Over the years, the primary sales principles have remained the same, and many good sales trainers teach them. However, in the last ten years or so, there have been significant breakthroughs in neuroscience that allow the average salesperson to double their production. Today, the disciplined salespeople who use technology and the newest sales psychology systems are doubling their production and, in some cases, more so.
An informed and skilled sales manager with the right system can motivate sales agents by triggering their needs. Their needs motivate them; your goals don’t. I’m sorry to say it, but the truth is most of your salespeople aren't interested in your company goals or the money invested in getting leads. They listen to your complaint about wasted leads with respect, but as you've experienced, they drop "suspects" too quickly, don't make follow-up calls, and then ask for more leads.
Hopefully, you now realize that you have to meet your salespeople where they are. Their needs are all that matter to them, and the best common denominator to motivate them is the money they can earn by doing their job. Many of them don't know their job or what they can achieve. They aren't even "hungry" for success.
Happily, they get hungry when you show them how to solve their financial needs by making an agreed-upon number of sales each month. They must have wins and successes to develop a winning attitude. Continuing to miss your corporate goals just reminds them about their failure. Failure begets failure, and success breeds more success!
Looking at their financial needs 90 days at a time allows them to establish the number of sales they need each week. Once they learn the process, they begin to be driven from within and become self-motivated.
Do these three things to trigger a sales agent's subconscious mind to make more sales:
1. Never stop recruiting
2. Know why your people work
3. Hold them accountable
These three steps will motivate 95% of your agents—with no mission statements, no empowerment statements, no team-building activities, no psychobabble, no leadership fluff.
STEP ONE: Never Stop Recruiting
A company that keeps searching for the right people keeps all its workers on their toes. This practice unconsciously motivates salespeople to make sales so that they keep their jobs and are not replaced.
The fact is most people will not make it in a sales career. It's a rewarding, but psychologically challenging business; most people can't take the rejection. There are many behavior profiling techniques available to help you select the people who can make a career out of selling, and those are the people who have a need and a desire to be of service.
Only hire or select people who:
* Want to serve
* Are financially in need
* And need an opportunity to earn an above-average income.
Be aware that your job is to purposely create healthy stress to lift your agents out of their comfort zone. Not everyone will respond immediately, but this process will uncover your winners. Work with your winners and give them all the knowledge you can as their sales team leader.
STEP TWO: Know Why Your People Work
Assess your sales agents' 90-day financial needs so they can understand why they work each day. Hopefully, money is the reason behind their "why." Money motivates good salespeople.
You bring out the best in your people when you know their financial needs and show them in black and white how they can satisfy these financial needs by making the sales they've agreed are reasonable and doable. Get them to buy in and agree to the number of sales they will make that week, and repeat this process weekly.
We designed our Financial Freedom Form for this purpose. Once an agent trusts you and allows you to dig down into their overgrown financial jungle, you will know how to trigger their unconscious needs and deepest desires for financial freedom. Focus on their why, not your goals, and get out of the way.
Be prepared for some push back; most agents are embarrassed about their financial predicament. But it all starts with them knowing where they stand.
Take a minute and think about the differences between their 90-day financial needs and your goals:
Their Need is:
- Personal and urgent
- Irritating and nagging
- A must-do-now
Your Goal is:
- Not theirs, just theoretical
- Difficult to meet without increased planning and more thought
- Yours, and generally doesn’t motivate them.
Which has a better chance of being acted on, a pressing need or a lofty goal?
- Having lunch at noon may be an appealing goal, but it becomes a great need for a person who hasn't eaten in two days.
- Saving money for a family vacation is an admirable goal, but obtaining the money to have a doctor perform a necessary operation on your child is a more potent need.
- Making four sales a month is a goal, but having the money you need at the end of the month to prevent an eviction from your home is a more demanding need.
Sadly, most salespeople don't know their financial needs and seldom think about emergencies, debt, retirement, or saving. Ninety-five percent of commissioned sales agents have no idea where they stand financially. They live paycheck to paycheck and have no budget. They may even earn a six-figure income, but they are still lost financially and shackled to debt.
Help them calculate the number of sales they must make each month to earn the money they need for the next 90 days. Repeat this process weekly until their focus on their financial needs becomes a habit that drives them subconsciously.
Make their financial discovery your goal and watch what happens as they become motivated to make more sales.
STEP THREE: Hold Them Accountable
Make them uncomfortable by holding them accountable for the commitments they made the previous week. This will get them emotionally involved. Our system will make sales agents focus on the five High Payoff Activities.
Invest one hour each week with each sales agent to review the past week's performance and to get their projection for the next week’s performance.
Get them to commit to their sales expectations for the following week. Inform them that they'll be accountable for that sales target, and get them to buy in and take ownership of the challenge.
Be sensitive but firm in reminding them about their fear of loss.
- Fear of losing their job
- Fear of letting their family down
- Fear of losing dignity
- Fear of not being able to pay their bills
Fear, incentive, and attitude are the three prime motivators, and you should use all three, but fear is the fastest path to more sales when used correctly.
Fear can also backfire if you are too heavy-handed. Educate your salespeople with training and coaching; create some stress, but don't threaten or scare them.
Their success is your success!
