Time to Change The Carrot and the Stick Motivation to Increase Sales

The carrot and the stick motivation is one of the oldest behavior modification strategies and still used by many small businesses and sales management to increase sales. Yet this sales management tactic has been proven ineffective each year when sales goals or sales quotas are not achieved or just barely achieved.

Paul McCord in his recent blog stated about how human beings are strange in that they keep doing what they have always done.? Dan Waldschmidtsaid it a different way ?Sales quotas are for stupid people. ?

In the book Drive by Daniel Pink provides solid research about why it is time to change the carrot and the stick motivation be it to increase sales or to reach any other desired result. Rewards as evidence through the carrot and the stick approach are addictive and create a negative self fulfilling prophecy where the ante for the reward will require more and more carrots. In a time of economic uncertainty where businesses are attempting to manage their limited resources, this sales motivation strategy truly does not make sense.

The best motivation is ?intrinsic? meaning it comes from within. When sales people want to achieve, this belief will generate far more increase sales than being forced to achieve.? Possibly this is why SMART goals are no longer as effective and why the WAY criteria of Written, Aligned to passion, purpose and plans and Yours may be needed in the future.

One very interesting concept for those in sales management, small business owners to even C suite leadership may wish to consider is the Self Determination Theory (SDT) as advocated by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. This theory is different from many others is that it begins with the idea of universal human (psychological) needs that are separated into three categories:

1. Competence
2. Autonomy
3. Relatedness

Human beings have an innate drive, that inner desire to achieve while still being autonomous, self determined and connected to one another.? When this drive is realized by being free from constraints, individuals achieve more and are happier in living their lives.

To raise the BAR of sales performance, organizational performance or even individual performance begins not with new sales skills or sales knowledge, but with the Beliefs (attitudes) that drive the Actions generating the Results. Those beliefs are internal to each individual and so logically to change those beliefs requires understanding how to motivate from within or in a more common term, WIIFM (What?s in it for me).

This century is so incredibly exciting in that we are learning more and more about how our brains work and how those workings can produced incredibly results driven, emotionally satisfied working individuals as well as just the opposite. Now is the time to change the carrot and the stick motivation to increase sales and recognize the innate need within individuals to be the best they can be.

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Source: http://processspecialist.com/increasesales/sales-management-sales-training-2/carrot-and-the-stick-motivation/

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