Category: Sales Management & Psychology

The Key To Understanding Salespeople

Sales Management & Psychology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do all salespeople have in common? Seriously, what is the one thing you can say about all salespeople 100% of the time at Scorecard Sales? I’m not just talking about salespeople who are effective; I mean your best performers and your worst performers. Understanding salespeople is a tough challenge, and if you are struggling to find the answer, you needn’t be embarrassed. The certain rule is this: All salespeople always want to feel successful. Tall or short, fancy or ordinary, upside down and inside out, what is completely true about salespeople? It’s a tough question and if you are struggling to find the answer you needn’t be embarrassed because most everyone else struggles too. It’s the reason why we have such a hard time connecting with and understanding salespeople. Give up? The 100%, bonfire, no exceptions, steadfast, certain rule about all salespeople is this: All salespeople always want to feel successful. Doesn’t that just blow your mind?!? Well, probably not because, well, duh. And yet, do you really understand what this means? 

This elemental rule is extremely important because the whole reason why your sales team is even at your company is that they either believe they are or will be soon, successful. It is this belief that drives almost everything that they do. Think about it, would you take on any job yourself if you didn’t believe you could be successful at it? So much is true also in life, but let’s stay focused on our sales team. This is important because if we all understood and agreed on what success is, managing and working with our sales teams would be a lot easier. You would realize that every day the salesperson arrives at work is a day that they want to feel successful and they are always looking for ways to achieve that. If we all agreed on what success is, managing teams would be a lot easier. This alignment is a core part of our integrative sales improvement process. If you really want to be understanding salespeople.

Manager and salesperson discussing individual definitions of success

Here are the 5 most important questions you can ask them about success:

  1. How do you define success? – Don’t settle for any answer that resembles achieving a sales goal. That’s a means to an end. What you really want to know is what that gets them and how does it make them feel.
  2. How close are you to the success that you want to achieve? Rarely, if ever, will a salesperson tell you that they have peaked. It’s good to get a sense of their expectations because, depending how close or far they feel from their sense of success, you will have a better sense of what they might be struggling with.
  3. What do you believe you are capable of achieving? Get them to consider their potential and visualize their dreams. This vision-casting is a key element of professional sales coaching.
  4. What is your most immediate critical goal? Success is a series of steps. This focus is a major component of our B2B sales training programs.
  5. What are you critical actions? Again, they may try to placate you by telling you what they think you want to hear, but the point is to get them to critically think about their recipe for success and hear themselves say it in their own words. This will often dial in their compass so they stay pointed towards success. 

By asking these questions, you dial in their compass. If your organization needs help with sales methodology training or broader sales consulting services, our team can help bridge the gap between individual and company goals. Ready to align your team for maximum impact? Request a quote for a management strategy session today.

The Motivation Spectrum For Salespeople

Sales Management & Psychology

Did you ever have one of those days where you lost your spark? Your sense of purpose, passion, and focus diminish at Scorecard Sales, for what you think will be only a moment in time, but it’s a little hard to get started again. This is something every salesperson will experience and for some, this happens more often than not. Understanding salesperson motivation assumes that we understand what they are going through and what will get them kick-started. If only it were that easy, but maybe it isn’t as hard as we think it is. Don’t get me wrong; there are a lot of nuances when dealing with different personalities, but there is a process that everyone can apply to help out their team and even themselves. Proper motivation brings determination, creativity, persistence, focus, and momentum. Isn’t that what we want for ourselves and our team? Motivation is always a work in progress, but we must first understand the spectrum of motivation where salespeople will find themselves.

We, as salespeople, at any given moment are somewhere on the motivation spectrum but rarely do any of us stay in the same spot consistently. We call the ideal balance the Motivation Spectrum Sweet Spot, which is a core focus of our integrative sales improvement process. That’s because things can and do change and we all react to change differently. There’s certainly a big difference between someone who is just a little off and having a bad day to someone who has lost all sense of hope, but we have to find a way back to our balance. Our balance is knowing how to take both our good and bad in stride while continuing to work towards our purpose and goals. We call this balance the Motivation Spectrum Sweet Spot which includes discouraged (down but not out), motivated (hungry but not starving) and successful (accomplished but still accepting new challenges). Being defeated and complacent are the most difficult places to motivate out of, and we will discuss this in a later article, but for now let’s take a closer look at The Salesperson Motivation Spectrum.

  1. Defeated – The salesperson has hopeless regard towards their expectations and the expectations of others. Is it really over? Is there no chance for them to be successful and it’s time to move on? This is one of the most difficult areas to successfully motivate others often requiring a fresh perspective from sales consulting services.
    Sales Training Solutions
  2. Discouraged – The salesperson is feeling disconnected from their goals. They may have taken a couple of hits and, with the proper motivation, they can get back on track. You can read more about overcoming slumps on our blogs page.
  3. Motivated – The salesperson is inspired to elevate above their current circumstance. There is a hunger for success but may not always know the way to get there and can use a little help from others. 
  4. Successful – The salesperson is achieving goals and maintains a desire to continue achieving more. For these self-starters, high-level B2B sales training keeps the momentum high.
  5. Complacent – The salesperson feels they have achieved enough and no longer pursues challenges. Although they have achieved a level of success in their own view, it usually is not consistent with the expectations of others. Does their perceived level of success satisfy the needs of the organization and its leadership? This, life Defeated, is the most difficult area to successfully motivate others. Aligning their views with the organization’s needs is a key part of sales methodology training.