and my accounts were doing well.

I’m not a file cabinet. I’m not an agenda for a meeting. I’m not inventory.

Those are “things” you can manage.

I’m a human and we can’t be managed as easily as inanimate objects.

Books have been written that say otherwise. Vast sums of money have been spent on studies that say otherwise.

Here’s a fact for you: Books and studies basically say what the writer thought you wanted to hear or say what the writer thought those that commissioned him wanted him to write.

Numbers and stats can be made to say almost anything, but as a real, live human who happens to make his living by selling, I’m telling you that you cannot manage or motivate me.

How many hundreds, maybe thousands, of techniques have been written about motivating and managing sales personnel ?

Enough to fill a presidential library, I’m sure, with more every day.

If those were really effective, why would we need more and why did the previous one’s fail to stick ?

The reason is actually pretty simple.

They didn’t work for the same reason they did work for a short time. Because the sales personnel chose to allow them to work until they tired of them.

Although I believe and suggest you cannot motivate another person, I do believe and suggest you can lessen the motivation of another person by your actions, words or attitude.

I believe human nature is fairly steady in it’s resolve. It varies very little from the time man was created until the present day, so you can find ways to use it to your advantage as a sales manager.

Every day and every person is different, so it matters much, much more who you are than what you do.

How can that be so, you ask ? I simply say that there are scores of organizations who do absolutely nothing to incentivize their employees, have no special programs and yet they have happy, efficient, effective employees.

How can that be so, you ask ? It works because the leaders do nothing to demoralize and destroy their sales team.

Simply by being considerate, committed, dedicated and by behaving and acting properly, the leaders allow their team members to do the same.

So we can safely say that who you are is more important than what you do, as it applies to employee morale, efficiency and effectiveness.

I’m not dumb and neither are other sales people. When you design and implement a sales contest or incentive program, I know it’s because you want more profits and more sales.

Duh?! It’s not because you want to help pay for my daughters education, her braces or her first car.

What’s that make me feel like ? It makes me feel like a pawn on a chess board, not a valued part of the team.

The bad part of this equation for you, as a sales manager is that there’s no secret formula or magic pill that will tell you what to do and what not to do.

My feelings change from day to day, week to week and month to month. So your best course of action is to make sure you do as few of the things that destroy morale as possible and we’ll be able to work together for as long as my motivation level is high enough to allow me to do what I need to do to keep doing what you pay me to do.

Each person starts with a different number of “motivation credits” in his or her account.

When you subtract more than I can stand, I’ll lose interest in working for you and we’ll eventually have to part ways.

The bad part is neither of us really knows how many credits are in our account, so I won’t know I’m done until you overdraw my account with a bad action, reaction or behavior.

I’m going to list 5 of the most common ways that sales managers destroy morale, withdraw motivation credits and defeat sales personnel.

One caveat is that each employee is different, each one of us have a different list and our lists change as circumstances change our perspective.

Life, death, marriage, divorce, money found, money lost, housing, etc. I could list over 100 factors that change those circumstances, but the list would change almost before I could write it.

That said, here’s my 5 Simple Ways To Destroy A Sales Team:

Be A Faker. Sales people hate fakers that somehow manage to get promoted to or hired as a sales manager.

If you aren’t better than I am, I won’t be able to work for you. Not for very long anyway.

It’s as simple as that.

You either have it together or you don’t and I don’t have time or inclination to wait for you to get to where you should have been before you took the position.

If you want to destroy a sales team, put someone in charge who has to grow into the job.

Be A Nitpicker. You used to be where I’m at now. You think you were put in charge just because you can spot every, single thing that I do wrong.

You can’t and I won’t be around long enough, at least mentally, for you to fix every flaw you think I have.

You’ll do both of us a favor if you’ll find my strengths, instead of what you think are flaws, and help me make those strengths even stronger.

We’re different, so what works for you won’t work for me. You can’t fix my golf swing and you can’t make me a better salesman.

You can, however, encourage me to be a better person, to be more well-rounded and balanced and those traits will make me a better salesman.

We know now that the Salem witch hunts were misguided. So are your attempts to fix me and orchestrate my methodologies.

Be Ignorant and Selfish. Did you hear some news that might improve my chances at winning a large piece of business, but you withheld it because you wanted to “see if I’d find it on my own” ?

That’s ignorant, stupid and selfish. The team’s success is far more important than your agenda.

It’s my 5th anniversary with the company. Acknowledge it. Don’t think I don’t care, because I do.

Withholding praise and communication is an easy way to deplete my motivation credits quickly.

Tell me to do something, but refuse to tell me why. That’ll make me really want to do a good job for you. I can’t be sure of just how to handle a circumstance without fully being informed as to why we’re doing what we’re doing.

I love finding out about price increases from my customers. Not communicating is worse than miscommunication because it makes me feel worthless and unnecessary.

Thanks for that.

Be an Assumer. We all know the old saying about assuming, but the truth is it’s the same thing as taking me for granted. That doesn’t work in a marriage, it doesn’t work for me with my customers and it won’t work for you as a sales manager.

Assumptions turn into disappointments, whereas expectations come with a set of possibilities. There’s the possibility that I’ll produce the outcome we want if I know what you expect.

If I have to guess, because you didn’t communicate properly, don’t expect me to take it well when you whine about not getting what you wanted.

Actions can be managed and because of that I can be given instruction if I fail to produce. You can instruct me before or you can instruct me later.

Your choice. Guess which works better and is the easiest ?

Be Inconsistent. I love it when you tell me you’re going to do something and then don’t do it … or do it about half way. Either way, my attitude is toast and motivation credits are deducted from my account.

Oh, by the way, your apologies for consistently coming up short are hollow and worthless to me after the second or third instance.

You work nights and weekends, or maybe you don’t but should, to meet the demands of your direct supervisor, but as my direct supervisor you seem to think it’s okay to go home at 4 o’clock and ignore the 3 or 4 voicemails I left for you at 11, 12, 1 and 2 o’clock.

Thanks for ignoring my pleas for help, info or a shoulder to vent on.

You rock.

There are really no solutions for the 5 problems I listed, outside of not committing them in the first place.

There are only so many motivation credits in the accounts of your sale people and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

They only get replenished if you or the employee leaves their position. Sometimes even that doesn’t completely replenish the balance.

Remember, who you are is more important than what you do, as it applies to employee morale, efficiency and effectiveness.

© Mike Sigers for Simplenomics, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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This Guest Post was provided by Joe Crisara, CEO of ContractorSelling.com.

On Sunday evenings I used to watch one of my favorite shows that many of you may know called the Sopranos, which is on HBO.

I know it seems like this is a product of the twisted mind of a sales consultant who has been on the road for a few weeks too long but I began to think while I watched the plot unfold.

What if Tony Soprano was your sales manager ?

Let’s think about what would happen if “T” was guiding you on your path to sales success.

Let’s see how he would address these interesting challenges…

1. Sales Person tells Tony that he lost a sale and that he is depressed. – ” Business is business. ” He would say, ” Feh-get about it ! ” I think he would also add, ” What’s wit you ? Work is no place to get your needs met, so stop your whining and get back to being the earner ( Person who brings the boss the money each week ) you’ve always been for me capisce ? ” ( Do you understand ? )

2. Sales Person Wants Tony To Lower The Price To Get The Job – I think “T” wouldn’t put up with that one for sure. He would probably say something like, ” Whoa, ( The reaction that any guy from New Jersey has when he is surprised by what he hears ) what do you think I am Fort Knox ? Grow some stugots (testicles) and learn how to handle objections before I have some friends of ours ( Other people in the mob ) visit you (Harm you in some way) and take you for a swim. ” ( Throw you in the ocean off the back of my boat “Stugots” with cinder blocks chained around your ankles. )

3. Sales Person Asks For Loan To get Them By Until Next Paycheck – Ouch, I can barely stand to watch this one. ” Hey what are you oobatz ? ( Are you crazy ? ) What am I a shylock ? (Loan shark) Maybe if you wasn’t such a mortadella, (derived from an Italian sausage, meaning a loser. As in ” Guy’s a mortadella. ” ) you could provide for your family by getting some referrals from your customers and stop acting like such a cafone. ” (a peasant or lower-class person)

4. Sales Person Blames Lack of Sales On the Weather – ” This thing of ours ( The business of the mob ) only works if you work it. I don’t care if it’s caldo (cold) or boliente (hot) outside. Stop acting like your mezzo morta (Half dead) and just bring your tribute (The money) in like we agreed or I’m gonna have to lower your points (change your commission percentage) and do some spring cleaning (Get rid of evidence that you ever existed) around here.

Actually, I think Tony would have some good attributes along with his obvious dysfunctions as a manager. His organization values revolve around ” taking care of our own ” which indicates his loyalty to giving people a chance as long as they are loyal and give their best effort.

I think that he understand that even though you may be a ” made man ” that your crew can still make or break you.

I think Tony also would do a great job of delegating responsibility, distancing himself from the action and not meddle in how the sausage gets made just so long as it gets made.

Even though this article was written tongue in cheek, you as an underboss (Sales Manager) can still learn a few lessons.

Remember, col tempo la foglia di gelso diventa seta. ( An old Italian saying meaning, ” Time and patience will change the mulberry leaf into satin. “)

Ciao, ciao for now !

Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals present their solutions to create high value that result in more income, better service and higher closing rates.

You can go to the site and receive Joe’s sales tip of the week. Of you can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com

© Mike Sigers for Simplenomics, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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This Guest Post was provided by Joe Crisara, CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com

In this day and age of hundreds of TV channels to watch, as well as internet videos, I found a show that I run across every now and then and I must say that it really fascinates my wife and I.

This show is called the “Dog Whisperer” and it features Cesar Millan, who takes troubled dogs, and their owners, and turns them around.

He basically helps these dogs feel like a productive member of their family.

I’m drawn in by the calm and poise that Cesar maintains in the face of what seems like insurmountable problems that we’ve all seen in dogs that have “toxic” energy and that tend to do the wrong thing.

His tactics never include force. Instead, his amazing arsenal utilizes principles such as leadership, positive energy, relationships, self-discipline and change.

The difference he makes in the lives of those he touches is truly amazing.

As a sales manager or a sales person, you can learn by watching Cesar and the way he goes about his job. Every week, like you, Cesar helps his people (dog owners) overcome their greatest challenges by helping them and their pets reach their true potential.

He does this not by force, but instead by helping our canine friends “discover” the right thing to do to become the dog they were always meant to be.

As he says at the beginning of each show, he “rehabilitates dogs” and “trains people“. While his approach is meant exclusively for dogs, I’ve found a lot of his philosophy applies very well to sales people.

You’ll never succeed by forcing anything, but by discovering the right thing to do, you can find success.

Here’s some of the principles I’ve “discovered” in his system that may help you reach your dreams:

Be calm, be poised and assert positive energy – Cesar tells his clients to establish a leadership role with their dogs by projecting calmness and assertiveness.

As a salesperson, no matter how your customer is behaving, you must remain dettached, calm and maintain your poise. After all, you’ve seen this situation before haven’t you ?

Why be shocked by what clients are doing to you ? Just stay calm and respond assertively and keep your poise. Maintain these states no matter what the situation and problem and most poor behavior by a customer will “miraculously” evaporate.

It’s what we all know to be true: Change yourself and those around you will change too. When you give off an aura confidence and capability, people will tend to go with the flow since you seem so consistent and in control.

Live in the state of NOW – Like dogs, you too can live in the moment.

Apparently, dogs don’t care about what happened yesterday. Every day represents a fresh start. Don’t worry about things in the past because you no longer have any control over those things.

If you keep focusing on bad things, thinking that they may happen, then you create a self fulfilling prophecy which will indeed make those things come true.

Instead, forget the past, and be the person who remains focused on getting this job done and what it takes to do just that.

They key is to listen, and then have a response that makes sense as to why you should do this job. Think in terms of the present and the future and you are well on your way.

Practice every day, exercise discipline and passion – This is Cesar’s secret formula for a balanced, healthy dog. He realized long ago that a dog without a job is an unhappy one that will act out in terrible and unproductive ways.

I would say the same applies to sales people. Remember to never think you’re failing. If you lose a job, learn from it and practice the techniques that will stop the bleeding. Practicing your sales skills, techniques and strategies will release frustration and stress. Have the self-discipline necessary to achieve your greatest potential.

Reflect on your passion for providing solutions to your customers that are of a much higher quality than your competitors. If you have the passion to believe that you’re a better choice for your customer, then you’ll hang in there during the toughest objections and get the job when others with less passion would have quit.

Watch the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. The principles displayed on this show can do wonders for your sales.

The one lesson I know you will be amazed at is that even an old dog can learn new tricks.

Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals present their solutions to create high value that result in more income, better service and higher closing rates. You can go to the site and receive Joe’s sales tip of the week. Of you can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com

© Mike Sigers for Simplenomics, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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This is a Guest Post by Joe Crisara, CEO of ContractorSelling.com.

I have just finished up watching the New England Patriots defeat yet another opponent. After this watching this methodical win the rest of the season looks easy. This team looks to be on the championship march. I began to think… What it would be like if Bill Belichick was your sales manager ?

If he was, I could tell you that you would probably be very successful just because of his track record of putting together a winner year in and year out. Here are some of the characteristics I have observed that you, as sales professionals, could learn from this man:

Never Take the Competition Lightly – After this week’s win against a tough Pittsburgh team, anyone could be tempted to coast or at the very least take the next few teams, in particular against the hapless Miami Dolphins. Not Belichick.

You can bet that he is already building his case to convince his players that EVERY team they play is the best they have ever faced regardless of their record.

You as a sales person could learn from this thinking. Next time you go into the presentation of your options with a customer, you should also, prepare for the worst. Expect your customer to be tough and give you at least 6 objections every time.

If you are waiting for an objection, the worst that could happen is that you’ll be prepared when it happens. The best could be that there are no objections and your customer will just buy without resistance. Remember the lesson you learned in Boy Scouts – “Be prepared”.

Do Your Research -Did you know that Belichick spends 15 to 20 minutes preparing for every press conference ? He prepares talking points, review his statistics and carefully measures what he will say to the press.

Not to mention his legendary status of “knowing” everything he can about the competition so that he can prepare his team for anything that will happen during a game.

You should also think about, research and prepare what you’ll say and do before each and every interaction with your customer. Learning what your customer wants first, why they want it and who they are likely to purchase it from can all be found out before you decide if you should present your solutions.

Self-Deprecation – Bill Belichick is masterful at downplaying his role or significance in any victory that he or his team has achieved. In press conferences he ALWAYS says that he and his team have their work cut out for them and then after they trounce other teams he speaks about how they caught some “lucky breaks” that allowed them to win.

He NEVER takes credit for anything good but always takes responsibility for anything that goes bad.

As a sales professional, it is important to remember that your success is a result of you following a system if success that involves your whole team.

This team includes everyone from the person who answers the phone, to the person who tracks your schedule to the installers, service techs and everyone else in the company.

A smart sales person gives all their teammates all the credit, while taking responsibility themselves for finding ways to improve on calls where they have failed.

Persistence and Tenacity – Genius ? That’s not what they were calling Bill Belichick in Cleveland. Why not ? Four losing seasons in five years. Fans hurled trash and insults. The media resented him. Ownership abandoned him. Players quit on him. Very different from the three Super Bowls in five years Belichick would win with the New England Patriots a few years later. Obviously he nor his teams are quitters.

There’ll be tough times for you in the sales profession as well. Remember you are NEVER failing. Even when you lose a sale you have to find a lesson to learn from it. Never give up by doing things such as blaming customers or fellow employees for your lack of success.

Instead ask for feedback as to what you need to change in order to be the person that WOULD have got the job instead the person who lost it.

Just ask your customer “off the record” what you need to change in your approach to gain their trust. You just might hear the truth if you can handle it.

Respect – Coach Belichick has the respect of the people he wants it from. His teammates, the fans and himself.

Here are some comments made by the people who work with him everyday:

Kevin Faulk: “I wish I had enough time to explain it to you. All in all, Coach Belichick, he’s just a guy that wants to win. And if you’re one of those guys that believes in the same things he believes in — tough guys who are mentally strong and smart — you’re gonna be here.” – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Carl Banks: “I’ve been around some coaches who are so arrogant it’s, ‘Just run my defense and shut up.’ Some guys are so interested in being a genius, they spend all their time trying to put a square inside of a circle. That’s the thing about Bill. He forms a partnership with his players. He listens.” – Los Angeles Times

Tom Brady: “He’s a great leader and he’s a great coach to play for. We all believe in him and we trust him. He always says that he makes decisions based on the best interest of the team. He truly means that.” – Press Conference, October 31, 2007

Tedy Bruschi: “Bill is our coach. We stand behind him, and we want him to know that. We consider ourselves to be a family. And when you single out somebody in our family and criticize him, we rally around him. We say, ‘Come here, you’re one of us.’” – Sports Illustrated

To get the respect of your customers and your teammates is of the utmost importance for you in sales as well. Understand that getting respect is not always pretty. It can mean taking a very lonely position that seems to fly in the face of what is the popular thing to do.

Sometimes letting your customer know that you and your services may NOT be a fit for the both of you can be the very thing that makes customer think that THIS is the kind of person I want to do business with.

If coach Belichick were your sales manager you would be very fortunate indeed. You would feel secure in the knowledge that your manager would give you the best information to help the team and you, succeed every day. Even if it meant that he wasn’t the star of the team.

Sales managers like this know that they are in the business of creating superstars and not in becoming one themselves. Ironically, this very thinking is what will make them great and help them and their teams become true winners.

About the author: Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals present their solutions to create high value that result in more income, better service and higher closing rates. You can go to the site and receive Joe’s FREE SECRET sales tip of the week. Of you can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com

© Mike Sigers for Simplenomics, 2007. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Okay, I admit it, I kinda started it, but I’d like to end it.

I get a beaucoup of emails every, single day wanting to know what a great theme would be for their sales force.

I can’t tell you that, without an intimate ( paid, long-term ) relationship with your company.

If I could do that, thru an email, with no knowledge of your past sales history, market share, current strategy, etc., I wouldn’t be a sales czar, I’d be Cris Angel, Mind Freak or I’d be Mike Sigers, Sales Freak.

Here’s what we’re going to say about sales contests, themes for those and all that jazz for future reference:

One of the most serious mistakes you, as a sales manager, can make is to constantly change your sales strategy.

We could also say it’s a marketing problem at it’s very root.

Changing quotas, holding constant contests, special bonuses, etc., only prove that you’re desperate.

Those are symptoms of a bigger problem, which is, no clear focus, no real marketing strategy, no real sales leadership.

It shows that sales management is just relying on sales people to go out and find business, any business, wherever they can find it.

You may generate some short-term sales, but you’ll generate no long-term success.

Once that push is no longer generating enough sales volume, you have to “re-gimmick” your strategy.

I’d advise any sales people who work for an organization like this to start looking for a better team to work for. Quietly, maybe, but quickly, for sure.

When you fall into the trap of reacting to market swings, instead of being proactive and being in front of the swings, being the thought leaders for your industry, you’re on the path to being less successful than you could be.

In reality, there’s no substitute for a well planned, carefully crafted sales strategy that your company can implement, execute and adapt with sensible and intelligent precision.

That’s the key to a successful sales force, not sales contests.

© Mike Sigers for Simplenomics, 2007. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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