Page 125 - DMGT205_SALES_MANAGEMENT

Unit 9: Motivating and Compensating Sales Personal

Although Maslow's belief, that one set of needs only becomes important after lower order needs Notes
have been completely satisfied, has been criticised, the theory does have relevance to sales force
motivation. First, it highlights the perhaps obvious point that a satisfied need is not a motivator
of behaviour. Thus, for sales person who already receives a more than adequate level of
remuneration, additional payments may have no effect on motivation. Second, the theory implies
that what may act as a motivator for one sales person may not be effective with another. This
follows from the likelihood that different salespeople will have different combinations of needs.
Effective motivation results from an accurate assessment of the needs of the individual
salespeople under the manager's supervision. The overriding need of one sales person may be
reassurance and the building of confidence; this may act to motivate him or her. For another
who has great need for esteem but a problem regarding work rate, the sales manager may try to
motivate by displaying to colleagues at a sales meeting his or her relatively poor sales
performance.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

1. ......................... can be carried out through financial and non-financial incentives.
2. The ......................... has no family life as he is always enveloped in the market and the
traders.

3. Effective motivation results from an accurate assessment of the needs of the individual
salespeople under the ......................... supervision.
4. One of the common and recommended forms for inducing high levels of motivation is
through ......................... .
5. The ......................... is an important tool to motivate sales persons.
6. A......................... is an amount paid for accomplishing a specific sales task.

9.3.2 Herzberg

Herzberg's dual factor theory distinguished factors which can cause positive dissatisfaction but
cannot motivate (hygiene factors) and factors which cannot cause positive motivation. Hygiene
factors included physical working conditions, security, salary and interpersonal relationships.
Directing managerial attention to these factors, postulated Herzberg, would bring motivation
up to a 'theoretical zero' but would not result in positive motivation. If this were to be achieved,
attention would have to be given to true motivators. These included the nature of the work itself
which allows the person to make some concrete achievement, recognition of achievement, the
responsibility exercised by the person, and the interest value of the work itself.

The inclusion of salary as a hygiene factor rather than as a motivator was subject to criticisms
from sales managers whose experience led them to believe that commission paid to their
salespeople was a powerful motivator in practice. Herzberg accommodated their view to some
extent by arguing that increased salary through higher commission was a motivator through
the automatic recognition it gave to sales achievement.
The sales person is fortunate that achievement is directly observable in terms of higher sales
(except in missionary selling, where orders are not taken, e.g., pharmaceuticals, beer and selling
to specifiers). However, the degree of responsibility afforded to salespeople varies a great deal.
Opportunities for giving a greater degree of responsibility to (and hence motivating) salespeople
include giving authority to grant credit (up to a certain value) discretion to the salespeople. The

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