Research on salesperson motivation suggests that what produces motivated salespeople is a clear job description, effective sales management practice, a sense of achievement, and: ?
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Answer:
For decades the difficulty of motivating salespeople has been frustrating sales and marketing managers. To the most effective ones, two things are clear: one, the job is difficult; two, there is no one simple solution. Believing that “good salespeople are born, not made,” many managers recognize that recruiting is important. Others holding that “if you pay for performance, you’ll get it” believe that incentive compensation produces motivation. The more successful sales executives recognize that motivation is largely a result of a combination of effective recruiting practices, sensible pay plans, and good management. What else may be involved has been an open question.
Previous studies on employee motivation clearly demonstrate that a variety of factors (rewards, supervision, goals, and so forth) shape and guide how well people work.1 From a sales manager’s point of view, then, two questions are paramount:
1. Which factors have the most influence on motivation of salespeople?
2. What are the implications for management action and decision making?
To answer the first question, we recently conducted a study to determine how much a person’s personality and incentive pay determine level of motivation. Then, because we believed from prior experience that task clarity, another variable, has a pronounced effect on salesperson motivation, we included it in our study as well. Finally, we looked at the impact of good management. (We describe the methodology in the accompanying sidebar.)
Methodology
In our research, we conducted in-depth interviews with salespeople and their managers, analyzed a questionnaire filled out by more than 200 salespeople in four different organizations, and observed some actual sales calls.
The four participating companies provide a broad sampling of current sales management practices. Two of the companies sell business products and two sell transportation services; all four are industry leaders. Of the business products companies, one manufactures and sells minicomputers; the other, office equipment. The transportation companies specialize in air freight serving domestic and international markets. One transportation services company and one business products company pay sales-people a straight salary. The other two companies use incentive plans.
Our results are clear. The most important determinants of motivation are (1) the nature of the task, (2) the personality, particularly the strength of the salesperson’s need for achievement, and (3) the type of compensation plan. Unfortunately, our measurement of the fourth determinant, the quality of management, is not precise enough for us to say any more than that field supervision is important. We believe, however, that if a company’s management is not far outside the normal range in quality, its effect on motivation is below that of task clarity and salesperson personality. Exhibit I shows the four factors ranked in order of their importance. (The ranking is a result of a statistical analysis that measured independently each factor’s ability to motivate salespeople.)2
Explanation:
In Metholog
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