Sales Success , Mastery, and Motivation: tasting the close

I previously wrote bout the motivation triangle, and briefly touched on the role that tasting success plays in motivation. Given it’s importance, I felt it deserved a little more attention in order to expand on the topic.

Why is Success so important?

Success taps into something even more powerful than just the rush that comes from closing business for the first time.  Success from closing a deal is just one step on the way to mastering the art of sales.

Feeling mastery over one’s craft is motivating in and of itself, as there is an inherent human drive to reach such levels.  Daniel Pink outlines the complex relationship between Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose in the video below:

What are some ways team members can taste success?

• closing
• watching their first customer go live on your service
• getting paid commission
• getting positive feedback from a customer that they set up

Does it really matter?

How can a sale person believe in your product if they have not created a happy client and seen the product work with their own eyes?  Managers constantly tell their reps to “sell the value” of the product, not the features.  How do you teach your team members what the value is, if they can’t see it first hand?

Every successful cycle of getting a customer up / live / getting results / giving positive feedback…. the sales person will better understand the value.  As they better understand value, then they will sell with more conviction.

What should I do about it as a sales leader?

One thing you could is position your on boarding / new hire training as the onramp to success.  You should know the average time it takes a new employee to get their first “success”, and you should know each of the steps on the way to getting there.

Ex.  Getting a close in a short sales cycle.

• Prospecting 100 leads ( Day 1)
• Calling 100 leads (Day 2)
• Getting 20 leads to take meetings (Day 2)
• Following up with those that didn’t take meetings ( Day 3)
• Pitching 15 Prospects (Day 3- 5)
• Follow-ing up with 10 interested prospects (Day 5-10)
• Closing 5 of them (Day 10-15)