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The other day a client asked me about a salesperson about whom the assessment indicated wasn’t money motivated. He went on to tell me how often this salesperson tells him he needs to make more money and wants a larger base. I explained that this is more a case of ‘money need’ rather than money motivation. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is:

You always know when salespeople aren’t prospecting. Their pipeline becomes stale – not empty mind you, just old. And finally, they aren’t closing enough business. You know it. You may or may not do anything about it. Some managers fire these people. Others ignore it. A few actually know how to provide coaching and motivation in such a way that they can fix the problem. But what happens when you know they’re aren’t getting it done and you aren’t able to say anything or do anything because you’re so uncomfortable with confrontation?

One client finally heeded some advice they hadn’t responded to for several years. They finally decided to replace 90% of their underperforming independent reps with direct salespeople. They certainly thought it through for a long enough time, considering the implications to the remaining reps, salespeople, customers and employees; programs, applications, legacy knowledge and costs. So on some magical day this year a transition will take place and the company will usher in the new era of performance and accountability. Or so it seems.

We have discussed many of the problems associated with optimizing and understanding the sales force but it all comes down to consistency. There may be expectations, accountability and coaching. The same goes for motivation, effective recruiting, support, direction and guidance. When all of the salespeople consistently perform pipeline building-activities, most of the problems in a sales organization disappear.