Selling With Noble Purpose, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 20Incentivizing Purpose

There are two things people want more than sex and money—recognition and praise.

—Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.

There aren't many jobs where they publicly publish the performance reviews. But sales is one of them. In sales, there's nowhere to hide: everyone knows how you're doing.

We've all seen sales teams scramble to make year‐end bonuses, pulling forward every bit of revenue they can. They hit the target, yet it's often at the expense of customer relationships and future business. You can do better. You want to do more than hit your revenue targets. You're trying to create sticky revenue: revenue that comes back to you again and again. You want to create such a differentiated sales experience that your customers don't look elsewhere.

There have been lots of studies about sales incentives, but for the most part, the research focuses on driving short‐term revenue. It's as if salespeople are cash registers—push this button, hit that key, and bang! Out comes the money. You already know that's not true. Incentivizing long‐term success means rewarding the right behaviors and galvanizing your team to create differentiation.

Most sales teams already have a commission plan, a president's club, and other financial incentives to reward top sellers. There are plenty of simple models to illustrate how to do that. You want to do more. A Noble Purpose leader creates rewards, recognition, and incentives that get the team so emotionally ...