Page 128 - DMGT205_SALES_MANAGEMENT

Sales Management

Notes measure their perceptions of inequity and the effectiveness of the company's motivational
programme in general.
Motivation is often equated with incentives but Adam's work emphasises that the elimination
of disincentives (e.g., injustices, unfair treatment) may be an equally powerful influence.

Notes According to Ouchi, trust, integrity and openness are closely related. There should
be trust between employees, supervisors, work groups, unions and management. To
develop trust, there should be complete openness.

9.3.5 Likert's Sales Management Theory

Unlike Herzberg, Maslow and Vroom, who developed 'general' theories of motivation, Likert
(1961) based his theories on research which looked specifically at salesmen's motivation. His
research related differing characteristics and styles of supervision to performance. One of the
hypotheses he tested was that the sales managers own behaviour provides a set of standards,
which, in themselves, will affect the behaviour of their salespeople. He found that there was a
link. High performing sales teams usually had sales managers who themselves had high
performance goals. His research also investigated the methods used by sales managers in the
running of sales meetings. Two alternative styles were compared (as given in the following
figure) - Sales managers who used the group method of leading sales meeting encouraged their
team both to discuss sales problems which had arisen in the field and to learn from one another
and sales managers who monopolised the meeting as an opportunity to lecture them rather than
to stimulate discussion. There was a strong tendency for higher producing sales teams to use the
group method.

Figure 9.2

Several reasons can be put forward to explain this. First, it is likely that a problem faced by one
sales person has been met previously by another who may have found a way of overcoming it;
for e.g., a troublesome objection to one sales person may have been successfully dealt with by
another. The group method of leading a sales meeting, then, encourages problem-solving and
stimulates communication. Second, the more open style of meeting enables the sales manager
to gain a greater understanding of the needs and problems of the sales force. Finally, the group
method promotes a feeling of group loyalty since it fosters a spirit of cooperation.
The research conducted by Likert, then, suggests that, to produce a highly motivated sales force,
the sales manager himself/herself should have high performance goals and encourage analysis
and discussion of sales peoples performance and problems through the group method of
conducting sales meetings.

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