The sales executive’s job is to get results through company personnel by making decisions and seeing to it that others carry them out. Put differently, the sales executive’s performance depends upon the composite performances of the individuals making up the sales force. Small wonder, then, that sales executives are greatly interested in the factors influencing individual sales personnel to achieve given performance levels.
Assuming that a salesperson has the requisite ability and the skills needed for satisfactory job performance, what causes that salesperson to expend the necessary effort? The answer is locked up in the behavioral concept known as motivation what causes people to behave as they do. Behavioral scientists agree that motivation is goal directed behavior aimed toward achieving given results, which, in turn, provide rewards in line with the goal.
High productivity in a sales force comes about neither naturally nor accidentally. Some sales personnel are self-starters, requiring little external incentive, but they are the exceptions. Most sales personnel require motivation to reach and maintain satisfactory performance levels.
