
Are sales people different from you and me? - neilgd
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2009/09/are-sales-people-different-from-you-and-me.html
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barrkel
Perhaps sales, and its reward structure, attracts a different kind of
personality. I don't think I've ever met a salesperson I liked, whether in a
sales or personal setting. The overwhelming impression is of manipulative
bullies who use social norms of politeness and reciprocity to lever advantage
out of people. Makes me sick.

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Goladus
I've met many salespeople I like and many I don't. They are not all self-
centered manipulative bullies, though many are. Some are genuinely interested
in making shopping a pleasant experience, and as a result get more sales (the
particular person I am thinking of does NOT work on commission, incidentally).
Some have strong relationships with specific customers, understand their needs
very well and understand their company's products very well and rarely ever
recommend anything that won't be valued.

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stcredzero
Salespeople who sell big-ticket software tend strongly towards the bully type.
This would be fine if it were only outwardly directed, but they often use the
same tactics _internally_.

I think the same phenomenon manifests with corporate managers. It's all well
and good if a middle manager has the teeth and claws to hold his own in the
corporate jungle. She/he shouldn't necessarily use such armament in other
contexts, such as when dealing with the craft-oriented techies in her own
group.

Some buddhists would say something like, "One is shaped by their livelihood."

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jfno67
After watching a TED presentation on External motivation, which stated it did
more harm than anything. I was nodding in full agreement and trying to think
of one job where it was not true. The only job I came up with was sales, I was
just not sure for this one. I would really like to see a one year after report
on this, this should be telling. I think it will prove commissions are not
working.

BTW the TED talk is <http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html>

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trebor
Thanks for linking to the talk, it was very thought provoking. And, by what I
see, adds more support to the article's conclusion.

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trebor
My father is a sales engineer, which means he covers all the technical stuff
of a sale. His employer is behind in paying commissions my father needs, not
simply wants. In my experience of growing up with a father who worked as a
technician and then as a salesman, I see this as a change for the better.

This method removes greed as a motivation, promotes selling _helpfulness_ to
the customer (rather than ripping them off), and stabilizes the pay of the
sales guy who just had a really tough quarter but still has to pay the bills.

Sure, a well placed bonus here and there for outstanding team-work, a huge
sale or contract, etc, would be a good motivator. But, I think the commission-
ship has long since sailed.

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prakash
I think read something similar in Norm Brodsky's The Knack.

Joel has been talking about this for the longest time,
<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000070.html>

If I were to guess, I would say some of the top folks that want to make more
money compared to what Red-gate is paying now and don't want to trade in the
risk-reward factor will probably leave.

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DrJokepu
Interesting idea, I wonder how it will turn out in a year. I think the initial
motivational boost will drop after a while and they will have hard time
keeping their sales people motivated after that.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
Do other types of employees lose motivation after a year of being paid a
steady income?

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DrJokepu
Other types of employees find the source of their motivation in other things;
some of us programmers are motivated by creating cool stuff, teachers are
motivated by seeing the kids grow and becoming more educated, these are mostly
internal motivations as opposed to external motivations such as commissions
and bonuses. Maybe it's just because I don't really know the work of
salespeople very well, but I can't really imagine them finding an internal
source of motivation in their line of work.

The only thing I can possibly think of that might become a source of
motivation for them is helping clients finding the right solution.

~~~
josefresco
Why is it hard to imagine that selling the 'cool stuff' developers/engineers
make (and being the best at it) is motivation enough? Without sales people all
the cool stuff we hackers create, would be seen and used by almost no one.

The art of selling, even without the ugly side of it (which there's plenty) is
pretty amazing. We all admire guys like Steve Jobs but don't realize that he's
the best salesman there is.

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swombat
Technically, Steve Jobs is in Marketing (creating the market / generating the
leads) rather than sales (turning leads into customers)...

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tc
I'm sympathetic to the idea and curious to see how it works for the author. A
clear subset of salespeople have a distinct entrepreneurial streak. They work
in sales because, similar to being a business owner, you get paid based
directly on the value you provide. You would definitely lose these people, but
depending on how strong your sales _systems_ are, that may or may not be a net
loss to sales. Losing entrepreneurially-minded people from your company,
though, seems like a general negative.

Incidentally, one of the commenters had an effect on me quite opposite to his
intention. The commenter noted how much he liked restaurants where the tip is
included. This is completely foreign to my experience. My experience is that
tipped service is consistently among the best service.

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fjabre
Couldn't disagree more.

In fact, because of the times you'll probably be ok but I'd be careful about
losing your sales team when things get better.

Unless you're paying them 6 figures then I'd really suggest getting them on
_some kind of commission._

Commission is a huge part of the sales process and always has been.

People are fundamentally motivated by greed. Especially sales. At the very
least they should have a choice.

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jerryji
Every employee in a company should be evaluated more on how the organization
as a whole benefits from his/her contribution, sales are no exception.

