Sure, everybody wants to make more money and claims they want to be big producers, but do your salespeople really see themselves as top producers, and do they need to make a lot of money? Wanting money won’t do it; needing to make a lot of money is the key.
Most people don’t need to make a lot of money; they prefer to stay in their comfort zone.
According to the US Department of Commerce, the average 40-year-old person has only a few thousand dollars in savings. Few have an emergency fund to protect themselves from accidents. The Federal Reserve reports that 39% of Americans don’t even have enough money on hand to cover a $400 emergency.
According to the National Association of Realtors, only 12% of realtors earned a six-figure income. Shocking, yes, and sadly true.
The statistics are clear: The majority of your salespeople will end up with little to show at the end of their lives. They are in debt now and will leave this world in debt. Why do so few people find success and financial freedom from selling real estate? After all, everybody has to live somewhere; therefore, there are millions of prospects.
Well, it’s not their fault.
- Most people are attracted by the illusion of making a lot of money, but they aren’t psychologically qualified to earn it.
- Most salespeople are in debt, and they don't know how selling real estate can lead to Financial Freedom.
- If left to themselves, it takes years to learn the business, which results in most people leaving the business in a year or two.
When your salespeople first started out, it felt natural to take on debt to cover basic needs until commissions started coming in. If and when the commissions did begin to come in, they were excited by their new success, and they began to expand their lifestyles to match their new prosperity.
They upgraded their cars and clothing without considering their growing debt. Instead, they buried their heads in the sand and failed to create a plan to pay off their credit cards and begin the path to financial freedom.
The bad news is the long-term financial situation of your salespeople impacts you and your company. When there are hiccups in the economy, there will be months when your sales team will experience fewer commissions. Also, accidents and emergencies will come up for your salespeople. If your salespeople aren't able to cover their bills when either of these happens, many will have to quit the business.
The greatest gift the GREAT sales managers give to their salespeople is the path to Financial Freedom. But you’ll be wasting your time if you try to give it to people who aren’t hungry and don’t need to make a lot of money.
For years you’ve been told the key to a sales agent’s success comes from empowering them to achieve their goals. As an experienced sales manager, you know first hand how difficult achieving goals are, and you know very few salespeople understand the goal-setting process.
Yes, we know they’ll tell you their goal is to make six figures, but that is aspirational and just an expression they’ve heard. Ninety-eight percent of salespeople don’t have a clear picture of what they must do to achieve a six-figure income.
How many times have you asked yourself, “How can I motivate my sales team to hit our goals?”
While you, as the sales manager, have to focus on your company’s monthly or quarterly goals, your salespeople are more concerned, and in many cases overwhelmed by, their daily lives; they don’t even think about achieving your corporate goals. In fact, they seldom even think about their own goals.
We’ve been studying this problem for decades, and have perfected a method that will get you the results you want.
Forget Goal-Setting – Their Needs Will Motivate Them; Your Goals Will Not!
- Having lunch at noon may be a nice goal, but it becomes a great need for a person who has not eaten in two days.
- Saving money for a family vacation is an admirable goal, but getting the money to have a doctor perform a timely operation on your child is a more potent need.
- Making four sales a month is a worthy goal, but having money at the end of the month to prevent eviction from your home is a demanding need.
A need is a must-do-now because it is:
- Personal and urgent
- Irritating and nagging
- Immediate and in your face
- Screaming for attention
- Something you’re compelled to do
A goal causes procrastination because it is:
- Imaginary, theoretical, and out there
- Something that requires planning and deep thinking
- Easy to put on the "back burner" to think about tomorrow
- Something that requires a conscious commitment
- Hard to visualize
The good news is knowing your sales associates’ needs and having a plan to satisfy their needs starts with answering the question, “Why do you work?” Most people will say, “Well, I need to pay my bills,” or, “I want to provide for my family.” But they don’t usually go deeper than that. And their families continue to live with less!
As their sales manager, your greatest contribution to them and their families is to help your salespeople identify their personal financial needs for the next 30 days. Forget about those long-term goals; 30 days is a lifetime of planning for most of them.
Show them, on paper, with numbers and dollars relevant to them, how their financial needs are satisfied when they focus on High Payoff Activities. Then work with them to create a plan for what they are going to do to fulfill their exact financial needs for next week. Once you have the plan, your job is to keep them focused on a daily basis until the process becomes a habitual part of them.
Unfortunately, while trying to learn this process, life happens, and your agents become distracted or overwhelmed the minute they feel stress. They will revert to their old habits and retreat into their Comfort Zone.
Once you learn how to trigger their financial needs, they’ll begin to refocus on getting money to satisfy their needs for the week. A day-to-day awareness of their needs will motivate them to lead a more fulfilled life.
By focusing on their daily and weekly financial needs, they create a desire to make more sales. And as those sales happen, the winning feeling sparks a hunger to make more sales.
We do this every day with clients. Many salespeople who were earning $1000 to $3000 a month begin to increase their sales and their incomes by five and ten times by using this strategy. Isn’t this a sales management strategy you’d like to know more about? And, If not now, when?
