Motivation

January 1, 2021 Helen Zhao

If an egg is broken by outside force, Life ends.

If broken by inside force, Life begins.

Great things always begin from inside.

By Jim Kwik

Believe it or not, motivation is a very personal topic. As a sales leader, you can use your rank, sales goals, performance reviews, sales process management, and various training to try to get your team up and running and hope for their best performance. But at the end of the day, what comes from within - their hearts and motivations are the driving force for success.

So, what are those motivators?

Based on the common Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ), the top list includes:

Money
Competition
Achievement
Pace
Social Contact
Recognition
Growth
Autonomy

In order to sell, you first need to understand your potential customer’s pain points and needs.

Very similar, in order to motivate, you first need to know what the triggers are.

To find out an organization can leverage a motivation test available from many different sources.

It is also important to recognize those motivators by observing individual behaviors. Money is probably a universal motivator but it may not be the most important one in many cases. A few tips on recognizing motivations via behaviors:

If somebody always volunteers to take the lead on projects, speaks up during group meetings, he/she is likely motivated by “competition” and “recognition”.
If somebody often asks about the career path forward, the room for growth within the organization, and wants to have a clear goal set, he/she is likely motivated by “achievement” and “growth”.
If somebody always completes assignments and tasks on time, never drops the ball, and is always responsive, he/she is likely motivated by “autonomy”.
If somebody takes it very hard when receiving criticisms, distances him/herself after making a mistake, and starts to get really quiet if their voice is not heard, he/she is likely motivated by “acknowledgment” rather than “pressure”.