Welcome first time visitor. If you like what you see, you can receive free twice weekly posts by email or RSS feed. See the right side of the screen for instructions; it only takes 10 seconds. You will receive a verification email if you choose to receive by email. If you don't immediately receive this, please check your spam folder. We will never sell or misuse your email address.

Peggy (not her real name) recently submitted a sales career related question and asked me to answer it.

“I attain my sales goal almost every single month and have done so for many years. I told my boss during an annual review that money doesn’t motivate me that much. He couldn’t believe that anyone in sales would want to be in sales if they felt that way. Am I wrong to feel this way? I love sales, but money is not the main reason.”

Just because many, if not most, sales professionals say they are in it for the money doesn’t necessarily mean they really are. In some sales circles it would be considered politically incorrect to enjoy a sales career for anything other than compensation.

This kind of one-dimensional view of our sales careers can rob us of some of the joys of selling.

Lots of research has been done as to what motivates people at work and, surprisingly, compensation does not come in as number one in most of them. Furthermore, most studies of sales contests indicate that the majority of salespeople prefer tangible awards instead of money.

What motivators are there in a sales career other than money? They include, but are not limited to:

1. Ability to develop significant relationships inside and outside of our company.
2. Outside sales positions provide significant freedom and mobility.
3. Real feeling of accomplishment and contribution, and one that is measurable.
4. Develops personal confidence because we work for a very important department at our company while we simultaneously interface with important decision makers at our customers.

Peggy, I think it’s commendable that you are aware of what does and doesn’t motivate you. Everybody has different motivators and you appear to be tuned into them and obtain your sales budget on a regular basis as a result. I would urge your sales manager not to ruin the soup. Don’t question good results.

Sales can certainly be financially rewarding, but there are many other factors that can make it a fun and rewarding career. Carry on Peggy.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Tags: career, personality, types

We'd like to hear your feedback on this post - feel free to comment below!