- April 21, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
My family lives west of Boston where it is not uncommon for us to see lots of squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, deer, the family of foxes that live on our property, and on most nights, we hear coyotes. We usually hear them in the early morning hours, and always thought they were celebrating a kill. Recently, I did some research and learned that this is how coyotes greet each other when they are assembling before going out to hunt – before the kill! For those of you who don’t live in or alongside a forest, a group of wild coyotes usually looks and sounds just like in this 1-minute video that I found on YouTube. That got me thinking about the connection to sales motivation and more.
Not too many decades ago, sales teams were very local and met weekly and sometimes daily as a group. The purpose of a typical meeting was to share information and motivate the troops. Most meetings ended with a motivational cheer – similar to what you might expect from a modern-day pep rally!
It got me thinking that pep rallies, coyote gatherings and sales meetings are all very primal and we, as people, need the rallying. It provides external motivation and while that tends to be short-lived, it improves confidence, gets everyone focused and aligned, and creates a sense of urgency.
Most sales teams don’t meet as frequently anymore and while adults are capable of performing without the pom-poms and cheers, providing some external motivation certainly doesn’t hurt. It builds team and spirit. That’s why, in lieu of being able to gather and meet each week, daily huddles can fill the gap. They aren’t designed to motivate as much as they are to align, develop a laser focus, report on KPI’s, uncover coaching opportunities and hold the team accountable.
When the team does come together, there should be at least one motivational moment – in the form of an awards ceremony, a keynote motivational talk or an event that gets everyone excited.
Today, there are three ways that people are motivated to perform on a day-to-day basis. I’ve written about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and we still need to consider a third, altruistic type of motivation. I believe that the third group is represented by a very small minority in sales, but as Objective Management Group (OMG) begins to measure and analyze the presence of the third group, I’ll bring that science to the discussion. As far as intrinsic motivation goes, OMG measures 7 additional ways that salespeople are motivated.
At my annual Sales Leadership Intensive, in addition to 2 comprehensive days on how to master the art of coaching salespeople, we also teach sales leaders how to effectively motivate their salespeople. It’s the best two days of sales leadership training you can get – anywhere – and we would love to have you attend. Seating is limited to just 26 and as of today, April 21, 2016, we have 5 seats remaining for our May 17-18 event outside of Boston. Register with this link and embedded discount code to automatically receive a 30% discount. [Update – Sold Out]