Motivation and retention of employees are two of the biggest challenges facing Sales Managers today. The rapidly-changing workplace of today mandates that employees stay motivated. Sales forces that stay motivated help businesses survive due to increased overall productivity. Motivation is the basis for survival for an organization, yet it is usually ignored as a business topic. There is no clear-cut and well-defined approach to tackling the challenge of employee motivation. Most companies usually ignore it unless a problem crops up.

There are various factors that motivate employees and they keep changing and entering into new stages of fulfillment. As employees’ income increases, money becomes less of a motivator. Similarly as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator.

A psychologist from the USA, Abraham Maslow, first devised the term “trans-personal psychology” and was the first to use many humanistic methods of counseling. Maslow’s work led him to believe that many apparently obvious motivations for people’s behavior are less important than basic personal development.

Based upon his observations and research, Maslow concluded that within the psyche of all human beings, are five levels of increasingly-important chronological desires. He structured his findings into a model which has become known as “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Sales professionals can utilize this information to identify how these basic building blocks of humanity are applicable to their work.

The first and most vital needs to motivate man are physiological needs which include survival, food, water, and shelter. People try to meet their needs in a certain order according to Maslow. A person must meet their physiological needs before attempted to meet the needs of safety, love, and more.

Maslow looks at his first four needs in his hierarchy as deficiency needs. Deficiency needs stop motivating once they are satisfied. However, the final need being self actualization is a need that drives our behavior throughout our entire life. If a business continually gives employees the opportunity to meet this high level need the company should expect its employees to be well motivated.

Because self-actualization is such an intangible concept, there are two theories surrounding it. One school of thought is that we never actually achieve self-actualization but are always striving to achieve our highest potential, while the second belief is that we can achieve self-actualization which lasts only a short while because we will soon find another pinnacle to surmount. Those who strive to realize their potential tend to look for positions which allow them autonomy so that they can make an impact by creating something special or putting their ideas across in an important way.

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Many managerial guru’s claim that one of the main ways of getting staff enthusiastic is to simply align the goals of the company with their goals. If you aren’t sure of what the employees goals are then sit down and discuss them, find out their personal goals and help them achieve it; offer them further training or give them further responsibility, try and understand why they aren’t motivated.

Communication is key and by keeping employees in the loop and making them feel part of the entire process you will notice a difference in their overall behaviour.

Part of communicating with employees is also to recognise the effort that they are making, if they are not making a good effort stay positive and highlight where they have been good, but also say to them that they have the ability to do more, encourage them to improve. Constructive criticism can sometimes be difficult for employees to swallow but offer them training or offer them some form of incentive to doing well. Sit with each employee on a regular basis and discuss short term individual aims.

Team building is a brilliant way to enthuse employees, workshop days or even the occasional night out will encourage employees to become friendly with one another and will allow you to break down the ‘boss’ barrier that many people feel inhibited by. Not only will team building be an excellent way for employees to relax but can be a useful tool in training and re-illustrating your company views to them.

As already illustrated communication is the key, speak to your employees, break down any barriers and try to understand their own personal aims. If you don’t understand who your employees are then you will never motivate nor relate to them.

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Modern psychology attempts to explain human behavior and its underlying motivations. Understanding human behavior is critical in order to effectively control or influence human behavior in a desired manner. An advanced understanding of modern psychology can help individuals improve their personal lives, as well as advance their careers.

Maslow was in innovator in the field of psychology. He authored an important paper in 1943, developed after his extensive experience with others, to explain the motivation for human behavior based on the needs of people. Before this paper, only animals and pure theory had been the main sources of psychological doctrines.

He was also revolutionary by focusing on what constituted positive mental health, instead of what was abnormal or deviant, thereby making his theory more applicable and relevant to the general human population. This theory is why Maslow is now considered the father of humanistic psychology and also of modern management.

Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs defines human motivation to satisfy those needs in the form of a ladder or pyramid. His theory is that people must start at the bottom, can only advance after completing the current step, and must complete each step in order. He lists physiological needs as the first step to attain, followed by safety, social, esteem and finally self-actualization.

Maslow’s theory has a lot of relevance today for the business manager. People require the basic necessities of life such as food, water, shelter and sleep. Without it the motivational development stage is essentially frozen. The inherent need to survive will be the driving force to ensure these needs are met. So in applying Maslow’s theory, the business manger still needs to ensure that the sales force has the essential ingredients for success. This means providing lunch breaks, a safe working environment and of course sufficient compensation so that sales staff can obtain the necessities of life.

After fulfilling the basic physiological needs, the employees can think about their future security and safety. It is necessary for them to feel that their workplace is safe. Their maximum efficiency and effectiveness cannot be met when they experience fear of threat in their surroundings. Job security and physical threats can be overcome by employing security guards, responsive management people and cameras.

Next is the step of social needs. People want to fit in with other people. Participating in a team building event can help employees gain a sense of belonging to a group. Working in a nice environment with specific goals and rewards based on group accomplishments can go a long way to promoting this community spirit.

The fourth stage is esteem. Everyone wants to feel appreciated and valued. They want recognition from their employers and co-workers. Without recognition, morale decreases and so does performance. Most people are defined by their worth which is determined by the recognition they receive. To fulfill that basic need, recognition can be in the form of plaques, certificates or even winning prizes. They way the business manager chooses to recognize the employee is not as important as the recognition itself and the feeling of esteem that is given.

The last step of the hierarchy is self-actualization. This fifth step focuses on people’s desire to reach their full potential. Self-awareness allows them to think abstractly and focus on intangible goals, and to make long-term plans. These areas typically include career development, creative hobbies and other aspects of personal growth. Managers can support this need by assisting with continuing education, sponsoring memberships in professional organizations, and offering a career path that allows for career growth.

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Find personalized instructor for Leadership Coaching.

There are some issues that keep us awake at night as:
Is your team also up with you?
Do you really feel like you are growing your organization or department by yourself?

Many a times it is seen that efficient team leaders fail to understand why they are stuck at a position. At this point of time only one thing comes into being: Leadership Quality. It is important to remember that leadership motivates employees to work with you and work for you. If you are unable to motivate your team, then it is time to get your self a benefited leadership coaching. Business leadership coaching helps people to improve and grow their leadership skills.

Dr. Prakash, master of leadership coaching program helps you to discover your leadership qualities. In his own words: “With over thirty five years of hands-on experience, I have dedicated my life to helping my clients improve their careers and attain desirable positions in their respective organizations. I use proven coaching techniques that combine ancient eastern philosophies of healing and balance with my first-hand experience with individuals, executives and small business owners to help my clients identify new possibilities.”

None of us likes to take any career and organization risk at any cost. All what is required to do is enroll your self into a leadership coaching program and remove all professional obstacles from your way. It will help you to lead your team towards right direction. At CoachPrakash, you will enjoy a rapid return on your investment through extensive leadership coaching programs, business leadership coaching programs and business coaching services.

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These days in the corporate world there is so much of pressure in and around it is important to understand that the employers need to understand the fact that they need to motivate their employees at each and every step. So here arises the need for the motivational speakers wherein the employers seek the help of the motivational speaker so as to identify the problems of the employees and grant them job satisfaction. Basically there are two kinds of motivational speakers namely the self motivator and leadership motivators. The self motivators are referred as the people that have motivated themselves so as to achieve the desired results. The self motivators are the motivators that have a background in sports, adventure. Further they are referred as the true winners as they have emerged as winners after overcoming an obstacle or difficulty in their lives. They are the people who have emerged victorious after facing many obstacles.

The second category of the motivational speakers are referred as leadership motivator, they usually have a background in business, military or in a sports not just as mere players but they have also held posts of a coach or a manager rather than just a player.

While you are selecting the motivational speakers for the event it is important to understand the needs and the wants of the audience. It is also essential to understand the goals and aspirations of the audience you are going to address. While choosing the motivational speakers it is important to understand the message you are intending to impart to the audience targeted. Unless you are not clear about the message you are intending to impart the motivational speaker will not understand the aim of the speech and there will not be any use for the speech and the message which you were intending to deliver. Hence it is important that you understand the nature of the speech so that you are satisfied with the basic nature of the speech and let it be a fruitful event.

In case you are aiming at the need of getting the individuals to re-assess and re-examine the personal circumstances both for their personal and the professional lives, then in such instances the self motivator speaker will be the apt choice.

In case you are intending to target on the values of group dynamics, team work, trust, empathy, leadership, shared vision and values as the most important factors then it is important to remember the fact that you hire a leadership motivator. He is the person who can drive these feelings in the employees to a great extent.

Further when you are intending to hire the motivational speakers it is important to understand the fact that you need to beware of the speakers who have not achieved anything in particular but they have an in depth knowledge of text book matter. However they are very easy to identify as they tend to hide their lack of depth and experience behind the fact of high performance areas. The effect of their speeches rarely lasts outside the venue in which they have delivered the speech.

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Human resource is the most important component of any organization. They are the people behind the productivity and efficiency of the organization. They are the moving force and the future leaders. But they are not born leaders. That is a myth. Leadership coaching and leadership development are the tools to identify and groom them for success.

LMI-UK can help develop your employees and team members achieve their full potential through a unique process of multi-sensory techniques and spaced repetition learning in due course and making certain that results are ongoing. The firm believes that only through proper training and developing will the latent capabilities of the people of your organization be put to good use.

It is such a waste if you are not able to tap the dormant skills and talents of your people. If these are harnessed, it can become a leverage to achieve the finest performance. Leadership coaching and leadership development can formally help hone, motivate, and move your people to work effectively. Team leaders are able to co-exist and delegate efficiently. At the same time, members respond in the affirmative.

Skills are motivator factors that can be identified. LMI-UK distinguishes something out of the ordinary. They offer skills identification and development. Then assigned tasks are given to people who are best suited to do the job. With that in place management can be assured that those jobs are done according to specification.

Leadership coaching and leadership development courses at LMI-UK cover all the bases. From the bottom of the ladder to the highest rung, all can benefit to increase productivity, decide on conflict solutions, and build up teamwork. The objective is also to ameliorate an executive’s management skills and leadership competence. The courses are designed for interested and enthusiastic corporations, managers, and team leaders who only have progress and enhancement of career options and skills in mind.

LMI-UK offers programmes that focus on motivational leadership, motivational and supervisory management, team dynamics, effective selling strategies, and personal leadership. The firm brings the programmes and courses to their places of work. This leads to cost effective approach of developing key managers and leaders which makes dead time productive.

In time, the recipients of the leadership coaching and leadership development will better understand the end result of the training. They will realize at the end of the day that it helps in developing personal strategies as well as doing well and maturing as an individual. The programmes enforce way on how to come to terms with self-awareness and the task on focusing on one’s concerns.

By learning and understanding about a compelling career options progression, participants communicate better, manage time well, and improve delegation skills. This also increases team members’ empowerment and team productivity. The approaches are so designed that they become advantageous resources for exploiting existing skills and aptitude and buttress productive mind-sets. These skills are vital for all form of leadership.

LMI-UK is proud of their expert team. Their qualified professionals were themselves holding management positions in large corporations before. They have one way or another have experienced the same management and leadership challenges you face today.

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Are you a leader trying to get your coworkers to change?

Then you need to be aware of a basic motivational, psychological truth.

People only change when they WANT to.

It’s like the little prospector who walked into a saloon, wearing clean new shoes. A big Texan said to his friend standing at the bar, “Watch me make this dude dance.” He walked over to the prospector and asked, “You’re a foreigner, aren’t you? From the East?”

“You might say that,” the little prospector answered. “I’m from Boston, and I’m here prospecting for gold.”

“Now tell me something. Can you dance?”

“No sir. I never did learn to dance.”

“Well, I’m going to teach you. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can learn.”

With that, the Texan took out his gun and started shooting at the prospector’s feet. Hopping, skipping, jumping, the little prospector was shaking like a leaf.

About an hour later the Texan left the saloon. As soon as he stepped outside the door, he heard a click. He looked around and there, four feet from his head, was a shotgun in the hands of the little prospector.

The prospector said, “Mr. Texan, have you ever kissed a mule?”

“No,” said the quick-thinking Texan, “but I’ve always wanted to.”

Obviously, the prospector knew how to pump up the Texan’s WANT-TO cooperation factor. So what can you do to increase your employees’ “WANT-TO” factor?

Leadership and Motivation Training Strategy # 1: Ask brave questions.

If you’re not interested in your employees, you can’t expect them to be interested in you and your organizational goals. But if you show a real interest, they’ll move in your direction. As Dale Carnegie said, “You can make more friends in two weeks by showing interest in others than you can in two years trying to get others interested in you.”

One of the best ways to show interest is to ask more “Brave Questions.” Ask your employees:

• What’s most important to you when it comes to your job, your family, your goals, or your future?
• If you were leading this team, what changes would you make?
• What turns on your motivation, more than anything else?

Remember, superficiality does not communicate genuine interest or pump up another person’s WANT-To factor. You’ve got to really care about the other person, and that comes through when you ask Brave Questions.

Leadership and Motivation Strategy # 2: Be likeable.

Simply put, people tend to follow people they like. And the more your employees like you, the more you pump up their WANT-TO factor.

Direct sales organizations have tapped into this principle with great success. Just think about the selling power of the Mary Kay or Tastefully Simple organizations. The home-party attendees aren’t being sold a product by some anonymous salesperson. They’re buying a product from a friend they know, like, and trust.

So ask yourself…

• How likeable are you… really?
• Would you like to do business with a person who acts just like you?
• Do you use a warm, inviting tone and smile with ease? Or do you exhibit a hurried sense of impatience?
• Do you listen with undivided attention, or do you glance at your desk and computer screen while a coworker is talking?

Leadership & Motivation Strategy #3: Exhibit authority

Before people can have a healthy want-to-cooperate factor, they’ve got to trust you and your integrity. In fact, from my 25 years of speaking experience in the corporate world, I discovered one of the most sought-after job perks today is integrity.

Here’s how you can exhibit your integrity and your authority…

• Let people know about your educational background, certifications, and legitimate titles, but let them know in subtle ways. No boasting, bragging, or arrogance. When your employees know these kinds of things about you, it increases their respect for what you say and what you are requesting.
• Refer to what other colleagues and customers have to say about your work. Again, be subtle. It’s a known truth that others can brag about your performance whereas you can’t and still be liked.
• Make a conscious effort to dress one or two levels above those you are trying to influence. If you dress higher than that, your employees may not think you can identify with them. And if you dress below your employees, they may not take you seriously.
• Dress in clothing styles and colors typically associated with authority like black, navy, or white. Research shows it does make a difference.

There’s just one caution. You can’t exhibit so much authority that people are afraid to challenge you. That would violate the second principle of “being likeable.” And that does happen.

Do you want someone to change?

To follow you?

To be more cooperative?

Then it all starts when they WANT-TO. And they will WANT-TO… if you follow these three simple leadership and motivation training practices.

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Let me ask you a quick question; do you have any children? I don’t have any children, however, I appreciate the challenges that parents face and I’m most reluctant to tell anyone how to bring up their children.

Whether you do or don’t have children, I’m certain you appreciate the importance of raising them to be happy and successful.
To do that, you’d take a great deal of interest in them and what they’re doing; show you care about them and give them lots of your time and attention.

Children show us from an early age that they want lots of attention. We become aware of this by the way they physically and emotionally, reach out to us. If we fail to provide their required level of attention or acknowledgement, then they’ll almost certainly let us know; usually by behaving badly.

Some parents have difficulty in giving time and attention and often bribe or pay their children to be successful with offers of gifts or money. “Pass your exams and I’ll buy you a new bicycle!” However, children want presence not presents and if they fail to receive their acceptable level of attention and acknowledgement, then they may behave badly.

Not a lot changes when we become adults; we still crave attention and acknowledgement from other people. We look for it from our partners, friends, children, parents and, very importantly – our boss at work!

Successful Motivational Managers realise this and provide their staff with attention and acknowledgement.

They spend quality time with every member of their staff, giving feedback on job performance; be it good or bad.

They listen to problems, both business and personal; they show interest and help the staff member find solutions

They show that they trust and believe in their staff by empowering them to make decisions and be responsible for their actions

Successful Motivational Managers do not bribe or pay their staff to be successful. Incentives, bonuses and prizes are all acceptable; however, they will never replace attention and acknowledgement.

Some food for thought; take a minute and think about someone in your life who you did your best for. Perhaps it was a parent, a teacher or a manager. What was it about them that made you want to do your best; was it presence or presents??

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How many times have you phoned someone to be told, “They’re in a meeting!?”
At least 60 per cent of a manager’s time is spent in meetings. Research in one large organisation discovered that the figure could be as high as 90 per cent. And another survey found that many managers consider meetings they attend, to be a waste of time. In fact, some managers say that – “meetings take ‘minutes’ and last for hours.”
If you are a manager or team leader, then you will have to hold meetings; here are 4 steps to make them exceptionally Motivational:

1. Don’t hold a meeting unless you really have to. Be really, really sure that the meeting is needed and that it has a clear objective. By the end of the meeting, however long it takes, the shorter the better; you have to be sure that you’ve achieved that objective.

2. Start the meeting on time. Don’t wait for anyone and don’t go over what’s been discussed for latecomers. Of course, you really shouldn’t have latecomers and if you do, speak to them individually after the meeting and sort it out.

3. Have a structured agenda showing start time, breaks and finish time. Don’t schedule meetings to start on the hour; say 1.20 rather than 1 0’clock. And if it’s a half day meeting, start in the afternoon rather than the morning; people will keep moving if they think they will be late leaving work. Ruthlessly stick to that agenda; don’t allow people to ramble or talk about things not on the agenda. If you want to have chit-chat time – put it on the agenda! Keep people moving and even get them out the door before the finish time on the agenda.

4. Make meetings fun. Supply snacks, drinks, fruit and chocolate. Start the meeting with a fun energiser game or quiz. Let one of the team chair the meeting occasionally (as long as they control the agenda). Allow people to have a laugh; create energy and enthusiasm.

So there you have it; Motivational Managers run structured meetings with clear objectives where people have fun and resultantly contribute and get things done.

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I have a confession to make; I, on occasion, have felt a little de-motivated. Yes, me, the ‘Motivation Doctor,’ feels a bit lacking in motivation from time to time, just like everybody else.

I’ve talked in the past about how to develop your Brain and Body Energy to build self-motivation; so here’s another suggestion – Spend time with positive people.

Last Saturday I had lunch (well beer and chips) with five of my really good friends. They’re always interested in what I’m doing, really supportive and they really make me laugh! When I leave them, I feel much better and more motivated than I did before we met.
I like to think that I do the same for them, and that’s the secret to receiving support and motivation from others; you need to hand out some ‘Warm Glows’

So let me ask you; do you remember how you felt after your last interaction with another person either on the phone or face to face? That person – it could have been one of your customers, a colleague, a salesperson, a friend or even a member of your family. Did they make you feel good, uplifted and more positive? Did they leave you feeling neutral or, even worse, did they make you feel down and more negative?

Unfortunately, most of us have grown up in a negative culture where it’s much easier to tell people what they did wrong rather than praise them when they succeed. Research in the United States found that 65% of employees received no recognition for good work in the past year.  Similar research in other countries of the world shows comparable results.
Other research has shown that the number one reason people leave their job, and customers take their business elsewhere, is that they don’t feel appreciated. (And if you think about it – many people leave their partners for the very same reason)

If customer’s leave an interaction with you or one of your team feeling better than they did before, then they’re much more likely to come back, recommend you to other people and spend more money with you.
If one of your team feels better after an interaction with you then they’re much more likely to pass that feeling onto a customer.

“The way you treat your staff is the way they’ll treat your customers” – Karl Albrecht

If a friend feels better and more motivated after spending time in your company, then they’re much more likely to return these feelings to you.

So, go ahead; give some positive and motivational comments to the other people in your life and you’ll have – a workplace that’s more productive and more fun – more happy customers – more friends – better relationships and a healthier, happier and longer life.

Remember – “Hand out warm glows, not dampeners.”

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