Author: Rebecca Oeltjenbruns, Coach & Catalyst, January 17, 2012

It’s the New Year!  A time to start fresh. A chance, as a senior care and living leader, to discuss with your sales team what the goals for 2012 are and what you, as the “manager”, expect each salesperson to do to achieve these goals.  In the past, however, you may have had limited success turning these individual sales goals into some real action that got better results from each of your team members.  What could you do differently this year to motivate each of them to better performance?

Sales managers who motivate the highest level of production from each member of their teams are almost always those who excel at expectation clarity.  Expectation clarity requires a manager to do three things.  First, he or she must be crystal clear about all expectations. This includes what specific actions should be taken, how to do them, and to what specific and measurable outcome.  Explain the “who, what, where, when, and how.”  It’s not enough to say “Sell ten widgets today.”  You also need to explain what activities must be done to sell ten widgets and how to do each of these activities effectively.

Next, the manager must explain how an expectation and the activities it entails are similar to and different from what the salesperson is doing currently. This helps the salesperson understand what he or she needs to do more of, less of, and/or what he or she should continue doing.

Finally, the manager must help the salesperson understand “what’s in it for them.” Don’t forget, since every salesperson may have a different answer, your success in setting expectations and prompting results means you will have to treat each employee as an individual.  Design motivations which play off each person’s strengths, weaknesses, “triggers,” and learning styles.

What if you don’t know what motivates the salespeople on your team?  Asking is a good start.  Ask open-ended questions.  Ask more than once, and in different ways.  You can always ask “What motivates you?” or “What is it you want?”  The answers to these questions may reveal motivators.

There are additional ways to uncover personal motivators – ways which can help you connect to each employee as an individual.  Here are some questions you might consider:

• What do you love most about this job (or a job you’ve had in the past)?
• What gives you the most satisfaction in the work you do on this team?
• Where do you see yourself in a year from now?
• When you tell someone what you love about your work, what do you say?
• When you’ve had a good day at work what does it look like?

Check your understanding of the answers you receive.  Probe for details about these potential motivators.  Discuss with the salesperson how and why these examples are important.  Then, observe and listen.  Use this motivator to help the salesperson understand what the expectation you’re setting (e.g., 110% of last year’s quota, 100% retention of existing clients, 3 new leads each week, etc.) will do for him or her if it’s achieved.  If you know a salesperson is motivated by money, then explain how much more money he or she will make if they achieve the goal.  If you know the salesperson is motivated by career advancement, then help him or her understand how meeting your expectations will improve the odds of a promotion.

What expectation clarity for 2012 will you be implementing to make a difference in the results your team gets?

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Rebecca Oeltjenbruns recently joined CISCO & CO as a Coach & Catalyst.  Rebecca is a high energy sales productivity coach who helps senior care and living organizations align strategy with sales and marketing efforts; develop business processes; and create supportive, values-based environments.  Her primary goal is to help sales teams execute strategy that meets company revenue and retention goals.

For more than 20 years, Rebecca has coached and developed high-performing teams in sales and service organizations.  She has facilitated hundreds of sales training sessions.  Critical to her success is her ability to win the hearts and minds of managers who increase their coaching activities and their coaching effectiveness to help improve the sales performance of their team members following training events.

Rebecca holds a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law and has been employed as a senior executive or executive coach to several Fortune 500 companies.