Ive been talking about it for years: The ways we measure salespeoples motivation levels and why. By understanding what motivates salespeople, sales managers can tap into an individuals type to help him or her succeed.

Historically, when weve analyzed the motivation type of salespeople and candidates alike, weve found two main categories: Extrinsic and Intrinsic.

Well, thanks to Objective Management Groups never-ending quest for improvement and precision predicting success in a changing world, a new insight has been discovered. Theres now a third category: Altruistic motivation and weve been evaluating the impact of this new type.

Not everyone falls perfectly into one type or another. Its also not unusual for an individual to be classified with two types, and sometimes three. But why, as a manager, should you care what type your salespeople are? Well, consider how much easier your life would be if you could motivate salespeople effectively. Not everyone of them will respond to across the board incentives. But by understanding each salespersons motivation type, you can individualize incentives to what each will respond to. After all, as the manager, it is your responsibility to inspire each individual individually.

What percentage of salespeople fall into each category? We assessed the first 1000 salespeople classified using the new motivation type. The chart below shows our findings.

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Keep this in mind, you must adjust your strategy to fit each individual salesperson. Note that intrinsically motivated salespeople make up the biggest segment. This group will respond more to the satisfaction of doing a good job , and taking care of customers, rather than by having additional monetary compensation thrown at them.

Adapt your coaching and how you inspire salespeople to go that extra mile by understanding how each is motivated. It will make your life easier and your salespeople will be more successful.

Gretchen Gordon is owner of Braveheart Sales Performance, a consulting firm that guarantees improvement in profitable sales for its clients. With data-driven sales team evaluations, sales effectiveness training, salesperson recruitment and sales management outsourcing, Braveheart helps businesses increase revenue and the bottom line. Viewfullprofile

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A New Insight into Motivation and How to Inspire Your Salespeople - Business 2 Community