For sales managers who look to push every available button to get the most out of their salespeople in this tough year, it makes sense to factor in the psychology of salespeople. By playing to the psychological traits of your people, you can set conditions that will lead to improved sales success. That means understanding the salesperson archetype, ego and emotional needs.

Increase Sales Activities by Encouraging 'Happy Losers'
Psychologist and anthropologist G. Clotaire Rapaille has spent a business lifetime researching the impact of culture on business and markets to help large companies understand how to operate effectively in different global environments. Rapaille feels that salespeople are essentially the same in all cultures, and he calls the archetype "Happy Losers"—people who relish the challenge of dealing with what is likely 90 percent rejection. They are willing and able to keep a good, happy attitude because the thrill of the chase is what drives them. Ultimately, winning against the odds keeps them in the game. Happy losers are somewhat like gambling addicts, who know they'll lose most of the time but hang in there for the occasional thrill of winning.

Psychologist Herb Greenburg noted in 1964 that one of the basic qualities that make great salespeople is "ego drive," the need to conquer, which is separate from the desire to earn money. Greenburg noted that this need stays present despite the reality of frequent sales failures.

So in a year where hearing "no" more often is expected, the best way to manage your salespeople is telling them you understand how tough it is to lose, while encouraging them to lose more. By that I mean you have to motivate your people to increase the activities that lead to more closes: more phone calls, more face-to-face calls and more proposals—the very activities that will fail more often in a down business year.

This year, find ways to drive failure. Create contests, incentives or recognition programs for people who fail the most, knowing that more failure will lead directly to more winning. Who can log the most failed calls, meetings and proposals? How can you hold these people up in front of their peers because of their persistence, guts and perseverance?

Grow Best Practices by Stroking Egos
While sales managers do their best to provide training for their salespeople, through best sales practices, it can be argued that most salespeople still do not sell as much as they could because they don't have enough knowledge about their own unique markets and client types. Knowing that the sales ego—albeit large—has a need to be appreciated, managers can take advantage of that fact by encouraging solid and top salespeople to share their best practices specific to their target markets and clientele. Requesting that performers share information is an excellent way to stroke egos by setting their ideas and talents on a pedestal for all to see.
One of the most compelling reasons for implementing or expanding a best-practice process is that it gives you the opportunity to share the secrets of top sellers' success with the middle majority, the crucial middle 60 percent of your sales channel that can have a huge impact on your success if they can be moved up a notch on the performance scale.

Capturing best practices can be accomplished in a captive sales force as you appeal to the egos of salespeoples in sharing their great ideas and recognizing them by name. In an independent sales channel, it can be accomplished by sharing great best-practice contributions while keeping secret the names of dealers, distributors and contributors. Here are six steps:

1. Position your sales Intranet, incentive platform or CRM software as the focal point for collecting best-practice ideas.

2. Create a set of rules to drive the types of ideas that you are looking to capture.

3. Communicate actively the availability of your best-practice functionality to your sales channel and create an incentive program or contest to promote active input of ideas into the site.

4. Use a cross-functional team of salespeople and mangers to evaluate and rank the ideas implemented.

5. Reward and recognize great best-practice submissions as a way to say thanks and to encourage repeat submissions.

6. Integrate great sales ideas into your standard sales training process as you use your Intranet or CRM software.

In any year, but especially this year, give your happy losers reasons to lose more—and to win more. Take advantage of the vast knowledge base that your sales-channel team represents by implementing or expanding a best-practice process that can help improve the capabilities of your team for years to come.

David Chittock is president of Incentra Inc., a company based in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, focused on helping leaders achieve their business goals by "increasing the value of the people vital to success" through integrated incentive and recognition solutions. He manages a diverse business that offers strategy creation, Web performance platforms, print and electronic communications, administration, training, program analysis and rewards fulfillment around the globe. This page is protected by Copyright laws. Do Not Copy