We have identified 5 separate sales rep motivational profiles. We have discussed a few in previous shows. As we continue on our motivational, leadership and coaching series on personality types and motivational profiles, today we are going to talk about the sales people that are primarily motivated for this need for companionship, and people, and affiliation.
As we talked about in previous shows, the way that you can figure out which motivational profile your sales reps possess, you can go inside the academy to Sales Management Academy and there is a questionnaire that figures out how you should motivate them based on their motivational profiles. We have that for our paid members on the inside of the Academy. It is a questionnaire that your sales rep take that will help identify how to motivate them based on their motivational profiles.
As we have talked about, there are 5 profiles in total, many overlap, but usually 1 or 2 are predominant in the sales people that you have. Let’s say that you have 10 sales reps, you may have 3 or 4 in one category, 2 or 3 in another category, maybe 1 in 1 category. That is a typical profile as we have broken this down through some of our members as well as some consulting work that we have done at Sales Management Mastery Academy.
Today we are going to talk about a profile that you might see often. If you are leading a sales force of 100 people, probably 40 % to 50% of your people have this in their motivational profile. This best part is that this profile is fairly easy to motivate. We are going to give you some highlights on what this motivational profile looks like and that start to give you tips on motivating these types of people to get sales results that you are looking for which is above goal and expectations.
This profile is fairly easy to motivate. If you are a trust worthy and honest sales, manager, you are already half way there, you just have to make sure that your sales people know that you are a trustworthy person because this profile is extremely motivated by someone who they feel like is on their side and someone who is transparent. This profile is extremely vulnerable to suggestions, which is great. It makes coaching and leading simple.
In other shows, we have talked about how to coach and this type of sales person is most open to coaching. They respond really well to sales managers that they trust. If you are a genuinely trustworthy person, then this is going to be an easy one for you to motivate.
They also respond well to sales managers that they like, sales managers that take interest in them, and sales managers or supervisor that have their best interest in mind.
These are called “popular” sales managers. In later shows, we will get into the “right” ways to be popular, and it may not be what you think. It is not necessarily being the life of the party.
These sorts of sales people will also be more vested in pleasing the sales manager whom they like and whom they respect.
Not only are you going to motivate them by helping them out, but there are also going to want to please you because of what you have built up. We have talked a lot about the trust account, and that is a big part of your overall strategy. You shouldn’t look at any one part of your leadership style as separate from the others, they are interdependent.
Your ability to establish trust, your ability to lead, your ability to motivate, they are really all one in the same. Trust is particularly important with this sales person because it is so critical in establishing a positive rapport. It is a mutual relationship that works out well.
How is it that you establish trust? We have given you some of these in previous shows.
The first thing to remember is that you need to do this on a daily basis; this isn’t something that you do once and then forget about it. Making trust account deposits is an ongoing process. You are constantly putting more deposits in that account than you are withdrawing. Hopefully your withdrawals are far less than your deposits, just like any type of savings account that you may have. Obviously you don’t want to overdraft that account and pay those nasty fees of 16.25% or whatever it happens to be at your bank. They really do penalize you. And when you overdraft your trust account with this particular sales profile, you end up hurting both you and them and you end up with a very de-motivated sales rep because they are so vulnerable to what you think and your suggestions. The trust factor is a huge part of that and you have to establish not only once, but on an ongoing basis.
How do you establish trust with the people motivated sales person?
1.The Law of Reciprocity. This is a basic law. This is human nature related.
When you do something nice for someone, they in turn feel compelled to do something nice back for you. The Law of Reciprocity is important in that you don’t ask for something in return. It isn’t like you are going to the Mob Boss’s daughter’s wedding day and asking for a favor and then in some time he tell you that you are going to have to repay this favor. This isn’t that type of thing. This is not a tit for tat. That is a contract. This is something that you are constantly giving, you are constantly helping; you are constantly doing things to help them be more and more successful. Why wouldn’t you want them to succeed as their supervisor? If your sales reps succeed, you succeed. They in turn, feel a compulsion to do something for you in return. This is very effective. Let’s say if you established a tremendous amount of rapport and maybe you need a sales report in 5 hours and it’s going to take them a lot of time, and they are in the middle of a lot of things, but they are going to drop everything to help you out, because you have helped them out before. This is how you can get people to do things for you, not in a sneaky way, and not thinking how am I going to get repaid for this, but you do it in the fact that it helps them, and you will get a lot in return. There is a great book called, “The Go Giver”, by Burg and Mann that I highly recommend you all read. You can get it in Amazon. The book talks about this law of reciprocity and how important it is, not only for success in sales, but for success in life and business in general.
2.Another thing that you can do is call your sales reps and ask them what you could do for them. They will be completely shocked and they won’t really know what to do. But you could call and say, “Hey, I was just sitting at my desk and wanted to see if there is anything that you need, or anything you need help with, or deals that you may need my assistance with?” When was the last time you did that? Chances are if they even take that call, sometimes they won’t even take your call because they see your number come up and they think, “If he is calling me out of the blue he probably needs something from me”. But really shock them and call them and ask them, “What do you need from me?” Provided that it’s something that won’t take 5 days, that’s not the point. The point is you are asking, “What do you need help with to get the job done? Do you need something operational done? Do you need some PO curried through finance? Do you need something from our compensation department?” Always look for things that you can help out with to encourage your deposits in the trust account.
3.With uncomfortable or complex situations, instead of emailing, texting them, or hiding behind the email, it is important to call them and talk to them, or better yet meet them face to face. Don’t hide behind the email. There are going to be complex issues that should not be resolved on email. A great way to do this is to talk to them live. A lot of us get caught up with instant message, text messaging, and email, we all get caught up in that, better yet, get out in the field and talk about these complex or uncomfortable issues. Don’t hide behind email
4.When you are coaching your sales reps, don’t ever start your conversation with, “when I was a sales rep….” that is a horrible way to start things. You could say, “What I recall…” “When I was a sales rep” statement really paints the picture between you as the sales manager and them as the lowly sales rep. Ask them instead what they think that they should do, instead of telling them. There may be times, when they don’t have an answer and then you can call upon your experience and expertise and that are why you are the boss. Never start out with the statement, “when I was a sales rep…” it takes deposits out of the trust account, which is something that you don’t want to do.
5.When you are interacting with the sales rep, focus only on them, do not multi task. When they are talking about an account, don’t be constantly looking down at your Blackberry or Iphone, and don’t be typing out emails. Shut the thing off. Give the sales rep your undivided attention. There may be other calls coming in, don’t take the call, say, “hey, I am with you and this is your day, unless there is an emergency, this is my day to focus on you”. Maybe you are going out on a call with them, maybe you are accompanying them on the showroom floor, and maybe you are making a call with them in a call center. Don’t get distracted, focus in on them. That is how you build a tremendous level of rapport as well as trust.
6.Don’t be a seagull sales manager. This is a very common form of sales management. When times are tough, try to be an eagle and assess what needs to be done, instead of being a seagull sales manager. A seagull sales manager, when times are tough, swoops down, craps on everyone, and then flies away and doesn’t help them. That type of management is very common, but is the one thing that takes the most out of the trust account. Sales people hate this. Don’t come in, tell them that they stink and then leave. Try to help them in figuring out the solution. This type of sales person is very sensitive to this abandonment. When you assist, you are developing a rapport, you are establishing trust, and you are motivating them at the same time. Leading, motivating, and coaching are crucial to this profile.
7.Empower your sales reps as much as you possible can to get them to make their own decisions. When someone makes their own decisions, they feel empowered by that decision. It leads them to take ownership of that decision and see it through to fruition. When you empower someone to make their own decisions it is very powerful motivator. This is how you develop trust and rapport with this motivational profile in order to get them moving in the right direction.
To summarize:
You can get the profile in the Sales Management
7 Ways to Motivate People who are motivated by affiliation, companionship, and people:
1.Evoke the Law of Reciprocity
2.Call your sales reps out of the blue and ask what you can do for them.
3.With uncomfortable and complex issues, make a call instead of hiding behind an email
4.When you are coaching sales reps, don’t ever start a statement with, “when I was a sales rep….”
5.When interacting when sales people, set the Blackberry aside, don’t multi task and focus on them
6.Don’t be a seagull sales manager
7.Empower your sales reps to make their own decisions
There are 7 tips to help motivated, lead and coach the sales person who is motivated by the need for affiliation, companionship and people.
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