What's the Hook?
If you find the right bait, you'll keep your salespeople motivated--and selling.
By Kimberly L. McCall •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, I supervised a sales team thatwas responsible for supporting clients with clout, mostly Fortune500 types. After months on end of murderous 70-hour workweeks whilemanaging a staff that just about Caine Mutiny'd me during areorganization, I was publicly rewarded with a faux gold medal thatwas inscribed with my name. Instead of being a rose-colored careerhighlight, the occasion was actually quite the opposite. The wholeexperience played out like a Fox special: "When Well-MeaningIncentive Programs Go Bad." I quit soon after.
Incentive programs can be tricky beasts. What motivates onesalesperson may completely discourage another. Consider the allureof cash. I appreciate a cash bonus and suffer no hangups about thelack of thought on the part of the giver. Beats a cheese wheel, andthe fit is always just right. But monetary awards, which you'dthink would be a powerful catalyst and inspiration for a salesteam, have both supporters and detractors. Proponent Rashid Khan,founder and CEO of Ultimus, a technology business in Cary, NorthCarolina, says, "If your salesperson isn't motivated bymoney, you have the wrong salesperson."
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