Providing carrots and incentives has always been a trick in the back pocket of any manager. Give someone a bonus, a prize to shoot for, or even a title like “salesman of the month” always works, right? Unfortunately, these incentives rarely provide lasting motivation. Unless your salespeople are motivated from the inside out, no contest is going to change that fact.
The best managers lead by inspiration. Once your salespeople have goals that originate from within, you have motivation that no mere setback can extinguish. Need a little help pushing your sales team to improve? Here are three quotes that may just do the trick.
“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.” – Zig Ziglar
One of the greatest salesmen and motivational personalities to ever grace the stage, the late Zig Ziglar knew that a customer’s complaints were not to be taken personally. After all, you can’t please everyone every time. But what you can do is learn from your mistakes. When a customer complains – even if they do so in a toxic, belittling manner – they are providing you with a platform. What you do with that platform is up to you.
“The only thing that’s keeping you from getting what you want is the story you keep telling yourself.” — Tony Robbins
Why are people like Tony Robbins so successful? Because, for many, they are the first voices that say something other than, “You’re not good enough.” If you have salespeople who have never heard anything but “Why don’t you get a real job?” or “You never stick with anything!” how motivated are they going to be? Get them to see that every man and woman can write their own story and you will create an unstoppable force.
“The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.” – Henry Ford
We live in a world where people are constantly struggling to find out how little they can do and still get by. A sales team with just a single person who carries this kind of attitude can quickly spoil the bunch. Turn the tide around with this quote from the legendary Henry Ford. “Going the extra mile” is hardly a new concept, but sometimes hearing it in a slightly different way can make all the difference.