The Performance Formula#

Brian Tracy’s compact formula for human performance is:

A × M = P — Ability times Motivation equals Performance.

“It is your attitude more than your aptitude that determines your altitude.”

Two implications follow:

• A talented but unmotivated person produces little.
• A motivated person of average ability often outperforms a talented but disengaged peer.

Sales managers cannot easily change ability in the short term — but they can dramatically influence motivation.

What Builds Ability#

Ability is composed of:

• Aptitude — natural ability, partly inborn and partly developed.
• Experience — relevant time in the field.
• Training and education — the only lever you can pull immediately.

Top global companies — IBM, Xerox, Google, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard — spend millions per year on training because they know the ROI on training is among the highest in business.

The Four Factors of Motivation#

Motivation is a function of four factors, each of which a sales manager can influence:

1. Leadership style.
2. Organizational climate.
3. Reward structure.
4. Individual needs.

1. Leadership Style#

The most important person on a sales team is the sales manager. Your ability to inspire, empower, and encourage is the pivotal skill that drove IBM’s turnaround. Improving the sales manager’s style produces almost-immediate increases in sales results.

2. A Great Place to Work#

Use the “laugh test” to gauge organizational climate:

Laughter is spontaneous and unplanned, so it is a true test of relationship quality.

In a good company, people laugh a lot. They tell jokes, smile, joke around. The more people laugh at work, the more confident and positive they feel — and the more they sell.

3. The Reward Structure#

Khrushchev’s blunt observation:

“Call it what you will, but people are motivated by incentives.”

Salespeople have two major motivators:

• Money — earning more, and the potential to earn more.
• Status — being made to feel important in the company.

Never make the mistake of thinking trophies and plaques can replace money.

A 1990s Silicon Valley CEO announced in the press that all salespeople would be paid the same regardless of results, declaring competition “unseemly.” Within six months, every top salesperson had left for competitors. Six months after that, the company went broke. Sales dropped 80 percent and investors lost everything.

4. Individual Needs#

Different people, at different career stages, need different things:

• New salespeople need clear structure, supervision, frequent feedback, and skills coaching.
• Senior salespeople want camaraderie, then to be left alone. They resent being overcontrolled.

Keep asking: “What does this salesperson need to perform at their best right now?”

The Psychology Behind Motivation: The Self-Concept#

Perhaps the greatest discovery in 20th-century psychology was the self-concept — the bundle of beliefs each person holds about themselves. There is a direct relationship between a salesperson’s self-concept and their level of sales performance.

People sell effectively to the exact degree they consider themselves good at selling.

The self-concept has three components.

Self-Ideal#

A vision of the very best version of themselves. To raise it:

• Encourage salespeople to pick top performers in the industry as role models.
• Reinforce: “This is the kind of person you can become if you work hard, learn the right things, and persist.”
• Be a role model yourself. The team’s quality reflects your own. Ask: “What kind of company would my company be if everyone was just like me?”

Self-Image#

The “inner mirror” people consult before each sales call. Three forces shape it:

• How they see themselves compared to their ideal.
• How they think they are seen by others.
• How they think others perceive their standing.

When salespeople join a new team, they have a fresh chance to build a new self-image. From the very first hour, express welcome, appreciation, and confidence — and watch how fast new hires grow into superstars.

Self-Esteem#

The most important and emotional component — how much they like themselves. There is a direct relationship between self-esteem and sales results.

• Everything you do to make a salesperson feel valued raises self-esteem.
• Higher self-esteem produces more enthusiasm and determination in the field.
• The most powerful self-esteem builder is success itself — actually making sales.

Make people feel like winners. The more wins they accumulate, the higher their self-esteem rises, and the more wins they generate.

The Money Question, Settled#

Many executives without a sales background assume salespeople should not be motivated by money. They are almost invariably wrong.

• Salespeople think about how much they earn — constantly.
• Money is meaningful because of what it can buy: cars, clothes, homes, status, lifestyle.
• The relationship between earnings and effort is a perpetual source of drive.

When asked how to motivate salespeople without more money, Brian Tracy’s honest answer is: “I have no idea.”

What Salespeople Really Need#

Strip away the theory and most salespeople need the same fundamentals:

• Clear sales goals and objectives.
• Written, measurable performance standards and deadlines.
• Sales success experiences — frequent wins.
• Rewards based on performance.
• Praise, encouragement, and recognition.

Provide these and they will sell in any market.

Action Exercises#

1. List each salesperson on your team and write down one or two specific needs each person has to perform better.
2. Treat every salesperson as a potential superstar — assume your job is simply to create the environment that lets them perform at their best.