No one has gotten more press on motivation, over the course of time, than Abraham Maslow. Each person, as we know, is truly motivated by a series of physiological then safety and security and belonging needs which Maslow goes into in his "Needs Hierarchy Theory".

As many of you are aware of, the needs are listed from basic, the lowest to earliest are:

Hunger, thirst, sleep

Then, safety, security, shelter and health

Then belongingness, love, friendship

Then self esteem

Then self-actualization

There are lots of theories that go around exactly as to what motivates human beings.

In this show today, we are going to get into what motivates your sales people and specifically how you can use those motivations to becoming a top performing sales manager or if you’re a general manager to help your sales managers use these seven forces of motivation to get the best out of your sales team and to drive your sales revenues.

There is no question about it, every person is motivated differently. Even though Maslow highlights five individual characteristics that we are all motivated by, the bottom line is this, I’m motivated differently than you are based on the intrinsic factors called the Seven Forces of Motivation, which will get into momentarily.

Likewise, your sales people are motivated differently as well. There is an infinite number of combinations that exist that motivate each individual sales person.

In our 10 question that we outlined in previous shows, we told you that the basics of motivation are centered around figuring out what makes your sales people tick.

At the base level, those ten questions are extremely effective at figuring out what motivates them from a business standpoint and a sales standpoint.

But we are going to get into deeper of these seven forces of motivation, so that you become a true sales motivational master in the process.

The interesting part is that the forces that motivated you as well as your sales people when they were kids, are the same exact same motivations that motivate them today. That is an important point to remember. What motivated them when they were children are still the same inherent motivations that motivate them today.

So if you can tap into those, you are that much closer to becoming a real motivational master of your sales force.

For example, I’ll use a personal example here. I am primarily motivated by the need for autonomy. There is nothing that makes me happier than singularly tackling a project and seeing it to its ultimate completion basically due to my efforts.

When I was a kid I played and worked and learned primarily on my own. And though I loved to be in groups, not typically large groups, but in smaller groups of close friends, its not really my preferred way of living as well as it is not my preferred way of working and achieving career success.

I was never really much of a "team oriented" worker in college or in the corporate world.

It doesn’t say that I didn’t like being on teams, but I was not motivated by the goals of a team, I was more motivated by my own individual goals. I preferred to do it on my own, and rarely asked for advice, if ever at all.

In fact, the formation of this present sales training company, that you are listening to some of our free material from, is proof positive of my autonomous, "do it on your own" kind of nature.

So this might be the same case for you, it might be different for you. But this is one of the seven forces of motivation that’s an overpowering force for me to create the motivation that I have to do the things that I want to do in my life.

Let’s get right into the seven forces of motivation that inspire not only sales people but also human beings in general. Everyone is inspired in some part of each motivator, but the extent that each is most relevant creates a motivational profile that is unique for each individual person. I have arranged them in relative proportions to the typical sales profile.

Let’s get through the first half of them now.

1. The need for belonging

2. The need for independence

3. The need for importance

4. The need for knowledge

5. The need for assertiveness

6. The need for recognition

7. The need for affiliation

Let’s get into the first 3 of the 7 forces of motivation.

First is the "Need for Belonging". These sales people are happiest when they are surrounded by people and in group environments. There are not typically autonomous types of individuals, they are not prone to solitary activities. This sales rep prefers starting and maintaining relationships which usually keeps them in these relationships for a long time. They tend to these relationships for a fairly long time after their meeting.

They love team selling and group presentations. This is a very common way that companies are selling these days, particularly in the medical field and pharmaceutical industry, although some models are changing back to the single model. Group selling is very common in sales these days. For this type of person the group style of selling environment is ideal. But if they are in a solitary sales environment, chances are they probably are not going to be as successful. This need for belonging, and the need to interact and to be in groups with others, really makes them happiest. Often times this is the solitary sales person that goes into groups, and entertaining and bringing in lunch and entertaining at night time with large groups of clients, office staff and customers and decision makers.

They love to be in groups, and the larger the group, the better. Those people are motivated by the sense of belonging. If I’m not in a larger group, then I don’t feel self satisfied, I don’t feel even close to being, to borrow the phrase from Maslow, "self-actualization" when they are in large groups.

That is belonging which is the first force of motivation.

Number 2 is "Independence".

This sales rep is the lone wolf. It is the opposite of those that are in the first group.

We have listed these 1 -2, because I have seen as many "independent" sales people as I have "belonging" type sales people.

These people are very motivated by doing things on their own and being very independent. This is the way I was when I was a sales person as well.

This sales rep, they are the lone wolf. They don’t like to work in teams, and will actually disdain team selling in all its forms. They are totally in it for themselves and fiercely independent of the credit that is taken in a particular sales call and whether or not the sale is successful or whether or not it is not successful . They want to assert their abilities in a singular environment. They love taking singular responsibilities for their actions in a sales environment.

In further shows we will get into how to use these

The first thing is to understand what these seven forces of motivation are, and then try to start thinking about your individual sales people and what combination of these 7 forces they are identified with.

We will also give you a questionnaire so that you can identify which one of these you sales people are, or what combination of these forces they are. This is going to be extremely powerful for you to use to turn you into a top sales motivator and a tremendous sales leader.

Number 2 is "Independence".

Number 3 is "Importance"

It is something that is extremely popular motivator. Most people, as Dale Carnegie once stated, love the feeling of importance, it is an intrinsic motivator. It is something that is extremely self satisfying and comes from within. If you know alot about motivational 3, intrinsic motivation comes from within.

However, this group of sales people is tied to the opinions, obviously, of others. They want to satisfy to a certain degree but they want to feel as if they are important. How do you really motivate a sales person like this? You motivate them by making them feel important. Everyone likes to feel important, but on a continuum, on a scale of 1-10, these people are on a higher end of 8-9 category, as opposed to some others who are not motivated by importance are on the 2-3 end of the scale.

They are tied to their opinion of others and you as the sales manager. They are extremely tied to what you say and think about them.

They love and are driven by feedback. Feedback is their life blood. The viewpoint of others regarding their progress.

They are dying to know how they did after a sales call. They are dying to know what their performance appraisal looks like at year end or at a mid year review.

They really want to know exactly where they stand. Typically they are tied to other motivational forces of motivation which is the learning end of things. If you have importance as well as learning, then you can tell them exactly where they stand and they go back and learn more, to become better and hone their craft and become more effective as a sales person.

So number 3 is importance.

Also this person is in tune with the approval of others. As a sales manager you have to be exquisitely in tune with and cognizant. If they are looking for approval from you, then you have give it or dole it out in either bit size chunks or on regular basis and we will give you more insight on how to do that on future shows.

They are also very sensitive to criticism. They don’t want to upset people whose opinions they value.

Somebody like you as a sales manager, be careful how you couch your criticism as well as your praise in those who are primarily motivated by importance.

The last one that we will go through is the "Need for Knowledge".

The knowledge hungry sales person is motivated by their thirst for learning new things.

They seek these new skills, they actively look for new ways to further their knowledge.

They are probably your product knowledge experts. If you have particular products or product lines, they know all of the details. And they thrive on the fact that they know all of the details. They are extremely motivated by this.

The way to motivate these people is to give them extra projects. We will get into this in future shows.

They seek these new skills, they actively look for new ways to further their information, they love more information, they love assimilating this information into their sales pitches to become even better at what they do.

The continually ask you lots of questions and they enjoy taking on new projects that spur their desire to know more.

This one is a pretty easy one to motivate, you combine this with an internal drive and independence and you’ve got a very, very good sales person with some intrinsic motivators that will drive them to success. You as a sales manager can harness these very easily in order to get the very best out of them.

Those are the first four of the Seven Forces Of Motivation in this week’s show. Will get into the last 3 next week.

We will also start giving you some insights into how to use these Seven Forces of Motivation to get the very best out of your sales people. Or teach these to your sales people so that they can get the best out of their sales people.