Sales Team Motivation: It Requires More than a Good Comp Plan!

Sales Team Motivation: It Requires More than a Good Comp Plan!

I’m a metrics junkie. I think that data is important for making good decisions (for a really great book on data, read Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers is the New Way to be Smart by Ian Ayers). And yet I also know that all the metrics in the world won’t help a sales team perform if they aren’t motivated.

 

Dan Pink in his book Drive, disabused me of the notion that a “good” compensation structure is enough to motivate. Jim Collins takes this thinking a step further and wrote in his book Good to Great that “Expending energy trying to motivate people is largely a waste of time.” He believes that a manager’s job is to hire self-motivated people in the first place, and then manage in such a way so as to NOT de-motivate them.

 

In my current work with sales teams, I spend as much time on metrics as I do on motivation. I also try to insert a measure of fun into the process. If we’re going to spend 8+ hours/day working – let’s not only be successful, but let’s enjoy getting there.

 

I thought that Collins’ recommendations for creating a motivating culture is worth revisiting, so here goes:

 

4 Basic Practices for Creating a Culture Where Self-Motivation Can Flourish:

 

1. "Lead with Questions, Not Answers"
2. "Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion"
3. "Conduct autopsies, without blame"
4. "Build red flag mechanisms. Make it easy for employees and customers to speak up when they identify a problem"

 

Reminder: metrics without motivation is meaningless.