Think all salespeople are motivated by money? Think again.

The six proven motivators your sales team wants you to understand.

by Paul Bilodeau

To learn the Six Key Motivators, read more….

Motivators or Values are often misunderstood. Most people have two dominant values that drive their choices in life. In the world of sales, they provide the reasons WHY salespeople sell what they do. The better the ‘value fit’, the more energized the salesperson.

Sales managers will often say, “we run our people through a personality assessment and that’s how we know what makes them tick.” When referring to a ‘personality assessment’, most managers are thinking of a behaviors type assessment; such as a Myers Briggs or DISC. In a sales environment, these behavioral assessments will describe HOW an individual will sell, but they do not describe WHY an individual will sell. So, while the behavioral assessment can speak to the selling style of an individual, it cannot pinpoint what will drive or motivate them to sell. Behaviors are easy to spot. In most cases, you can identify an individual’s dominant behavior style within seconds of observing them. With values (motivators), it is much more difficult because they are not easily observable. It may take weeks, months, or even years to understand someone’s dominant motivators before you realize whether your sales environment is a good or bad fit for your salespeople. However, assessments that identify a person’s value configuration can make it a lot easier for you.

Years ago, philosopher and psychologist Eduard Spranger theorized that people’s motivations – their values – generally fall into these six categories:

Economic: Values financial gain, financial savings and an expectation that there be a return on any expenditure of time, energy and/or talent.
Aesthetic: Values nature, beauty, harmony, pleasant surroundings, the environment.
Individualistic: Values independence and public recognition for contributions; strong desire to control own destiny and that of others.
Regulatory: Values compliance with rules, standards of performance, and behavior; needs an external system to define “acceptable” behaviors.
Social: Values helping others, even if faced with personal loss to do so.
Theoretical: Values learning for the sake of learning; has the need to master subjects or areas of interest.

Research conducted by Target Training International (TTI) has shown that 73% of top sales reps in North America are primarily motivated by financial gain (Economic), and the most frequent secondary motivator is a desire for recognition as a high achiever (Individualistic). However, there are sales positions that energize people by just about any value structure, from the non-profit sector to the financial services industry.

So the important questions for you as a manager are:

What motivates each salesperson to sell? What are his or her values?
Does the sales role at your company fit or not fit?

Why do salespeople sell?

Simply put, for their own reasons. Or should we say for their own motivators (also referred to as values).

If a salesperson is very enthusiastic about selling their products or services, it’s likely that this role is aligned closely with their personal motivators. These motivators were established by the time they reached eighteen years old. If the same salesperson were placed into a role that was not aligned with their personal motivators, they would not be nearly as enthusiastic or ‘driven’ to sell. Here’s a critical point; that same salesperson might be exceptionally skilled at professional selling. They may have been through the best training, have years of experience and proven results consistent with high achievers. However, that highly-skilled salesperson will be ‘just average’ or even a poor performer if their sales role does not ‘feed’ at least one of their two dominant personal motivators.

Want to receive articles from The Brooks Group
every month?

Sign up for our free monthly newsletter.

Download this
ONE PAGE SUMMARY of
The Six Core Motivators

Includes descriptions and examples for each.

Share with friends