Hiring Salespeople Who Aren’t Money Motivated – The Offer

In April, I wrote an  extremely popular article on Whether Money Motivated Salespeople are a Dying Breed.  You’ll need to read that first to understand the context for today’s article.  Okay, ready?

Rob asked about the consequences in the hiring process when companies believe they have to offer enough money to get people on board.  He wants to know if there are any practical tips to acquire candidates that are intrinsically motivated.

Great question Rob.

What’s fascinating about this is that while a candidate may be intrinsically motivated, the attributes of an intrinsically motivated salesperson include pride and satisfaction.  If they were to receive an offer where the compensation, at least in terms of base salary, was inferior to that of their peers in the industry, they would not be either proud or satisfied.  So they need to be compensated in much the same way as their extrinsically motivated counterparts.   It differs in terms of bonuses and commissions.  The extrinsically motivated salesperson wants to know how much money they can earn in commissions and bonus by hitting certain performance targets.  The intrinsically motivated salesperson wants to know how much of a raise they might receive, or what kind of advancement they can expect for hitting certain performance targets.

It’s easy to misunderstand the nuances of motivation but it doesn’t mean that you offer an intrinsically motivated salesperson less money.