Motivation on the Run

It was a Saturday evening at 5:00 PM and the Redhead and I made a bee line to the computer section of the store. We walked up and down the aisles, stopping to converse at different machines. We looked at the monitors and the statistics on each box. There were six employees in the store, two playing games on computers and four standing behind a counter talking. Twenty minutes passed and we left the store, empty handed.

The next day I went back to the same store on business and in walking to the business helpdesk noticed the store manager at his desk. “Excuse me, do you have a second?” I asked, knowing him from the Chamber of Commerce meetings. He lent me his ear and was devastated by the news of the evening before, and realized his store had missed the chance to sell a computer.

This store does not pay its salesmen commission anymore. I do not know what motivation or incentives they give, but it must not be enough if they are willing to ignore a prospect for a computer sale.

If you are a manager with sales people working for you,
What do you use to motivate them?
Is it working?
How do you measure the results?
Can it be improved?

I am sure there is a store manager trying to answer those very questions right now. Don’t wait until you lose the sale to evaluate, do it now…