Motivating Sales Representatives So That They Can Reverse Decline in Sales - Assignment Example

Q1 You are the sales manager of a chocolate manufacturing company. Upon reviewing the half yearly figures you notice that there has been a decline in sales. What would you do to MOTIVATE your sales representatives so that they can reverse this decline? I agree with the assertion that if you pay a sales person enough money he will be motivated. Motivation can be defined as a driving force that pushes or encourages people to work, for it is meant to initiate action on a certain task. It expands a certain amount of effort on that particular task and to persist in expanding effort over a period of time. A good sales-person is one who possesses personality traits that is in their innate nature to interact with others. These are often difficult to teach but can be developed with time, depending upon the individual’s motivation to excel in their field of work. This forms the intrinsic motivation. However, the motivational tendencies of an individual sales-person alone are insufficient as it is also dependent upon extrinsic motivational factors1. One of the greatest extrinsic motivational factors happens to be money. Money is the driving factor of almost every human activity in today’s life; it is the motivation that drives the economies. The most solid reason why people do what they do on a day to day basis is money. Sales people have the ability to calculate their commission faster than any super computers2. A well paid sales person will be comfortable because he knows that all his needs are taken care of and doesn’t have to worry about looking for other means to satisfy his needs. He will therefore concentrate more on the job at hand. A study carried out in the united states of 2,019 sales people, 74% of them said they were motivated by money. Sales people work in environments that they are supposed to know their products well and the more motivated, in terms of monetary rewards; they are the more they are likely to go out of their way to do more research about the product in terms of new developments for technological products, for example. A sales person is that is paid well can go the extra mile to know what the likes of the consumers and clients are 3. How many times have we set out to get or earn a certain amount of money only for you to achieve the target and realize it is not enough? A sales person will set target of products he or she will sell with the end product in mind. The end product in this case is the commission or the amount of money he or she is going to get4. As much as people can be driven by sheer determination to achieve a specific goal, most times money is usually the measuring factor that determines the level of achievement of that goal. “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score.”5. If you pay a sales person more money, he will be obligated to deliver on his end. It will be more than just a person doing the sales job just for the sake of it but to fulfill his or her obligation when it comes to delivery of services paid for. Paying sales people enough money will lead to profit maximization6. Q2 How would you define sales ethics, and WHY is this topic receiving so much attention today? (for this question, focus on WHY) The ethical sales are very important and therefore have gained much emphasis in the business realm. Acting through a moral principle system, rules and conduct is crucial in the sales and marketing of products and therefore should never be compromised. Ethics is correlated to how a person makes decisions according to the social norm that surrounds him/her. These norms include the cultural and the laws plus the standard procedures of the environment. In any organization, the employed are monitored closely and therefore have no chances of making unethical decisions7. However, salesmen are not monitored and therefore are prone to making decisions that greatly benefit themselves and not the company8. This can be very detrimental to the performance and in the long run to the revenue generation. The reason why sales ethics is receiving a lot of concern in the businesses is because sales are the heart of any businesses and other functions that keep the business moving. This being the case, there are clashes that occur in the market, from competition of resources, customer and prices just to mention but a few. These clashes give rise to activities that may not get ethical sanctions and thus sales ethics are needed to manage sales and marketing. Research depict that, public find sales people to be the most untrustworthy function of a business and are said to have low ethical standards9. This has resulted to corporate bodies implementing a set of code of ethics and policies which must be obeyed Additionally, business have recognized that, trust is a major factor that concerns business ethics, and this calls for ethical management of sales functions for they create a bond between the salesperson and the customer and therefore honesty is paramount. Sales ethics are aiding platform which help shape the beneficial outcome for all concerned parties and stakeholders. Sales people are the only entity in a company who communicates personally to the market and their sole responsibility is to maximize profits, it is therefore their obligation to ensure that they are business oriented and sales driven for short term performance and long term customer satisfaction that will create value to all involved parties10. This can only happen when sales are done ethically. With ethical sales, there are high chances that customers will have confidence with the products and the services offered by the company11. This being the case, many companies are employing substantial sales ethical standards so that they can raise their customer base. When the customer base is raised, then the company will have increased revenue. Companies have valued customer and thus sales people are now obliged to sharing all information concerning the products to their customers. This being the case, sales people is now using societal marketing which means that much concern is directed towards the society and the environment12. This is for instance in the sales of tobacco products whereby, customers are made aware that, the consumption of the product is harmful to their health rather than hiding that information when they are well aware that these products are harmful. Q3 If you pay a sales person enough money you will have a well motivated sales person. Do you agree? Explain I agree with the assertion that if you pay a sales person enough money he will be motivated. Motivation can be defined as a driving force that pushes or encourages people to work, it is meant to initiate action on a certain task13. It expands a certain amount of effort on that particular task and to persist in expanding effort over a period of time. A good sales-person is one who possesses personality traits that is in their innate nature to interact with others. These are often difficult to teach but can be developed with time, depending upon the individual’s motivation to excel in their field of work. This forms the intrinsic motivation14. However, the motivational tendencies of an individual sales-person alone are insufficient as it is also dependent upon extrinsic motivational factors. One of the greatest extrinsic motivational factors happens to be money. Money is the driving factor of almost every human activity in today’s life; it is the motivation that drives the economies. The most solid reason why people do what they do on a day to day basis is money. Sales people have the ability to calculate their commission faster than any super computers. A well paid sales person will be comfortable because he knows that all his needs are taken care of and doesn’t have to worry about looking for other means to satisfy his needs. He will therefore concentrate more on the job at hand. A study carried out in the united states of 2,019 sales people, 74% of them said they were motivated by money15. Sales people work in environments that they are supposed to know their products well and be more motivated, in terms of monetary rewards16; they are more likely to go out of their way to do more research about the product in terms of new developments for technological products, for example. A sales person that is paid well can go the extra mile to know what the likes of the consumers and clients are17. How many times have we set out to get or earn a certain amount of money only for you to achieve the target and realize it is not enough? A sales person will set target of products he or she will sell with the end product in mind. The end product in this case is the commission or the amount of money he or she is going to get. As much as people can be driven by sheer determination to achieve a specific goal, most times money is usually the measuring factor that determines the level of achievement of that goal. “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score.”18. If you pay a sales person more money, he will be obligated to deliver on his end. It will be more than just a person doing the sales job just for the sake of it but to fulfill his or her obligation when it comes to delivery of services paid for. Paying sales people enough money will lead to profit maximization. Bibliography Adizes, I. Managing corporate lifecycles. The Adizes Institute Publishing., 2004. Deeprose, D. How to recognize & reward employees: 150 ways to inspire peak performance. Amacom Books, 2007. Donald, Trump. Trump: Art of the deal. . . New York Publishers, 2010. Gordon, Richard L. A Line Out the Door: Strategies and Lessons to Maximize Sales, Profits, and Customer Service. iUniverse, 2011. Kirk, J. L. The ParentPreneur Edge: What Parenting Teaches About Building a Successful Business. Wiley, 2007. Murphy, W.H. (2004), “In pursuit of short-term goals: anticipating the unintended consequences of using special incentives to motivate the sales force”,Journal of Business Research ,Vol. 57 No. 11, 2004:pp. 1265-75. Mitchell, D. W., & Coles, C. B. Business model innovation breakthrough moves. Journal of Business Strategy, 25(1), 16-26, 2004. Peppers, Don, and Martha Rogers. One to one B2B: Customer Development Strategies for the Business-to-business World. Crown Business, 2009. Petersen, Glen S. The Profit Maximization Paradox: Cracking the Marketing/Sales Alignment Code. 2008. Roman, S. and Ruiz, S. "Relationship outcomes of perceived ethical sales behavior:the customer’s perspective." Journal of Business Research, Vol. 58 No. 4, 2005: 439-45. Ross, W.T. Jr and Robertson, D.C. "A typology of situational factors: impact on salesperson decision-making about ethical issues." Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 46 No. 3, 2003: 213-34. Roman, S. and Munuera, J.L. “Determinants and consequences of ethical behaviour: an empirical study of salespeople”,European Journalof Marketing, Vol. 39 Nos 5/6, pp. 2005:473-95. Robertson, D.C. and Anderson, E. “Control system and task environment effects on ethical judgment: an exploratory study of industrial salespeople”,Organization Science, Vol. 4 No. 4, 1993:pp. 617-44. Selden, Paul H. Sales Process Engineering. An Emerging Quality Application Booksurge publishers, 1998. Saxena, Rajan. Marketing management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.2009 Scott, Gini Graham. Building a winning sales team: how to recruit, train and motivate the best. New York: ASJA Press.2007 Valentine, S. and Barnett, T. . "Perceived organizational ethics and the ethical decisions of sales and marketing personnel." Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Vol. 27No. 4, 2007: 373-88. Zoltners, Andris A, Prabhakant Sinha, and Sally E. Lorimer. The complete guide to sales force incentive compensation how to design and implement plans that work. New York: AMACOM. 2006 Read More