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Is it Motivation or Inspiration?

People read more about motivation in management schools than inspiration.  Many sales managers strive to learn how to motivate salespeople.  They sincerely want to learn how to motivate them to reach sales goals, to fill out paperwork, to follow a sales process, etc. Good managers spend much of their time on motivational actions.  Often, they do not learn how to inspire.

From 5th century BC until now, many teachers have provided instructions for the motivation of people.  In the twentieth century, these theories swept around people like B.F. Skinner and Pavlov’s dog.  Remember, ring a bell and the person salivates, if they have been conditioned to do so.  The dog did and so will a person.

Motivation often involves thinking about incentives.  Or, it means striving to stimulate others into wanting to do something.  It eventually turns into control - how to control another person.

We need to understand motivation for one very important reason only - and it’s not to control another person.  It is to set up environments in which people can learn, grow, and thrive.  We need to understand different types of personalities so that we coach and teach in a manner in which others learn best.  For example, children learn new information differently - so do adults.

We need to communicate with people in a manner in which they trust us and hear us - really hear us.  Usually, that involves listening to their needs and acting on what we hear.  We need to know the blockades and barriers that demotivate sales performance and develop action plans to remove them.

But there’s a higher need as well.  For greatest long-term impact upon a sales team, we need to inspire the people we lead.  When we do this, we encourage others to greater efforts, greater enthusiasm, and greater creativity.  We help others find the purpose in what they do - how what they do makes things better.  We define the war we are in - the adventure we are on, the battles we fight, and who we strive to rescue.  We help salespeople understand the valuable role they play in the health of the company and their family.  Then, goals take on a significance greater than the person.  And, people are inspired.

Coaching Highly-Spirited Teams

Coaching highly spirited teams requires three well-developed areas of action, thought, and attitude.  First, fathers, sales managers, CEOs, and other leaders communicate compelling reasons to reach important GOALS.  These goals, when communicated, create an emotionally charged atmosphere for the people they lead.  They inspire.  And, they provide direction, purpose, and value.  They tell us the dragon we must slay.

The second area contains PASSION and energy applied to step-by-step processes that help us win.  When one views the leaders of highly spirited teams, they see them focus work, time, and effort at activity or strategic action that impacts goal-achievement.  Team members direct their passion and apply their energy in the right areas to achieve goals.  In smoothly running sales teams, it’s clear to everyone what the manager wants, measures, and works to achieve.  And, it’s the same in highly spirited families, churches, and scout troops.

A manager or leader also pays attention to a third dimension – an area of HOPE and encouragement.  A business venture always contains battles.  Battles always contain wounded soldiers.  On the battlefield and in the tents, great leaders encourage others and sustain an attitude of hope by their presence, actions, and words.

Great sales managers establish challenging goals.  They work with an intense effort and passion in the direction of their goals.

Where great leaders build winning traditions, we find a model of commitment, passion, and hope.  You see this greatness emerge in governments, businesses, sporting teams, and other groups.  Yet, Hitler embraced all of these.  He gave his people a vision of a supreme and radically superior Aryan race – one that brought them death and loss.  He encouraged the elimination of millions of people, and in this he embodied the same passion and energy of many great leaders.  But, he lacked the fourth and centermost dimension – concern for others.  All of his efforts were self-focused and detrimental to all nations – even his own people.

That’s why great people do everything for the benefit of other people.

Great sales managers establish challenging goals.  They work with an intense effort and passion in the direction of their goals.  And, they encourage their teams and bring them hope – even amidst heavy opposition.  They do this with a concern for the customer and for each individual they manage.  They want to make those around them better – safer – happier.

Great salespeople do sales activities in a way that doesn’t run roughshod over other company employees.  They work to help the team and the company win.  When the team does not reach its goal, it’s a bad day.  When the company’s margins are affected, it’s also a bad day.  When others win, they win.  Concern for others takes precedence in every decision.  Do I stay late at the office?  What’s the family doing?  Do I cut margins on this deal?  What’s the gross margin target?  Where are we?  If we do this, how will this affect others?  How will it affect installation, operations, or customer service?  What will others have to sacrifice? 

Do you want to lead a highly spirited and successful team?  Say, Yes!  And, then embrace and communicate important goals.  Encourage your team members.  Put passion and energy into step-by-step processes that win … and do everything with a concern for others.

Thoughts on Beliefs

A sales manager’s beliefs and attitudes create 85% or more of a team’s success. They make up the substance of sales team culture.  And, this culture produces salesperson turnover or retention.  It creates teams or individualism – sacrifice or anarchy.  People lie or they tell the truth.  Character strength is more important than sales or sales are more important than virtue.  What a sales manager believes infects people in negative or positive ways.  These attitudes create an enduring market impact and leave behind a legacy that attracts or repels customers and employees.