You hear it all the time, Sales people are “coin operated”. Sales people are motivated by money. I’ve meet managers often who look for sales people motivated by money. They say; get your sales people spending, buying those new cars, and big houses. Get them hooked, and you’ll keep them motivated. I don’t buy this and never have. I WON’T hire a money motivated sales person or manager.
Money doesn’t motivate me and I won’t hire someone is motivated by money. Money is an incentive and shouldn’t be a motivator. Anyone who is motivated by money can only go so far. Tiger Woods wouldn’t be Tiger if he is motivated by money. He has more money than he can spend in a lifetime, literally. Tiger is motivated by accomplishment, desire to the best ever, and the challenge of cementing his legacy. Successful people aren’t motivated by money.
In a recent post, I asked what motivates sales people and shared what it is about selling that motivates me. The post created a lot of discussion on LinkedIn (if you can’t see because you are not a member of this group I’m sorry, but feel free to join. I’m hoping Disqus can find a way to bring those comments in as well.) Based on the discussion my assessment is fairly accurate. It’s not money. Rewards was a common theme. I think rewards is more about recognition than money. Only two people said money, the rest talked about accomplishment. Here are a couple of comments from the discussion.
“pat on back and recognition” - Raj Peesa
“Being able to accomplish a breakthrough sale and being seeing as someone who can achieve the impossible for others is my motivation. Money is nice but self-satisfaction, and peer recongnition, is the inner motivators. Of course a nice dollar bonus makes it easier to celebrate my success.” -Rich Delaney
“Great article, the chance to be a fixer and enhance the customer’s life is a great thrill. When all cylinders fire, there is no better feeling!” -Tom Tompson
“Thought provoking article. Often we assume that money is the great motivator, even when we know that for ourselves that is not true. For me, it’s recognition. A pat on the back, or a “job well done!” sends me back into the trenches smiling every time.” – Valerie Thomison
Money motivates few people. Despite common misconceptions, sales people are not motivated by money. They, like others, are driven by accomplishment, self-actualization, challenges and recognition.
A perfect example is the introduction and proliferation of crowdsourcing which is proving that money is an incentive and not a motivator. People in many different areas give their time and knowledge for free for a chance to participate in something bigger than them, whether it be Wikkipedia, or IStockPhoto. Money incents behavior, it steers us in one direction or another however it doesn’t motivate us to keep going. Money is an incentive not a motivator.
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Money is often a symbol for people for achievement. Nice example re. tiger woods. His dream is actually about being the first sportsman to have earned more than 1 billion dollars…indeed it is not the value but the symbol it represents for Tiger …
Comment by yurivandersluis — July 27, 2009 @ 9:39 am
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I am motivated by goals. The beauty of sales as a profession is that your marching orders are very clear and that your performance is quantifiable and that is a lot fun…when you're succeeding. The money is a useful byproduct of success but certainly not the main motivator.
Comment by motodot — July 27, 2009 @ 8:53 pm
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You're deluded and living in a fantasy world. (not a bad thing for a creative visionary, mind you).
Look at any study on sales people and what motivates them, and you'll find that 90% of top producing salespeople are motivated by money (you can call it 'rewards' if you want) and getting a high as possible ROI (yes, MONEY is valuable and it can be an indicator of high ROI). Recognition is SECOND in any stats study I've seen (albeit sometimes a close second).
Oh, and BTW, you may not hire salespeople that you THINK are money motivated, but if I take a sample of your top salespeople, I bet on a STATISTICALLY VALIDATED ASSESSMENT that 90% of them will come up as having high ROI (aka MONEY), and their #1 motivator BY FAR. Either they are telling you what you want to hear (they ARE good salespeople, duh), or you have your head in the sand, or they DO value other things and money is a given for them, BUT when push comes to shove, money is STILL #1 (it just doesn't come up in an interview as such).
It's important to get the reality when discussing something that for most is just opinion. Let's run the real numbers, shall we, and see who's assumptions are correct?
Comment by jeffreytsooey — July 27, 2009 @ 8:58 pm
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Jeff,
Is money the motivation or the incentive? Money plays a role, but my
experience tells me it's not the primary motivator, it incents the
behavior. Again, look at crowdsourcing, it's a PERFECT example of
people being motivated for something other than money. Do you have
any studies you can point to. Would love to see one.
Thanks for jumping in Jeff!
Comment by Keenan — July 27, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
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Clear marching orders and quantifiable performance are the best part
of sales, it leaves out the grey, (most of the time)
Comment by Keenan — July 27, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
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Thought provoking post.
Ultimately, even the “coin-operated” sales guy is motivated by something beyond the paycheck. It's the feeling you get cashing that paycheck. The ego trip, the shiny toys, the sense of self-worth and importance. Take those away and money becomes a lot less interesting.
My vote goes to the intrinsic motivators – purpose, recognition, identity, etc.
Comment by Yifei — July 27, 2009 @ 9:51 pm
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Good point Yifei,
If money is the motivator, what happens when you have enough? MJ,
Warren Buffet, Bill Gates? They certainly motivated by money. They
don't need it. You're right, it's what the money stands for.
Comment by Keenan — July 27, 2009 @ 10:59 pm
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Jim, it's an interesting post and a unique look at things, but like some of your other comments, I have to disagree.
I think that your Tiger Woods analogy falls down because he is such a unique individual on so many levels. Money is so clearly a motivator in most of professional sports and with the exception of Ripken & Jeter, I can't think of many modern day players that have voluntarily stuck with the same club their whole career. They follow the money because it is a motivator. If it was an incentive, the entirety of professional sports would make $100K a year and thank their lucky stars.
Personally, I love helping build companies. I've spent the past 10 years building sales teams at start-ups. It is a great thrill and a wonderful challenge and not much is better than looking back at something that you've helped build over 2 – 3 years. I'd work at a start-up over a large company any day because the contribution that an individual makes is so much more valuable and that, for me, is very fulfilling.
As a sales guy, I love the pats on the back. I love the spiffs, the accolades, the Lucite plaques and all of the little side perks that come with being in sales.
But, at the end of the day (month, quarter, year), I've got to pay the bills and maintain the lifestyle that I've built for my family over the course of my career. Happy wife = happy life. I love living in the good neighborhood, with the cute down town, the good schools. I love exotic vacations and unique experiences with the family. I love providing it for my family, but it doesn't come for free.
Your crowdsourcing example falls down too. If my hobby is collecting widgets and I write Wikipedia posts on widgets, I'm motivated by my passion for widgets. I clearly recognize that there isn't a lot of money in widget collecting, but I really love it and I want to share my passion with the community. If I happen to get paid once in a while to show off my widget collection, that is an incentive, not a motivator.
Incentives should get the person to do something extra (a Wikipedia page). Goal attainment is a motivator. If a sales reps goals happen to be fiscal (new car, new house, retire early), why wouldn't you want that person to be money motivated?
Comment by Scott Schnaars — July 27, 2009 @ 11:18 pm
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'Utilitarian' is defined as valuing money and what is 'useful'. i.e.
Maximum ROI. People who are high Utilitarian want to get the most out of
life, business, time, etc. They hate waste of any kind, especially time and
money, but other things as well. The reason they like money so much is not
because they're greedy. They like it because money is USEFUL. You can use
it for lots of things. It is easily stored (holds value pretty well). It,
properly invested, will make more of itself, etc.
Note that out of the top sales leaders in the US and Germany, 70 or so % of
them had Utilitarian as their TOP value. (The graphs don't show this, but
if you looked at those that had Utilitarian in their top 3 (out of 6), it
would be 90 or so % of all top sales performers).
By the way, the top producers in this survey were taken from over 20
different industries, so there's no cultural bias here.
To be fair, this doesn't mean that salespeople that are greedy or solely
money-focused are the most successful long term. That's not the study's
focus. All it says is that most top producing salespeople value money very
highly, and the majority of them value it as #1. But you can't paint people
into a corner and say that just because it's the most important thing they
value at work, that there aren't more important things in their life or that
they don't take other important things into careful consideration even in
the boardroom. The study does show, however, that money and 'usefulness'…
i.e. maximizing ROI IS INDEED THE END GAME FOR THESE GUYS (at least at
work).
There are exceptions. For instance, if you take Tony Robbins' sales team,
they are all highly altruistic… because of the culture that Tony created,
and that culture attracted altruistic salespeople that are very effective.
My team of coaches all do their own sales, and many are not money motivated,
but that's because the rewards I offer aren't money related for the most
part (more of the 'change the world' kind of motivation).
Whenever I work with big sales teams (and I've worked with quite a few), we
run statistical analysis on the values of the team. The top quartile are
always #1 'Utilitarian', with FEW exceptions. I would attach those stats,
but for client privacy issues.
Feel free to post the attached and any or all of my comments if you'd like.
Respectfully yours,
Jeffrey T. Sooey, CPBA CPVA CAIA CPAC
President & CEO, JTS Advisors
jeffrey@jtsadvisors.com
Office (619) 286-1797
Fax (309) 424-4759
Private Cell (619) 920-2015
I return calls within 72 hours (emails as I am able).
http://www.coachestrainingblog.com/becomeacoach
For assessment needs, call Sue Koch, Director of Profiling and Assessments
(949) 212-4345 soozycoach@gmail.com
For scheduling, billing, workshop booking, and customer service, call Jackie
Altman, Executive Assistant to Jeffrey T. Sooey (619) 434-9805 / (619)
851-7496 jackiealtman@gmail.com
Comment by jeffreytsooey — July 27, 2009 @ 11:49 pm
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For a true 'money motivated' person, many times (not always) no amount of money is ever enough. They always want to see if they can increase the number. They still love the ring of that cash register 'Cha-Ching!'.
By the way… sent the statistics via discus, but i don't know if they got to you, so if there's another email, let me know.
Jeff
Comment by jeffreytsooey — July 27, 2009 @ 11:54 pm
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mmmm. Deep thoughts here! Aren't 'incentives' EXTERNAL, and 'motivators' INTERNAL? That might be an important distinction, too.
People are motivated inside (or from within), so I guess money can't be a motivator, unless you swallow a dollar… but still, I think the point is that the idea that salespeople have about what money will give them (long/short term, etc.) is indeed inside and those things or thoughts motivate them.
Comment by jeffreytsooey — July 28, 2009 @ 1:23 am
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Scott,
I want them to be value money and want to achieve it. I don't want it
to be their primary motivation. Ex: If you could work for a Fortune
500 company or at start-up as described below for 20% less, which
would you do? Those who forgo the below for the extra few bucks are
the money motivated. Those who would trade the 20% for the rest
aren't. It's a big part of what is important, but it's not the
motivator. It's not what gets them jazzed and up in the morning.
Great description Scott.
Comment by Keenan — July 28, 2009 @ 5:40 am
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I don't think the study came through. You can send to keenan@asalesguy.com
Great discussion in the comments. To me it's more of a priority question. Money plays a role, but the question what is the highest priority. As a society we are disgusted when a sports figure or CEO leaves a good program or company for MORE money. They are the money motivated. I won't hire them because their loyalty is to the cash. Where it goes they go. Most people I believe will trade a few bucks for other things, like those you outlined above. I'm curious to see your study. Thanks for your insight participation. Good stuff.
Comment by Keenan — July 28, 2009 @ 6:35 am
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I think money is real motivator, but only for a short period of time. Is a short therm thing, but recognition and feeling good just to know you`ve accomplished something difficult is long therm and it`s what really keeps you doing something and “giving your life” for it.
Comment by lucasarruda — July 29, 2009 @ 7:53 am
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It's a great point and something I thought about quite a bit last night after I posted. I'm guilty of following the money only to be miserable and leave 8 months later. It wasn't worth the extra money. Not nearly as much fun and I didn't feel like I was part of something game changing, which are motivators for me.
At some point, though, money just becomes a simple business decision. Is cash flow in meeting your requirements (bills, housing, transportation, savings, etc.)? If my goal is to retire at 50 and I'm 45 and only 1/2 way to my goal, I'll be more inclined to follow the money. If I'm 25 and I want to save 10%, I'll be more inclined to find a job that allows for that. I believe that this is where non-fiscal motivators come in. If cash-flow is meeting your goals, and you're happy with that, there are all kinds of things that can motivate someone.
If it isn't, than a decision needs to be made. One needs to either adjust their lifestyle or find a way to make more money, which again, becomes the motivator.
As the world becomes more of an environment of quick hits, following the money will become more prevalent, especially in sales. To go back to your sports analogy, would you take a 'B' player for 5 years or an 'A' player for 2? B will be more consistent, but never great. A will be amazing, but you know in 24 months, she is moving on.
Love the conversation.
Comment by Scott Schnaars — July 29, 2009 @ 10:17 am
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Hmmm, Money has a motivation shelf life. I like that. Thanks Lucas
//keenan
Comment by Keenan — July 29, 2009 @ 11:19 am
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Motivations are complex even with sales people…money is clearly one, but not necessarily #1 , although I think it varies by industry/company etc and of course by person. Many people are motivated to do better (or sell more) but motivations can vary..money, recognition, security, enjoyment, fear even
I don't however agree with the previous blog that money's 90% motivation for sales people…
I think seeing a direct correlation between job/effort and reward is often high in sales persons list..and thats most easily realized/recognized through comp plan. But I believe organizations should look to different and additional ways to 'gratify' peoples motivations when they sell well..provide more job security, offer advancement, provide incentives that are not monetary..these are often more complex needs/more difficult to meet, but if you can you can differentiate your 'compensation plan' and make it a source of competitive advantage.
Comment by timlast — August 6, 2009 @ 9:09 am
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Jim – good post, I used it as a trigger for a post I wrote on money motivation in sales. Link here. http://peaksalesrecruiting.com/are-sales-reps-m...
Thanks for sharing.
Eliot.
Comment by Eliot Burdett — March 9, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
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Jim – good post, I used it as a trigger for a post I wrote on money motivation in sales. Link here. http://peaksalesrecruiting.com/are-sales-reps-m...
Thanks for sharing.
Eliot.
Comment by Eliot Burdett — March 9, 2010 @ 7:11 pm
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We have a great new sales book up for review: “Turbulent Times Leadership for Sales Managers” by Tom Connellan. I’d love to send you a copy for review on your blog. Check out the synopsis on amazon and let me know if you are interested. Thanks!
Best,
Rebecca Brown
http://www.thecadencegrp.com
rbrown@cadencemarketinggroup.com
Comment by Rbrown — August 10, 2010 @ 10:11 pm